Days 14, 15, and 16: A Journey to the Isle of Skye

Friday:

I took a tour with Wild in Scotland to the Isle of Skye.  One the trip with me were five other students from ISS, three Chinese guys who were regular students at the University of Stirling, an old guy from Italy, and a couple.  Our first stop on the tour was the Wallace Monument.  We didn't actually go inside, we just walked up to the top of the hill and our tour guide, Heather, told us a story.  After the Wallace monument we drove for a while with a few photo stops. 

Eventually, we stopped at a cute little town for lunch.  There was a river running through the town, so we decided to go walk down to the water before eating.

After lunch, we took a few more photo stops and went for a short hike.

Hiking in the highlands....we weren't on a path like this the whole time.

Apparently this loch is shaped like Scotland

 We stopped at Eilean Donan Castle and walked around, but we didn't get to go inside because it was closed.

Eilean Donan Castle

Finally, we made it to our hostel.  The hostel was not at all what I was expecting.  It was on a loch and felt very safe.  The owners were a couple, Ewan and Kath, and they were really nice and friendly.  Half of the group cooked a stir fry and the rest of us cleaned up afterwards.  After dinner, we went outside where Ewan and a friend who was visiting made a fire.  We all sat around the fire and looked out at the loch before going to bed.

Saturday:

Early Saturday morning we left the hostel and made our way to the Isle of Skye.

The bridge to Skye

 We stopped and hiked to a castle and our tour guide told us a story about the bridge to Skye.

Castle on the Isle of Skye

A view from the castle

A view from the castle

 After seeing the castle, we drove further into Skye.  We stopped to see some Hairy Cows and then continued on our drive to the Old Man of Storr.

Hairy Coos

We had to hike up a hill (Mountain) to get tothe Old Man of Storr.

On our way up

On our way up

It said not to walk, but of course we kept going.

A view from the top

I made it!

A cloud hit us while we were up there.

Heather told us a story as the mist came in

 We made our way down the hill after the pretty soon after the cloud came in.  It started pouring while we were going down, so we all were covered in mud.

Looking up at where we were

 When we got back to the hostel, we went out on a fishing boat on the loch.  I don't remember the fisherman's name, but he showed us scallops, jellyfish, and crabs.  We would have seen more, but we lost the net.

Scallops

Jellyfish in the water

This is actually where we stayed...it was amazing!

After our fishing trip, we ate the dinner that Heather, our guide, cooked for us.  We had a Scottish soup called Cullen Skink and a Scottish rice dish called Kedgeree.  Both were delicious!  After dinner, all of us ISS students played cards for a while before calling it a night.

Sunday:

We left early Sunday morning to make our way back to Stirling.  We stopped at Loch Ness and a few people went in.  It was really cold, so I decided to stay dry and just take pictures of the rest of them.

The brave ones who went in

 After Loch Ness, we drove for a while until one of the windshield wipers broke.  We had to wait a while for it to be fixed, so we had to skip most of the stops that we would have made on the way back.  We did stop at the Hermitage Forest and go for a little hike.

This dog followed us because he wanted our ice cream.  He was so cute!

We eventually made it back to Stirling.  I wish we had had more time on the island, but it was still an amazing trip!  I can't wait to go back.

Day 13: Glasgow

Today, we all went on an ISS organized day trip to Glasgow.  Maria, Clare, Alex (a girl I met on the hill walk) and I spent a few hours shopping.  At 1:00pm, Alex left to go on a tour she signed up for and Clare, Maria, and I went to the Willow Tea Rooms for lunch. 

Exterior of the Willow Tea Rooms

 The Willow Tea Rooms were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a famous Art Nouveau Designer/Architect who was from Glasgow.  We got to eat in the Room de Luxe area of the restaurant.  It was beautiful!  I loved all of the little details that brought the room together. 

Room de Luxe

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of these doors...they were amazing!

Really cool mirrors

The three of us ordered afternoon tea, which came with mini sandwiches, scones, shortbread, and  cake.  I wasn't a big fan of the sandwiches, but the rest of the food was good.

This is how our food came

After lunch, the three of us walked to the Kelingrove art museum.  The museum had a few of Mackintosh's designs and a bunch of other interesting art.  We didn't have much time to look around the museum because we had to get back to the buses by 4:30pm. 

Kelingrove Art Museum

More Mackintosh Designs

Overall, I would say that Glasgow is a nice city, but it is a little too big for me.  Tomorrow I leave for a three day tour of the Isle of Skye!  I can't wait!

Day 12: Edinburgh Film Festival

Yesterday, Clare, Maria, and I took a train to Edinburgh for Edinburgh International Film Festival.  When we got there, we had a few hours to burn, so we decided to go to Edinburgh castle.  It took us a while to find it because Edinburgh is a much bigger city than Stirling, but we eventually found it. 

Walking up to the castle

We only had an hour and a half to spend there, but we got to see most of the castle.  We all agreed that we liked Stirling Castle better, but it was interesting and fun.

I love this ceiling

After the castle, we went to a film called "Feel My Pulse".  It was a silent film from the 1920s about a hypochondriac woman who travels to a sanitarium she inherited to stay safe from the world.  What she doesn't know is that the sanitarium is really full of bootleggers.  There was also a live piano accompaniment.  None of us had ever seen a silent film before, and we all loved it!  It was really funny.
We spent a little bit of time shopping after the first film and then found a cute little cafe for dinner that was giving a 20% discount for people who went to the film festival.  The sandwiches were delicious and cheap!
After we ate, we went to our next film, "Day of the Flowers".  It was a comedy about two sisters who stole their dads ashes from their step mom and took them to Cuba.  It was a really cute and funny movie.  After the movie, we had to take a taxi to the train station and then run so that we wouldn't miss the last train from Edinburgh to Stirling.  Luckily, we made it on time and got safely back to the campus.  It was definitely a good day!

Day 10: Dumyat Hill Walk

Yesterday at 6:00 pm, a big group of us went on an ISS organized hill walk on the giant hill behind our flats.

The big hill in the background is the one we climbed up...it looks even bigger in person!

A few others and I fell behind pretty quickly because it was a tough climb, but we pushed through and kept going.  We came to several forks in the path and had to decide which way to go to catch up to the group.  They didn't give us any clues about which path to take.  There were sheep roaming around the hill and at one point we were definitely walking along the sheep path...there were little hoof prints!  We had to walk through a cute little tunnel that looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale. 

Fairy Tale Tunnel of Branches

 Once we got to the top we thought it was too good to be true...it was way too easy for that to be all.  Then we realized we had to walk over another hill! 

Me at the half way point

We could see the rest of the group in the distance, so we kept going.  We could see the top and it didn't look too far away.  One girl passed us on her way down.  We thought she must have made it to the top and was already heading back, but she said she just gave up because it was too steep.  We took the opposite approach.  Why would we want to turn back now when we had already come so far?  We had to pass a few fences (There is no law against trespassing here...as long as you close the gate behind you, you are free to roam wherever you want.) and climb up a few more little hills, but eventually we made it to the top!  It was definitely worth it!  The views were breathtaking. 

The sheep were taunting us

One of the fences we had to climb over

I made it to the top!

Sheep at the top of the hill

I will probably never go up there again, but I am so glad I did it!  After the sitting at the top for a little while, we started our journey back down.  When we got back to our flats, we just wanted to collapse.  We ordered some Chinese food and talked for a little while before going to bed.  Today was just another (rainy) day of classes and homework, but tomorrow we will (hopefully) be going to the Edinburgh film festival!