SCOTLAND

Hi everyone! Man, this past weekend was literally amazing. Scotland is indescribable! If anyone has the funds and the means to travel, I would immediately recommend Scotland.

So, we embarked on our Scotland adventure at 4:00 AM in the morning. Yes, it was that early but I was too amped to be tired. The plane ride was about 45 minutes (crazy, right?!) and we had arrived! It kinda blew my mind that I woke up in one country and within about 2 hours, I was in another one.

We first headed to our hostel, dropped our stuff and headed out on our day. There was no time for relaxation because when is the next time we were going to be in Scotland?! We didn't mess around. We had a full day consisting of bus tours, castle tours, pub visiting and rugby fans. Scotland played France that weekend, in Scotland, so there were French people everywhere.

Here are some shots of Edinburgh (where we stayed) and the Edinburgh Castle (which was unbelievable).

Right when we got there, the weather was amazing. 

Edinburgh Castle looks over all of the city so the view from it is amazing!

Excuse the raindrop on the lens. :)

There it is!

This guy was classic.

The entrance of the castle.

The view on the first level of the castle hill - it goes higher! 

We paid to go into the castle and it was so worth it - this is what it looked like from the inside.

Upper part of the castle

They had all these cannons everywhere! Here's the view from one of them.

This exhibit was very interesting since I didn't really know a lot about Scottish history.

The view from the highest point!

Back out to the city!

THIS IS WHERE THE QUEEN STAYS WHEN SHE COMES TO SCOTLAND.

First sight of these since I've been in Europe.

I <3 castles.

Mary Beth is a beauty. 

My girls, Kate and MB!

I was in loveeeee. 

The next day, on Saturday, Kali and I headed to Stirling, a smaller city about an hour outside Edinburgh. I actually almost studied in Sterling instead of Dublin so I was interested to see what it was like! Kali moved on to another thing she wanted to see in the town next to Sterling so I had the day to myself in this little city/town. It was bliss. 

Stirling is an older city with so much history. It is similar to Edinburgh in that there was a castle overlooking the whole city but it was amazing because as you climbed (and I mean that literally because the streets were at a very sharp angle), the buildings got older and older until you reached the castle. It was so amazing. They had this beautiful graveyard right below the castle that I spent significant time in and after, I explored the city.

Here are some shots of Stirling! 

Town Center

There was a lovely farmers market when we were there

The view from about halfway up the hill to the castle

My first sight of this magnificent graveyard - I was definitely coming back later in the day!

After that, I realized that the Stirling Castle was totally worth doing so I went in and discovered so much beauty and history. 

Check it out! 

The look from the front gate

Door leading into the castle

Upper courtyard 

Chapel

Dining commons

A replica of what the inside of the castle used to look like at the time when Scottish royalty lived there

These lined the outer back wall and you could walk them to see this amazing view 

The view of the castle from the wall

My favorite part:

After this, I just wandered about town:

I was cracking up to myself about this

So, after that, we headed back to Edinburgh and went out. It was kind of a bummer because Scotland lost the match but we still managed to see a few kilts out and about town :)

The next day, we just wandered before we had to go to the airport. I didn't know this but Edinburgh is a big Harry Potter fan attraction because it's where J.K. Rowling spend time getting inspiration for the series. 

She used to walk around in this graveyard and she actually took some names off the headstones, like Tom Riddle 

This school was the inspiration for the 4 houses in the book. There are 4 towers on the top of this building so she looked at this and then saw the Edinburgh castle about 60 degree turn from this spot and she came up with the idea of Hogwartz, a huge school on top of a mountain. 

This is where she used to sit and write. She used to sit by a window and look out to the graveyard. 

All in all, I loved Scotland so much. It had so much character. I definitely will be going back at some point later in my life. Now, its off to England this weekend to see my lovely Katie :)

xoxo,

Halle