We're Back!

I know this post is seriously delayed, but ya know the saying "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation..."? Well it wasn't that I was stressed or tired from our trip, I just seemed to be lacking enough time to catch up on things since our trip! lol! :)

Scotland was AMAZING!!! Probably my second favorite vacation EVER (Denmark last summer being the all time #1 vacation of course!) The landscapes were beautiful, and the people were so incredibly nice and helpful and welcoming. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering going. And on that note I thought I would give you a list of my top 10 favorite things from our trip instead of recapping the entire thing. :) But they aren't in any particular order, it was hard enough narrowing it down to just 10 things we liked let alone deciding which we liked more! :)
***Warning: LOTS OF PICTURES and EPIC-LY LONG POST!!!***

10) CASTLES! We started our trip in Edinburgh and went to visit the castle! I love castles in general and this one did NOT disappoint! :) We actually got to go in 2 castles while we were in Scotland so this actually covers both of them!

At the Edinburgh Castle
It was REALLY rainy that day!

Absolutely beautiful view of Eilen Donnan Castle

9) City of Edinburgh- or actually the difference in Old Town vs. New Town as well as the contrast between the city and surrounding area. It was stunning to see the different architecture styles so closely seated next to each other. Apparently when the city of Edinburgh became too crowded and disease ridden the rich people, instead of trying to fix what they had, decided to build a brand new city right next to the old town. Also the fact that Edinburgh itself is fairly small and the change into the rolling hills and vast fields is very striking. I loved each different area, but it was really neat to see them all almost on top of one another.

In "New Town"

Along the Royal Mile in Old Town

Also in Old Town

Just outside Edinburgh

8)Arthur's Seat- Our first hiking adventure in Scotland. We spent the better part of a day hiking up and around Arthur's Seat (It is possible to do it in less time, we got to the top and back down in about 2 hours but then spent the rest of the time exploring other areas in the park) It was so nice to enjoy the fresh air and spend some time away from the tourist traps for the day. Make no mistake though- you will NOT be avoiding the tourists, there were TONS of people hiking around the park, but it is much nicer than when you're trying to shop or make your way thru the city. :)

At the top!

View of Holyrood Park from our hotel

7) FOOD!!!!  We had a LOT of really yummy food while we were in Scotland. Because of the gluten intolerance thing it made it a little tricky for me to try all of the local favorites, but that doesn't mean that we didn't eat well! :) There were too many good restaurants to mention all of them, but our top two favorites were a small local pub in Edinburgh called "The Last Drop" and a fantastic Indian restaurant in New Town called "In Touch".  The Last Drop got its name from the story about bringing the prisoners here the night before they were to be hanged for their last dram of whisky or their "last drop" :) Klaus tried a traditional Scottish Steak Pie while I tried a dish called "Minced and Tatties" which was mashed potatoes and ground beef. Both were VERY good! In Touch was recommended to us by a friend and we were also very impressed! :) Wonderful service and very yummy food!

Slightly creepy story but really cool pub!

Very nice dinner and good wine! Can't go wrong with that!

6) Mercat Walking Tour- while we were in Edinburgh we took an hour and a half walking tour called "Secrets of the Royal Mile" which was a lot of fun and also really informative. We heard a bunch of stories about the history of the Royal mile and the people that lived there. The tour also pointed out a lot of really cool and significant things that we would have probably missed out on. It is definitely worth the time and small cost to go along on one of these tours! :)

Mercat Cross (where they read all royal proclamations...
 3 days after they're read in London!)

Deacon Brodie - the real life inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Midloathian Cross- where they used to hang the condemned and
 to this day locals still spit on the heart as they pass

5) Gilmerton Cove- while we're talking about tours in Edinburgh we should mention our fabulous tour of Gilmerton Cove. This was a cute, quirky, unique and just plain fun tour of an underground cove just south of the city center. Not much is actually known about the cove, but the tour guide does a good job of explaining the different theories and legends surrounding the cove. :) AND we got to wear cute hardhats! lol!

One of the 7 rooms in the underground cove

Aren't we stylish?!?! lol!

4) St. Andrew's- venturing out of Edinburgh we made our way to St. Andrews to have a "wee wander about" and take in the impressive ruins of the castle and cathedral. We were both surprised to see how massive the ruins were. I have seen pictures in the past, but it didn't really register just how BIG this place was! I also snuck onto the golf course and the famous bridge at the 18th hole to take a quick picture! :) Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time here and it was raining for most of the time we were, but I think it was totally worth it!

Part of the cathedral

YAY!!!! :)

3) Aberdeen: the city of random coincidence!  So we ended our trip in Aberdeen which is a very pretty town, lots of neat architecture and everything but what stood out to me was that in our two days here we had two very RANDOM events! #1 was actually probably the coolest thing for me- I got to carry an Olympic torch!!!! :) OK, so it was just around the running shop, but still I got to hold a REAL Olympic torch on the day of the opening ceremonies!!! I totally felt like a rock star! :) Basically what happened was that I wanted to buy a new pair of running socks (aka I ran out of clean socks with one day left on our trip...) and while we were in the store Klaus spotted the torch and asked the guy checking us out about it. Turns out the guy that ran the actual flame thru Aberdeen had donated the torch to raise money for a charity, so of course Klaus and I both started pulling out spare money to get a chance to take a picture holding the torch! :) That's one of those things that I will probably never get to do again in my life and it was sooooo cool! :)
#2 random coincidence is that it happened to be "Tartan Day" in Aberdeen while we were there... which basically meant that there were a LOT of kilts and a LOT of bagpipes!! Most people don't know, but I actually HATE bagpipes... I think they sound like someone is trying to kill a cat... so the thought of close to fifty bagpipers playing at the same time in a parade was a little frightening, but that is exactly what we ran into on our last day in Scotland! lol!

OMG! Totally cool!

NOT a fan of bagpipes

Sooooo many bagpipes!!!

2) Glencoe- So #1 and #2 are actually Klaus and I's favorite parts of the trip but honestly we couldn't pic between the 2! Glencoe was totally impressive and majestic! We spent a wonderful afternoon/ evening hiking and trying to take in the unbelievable scenery. It literally looked like something out of a movie (probably because they actually filmed some movies here too! lol!) Have a look for yourself, but know that these pictures can't really capture just how impressive this little area was!

Just beautiful!

We found the hidden valley!!!

1) Real Scottish Journey Tour to Isle of Skye- This is actually a combination of SEVERAL of our favorite moments of our trip. We took a 3 day bus tour up to the Isle of Skye and stopped along the way at some really cool places, but what made the trip so fantastic was that our tour guide (Bill) was incredible! :) I really appreciated how he made the history of Scotland come alive as we saw where these stories come from. It was also really neat to see Skye- and MY absolute favorite part was the "Fairy Glen" :) Thank you Bill for such a great tour! :)

Bill!

The Fairy Glen- with all the little monuments to the "wee people"

See the fairy tracks that they make by
running around the hills every night!

VIKING FACES with Bill! :)

We had SUCH a great trip (I hope you can tell that from these top 10!) And so many other great fun moments that if I tried to type out every one of them this post would need to become a novel! (Its already well on its way to that point... oops!) If you or anyone you know is going to Scotland and wants more info on these places just let me know! I had a blast and I think we are hoping to go back again sometime in the future! :)

XOXO,
Joy

Last update before Scotland!

We leave for Scotland in 4 days!!!! Yay!!! I'm so looking forward to spending time with Klaus by ourselves with no work, or school, or anything else to get in the way. I know he's ready for it too, he's been working a LOT the past couple weeks and deserves a break! :) I've got everything taken care of that I can so far, we'll do the last loads of laundry this weekend and then we'll be able to pack the bag (Klaus has one of those GIANT backpacks that we're planning on taking- I'll carry the camera bag... lol!)

Things around here for me have been a little on the boring side actually, without my classes anymore I have turned VERY domestic... which is totally bizarre! I've been doing a lot of cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping and organizing the apartment while Klaus is at work. But I also FINALLY joined a gym here which has helped immensely! :) So I actually get out of the apartment and do some physical activity too which has really been the only thing keeping me sane...

This boring stuff will hopefully change soon though because 1) Klaus will be around more once his project at work is finished- which should be soon after our vacation and 2) after Scotland I plan to really start working on the wedding stuff! So I'll have something to focus on and plan for, yay! and 3)I'm planning to start up some informal danish lessons at the red cross once we get back as well so hopefully I'll be able to practice what I learned in class and build on it too.

Here are a few more pictures from my random walks around the area just to give you guys a glimps at Copenhagen (or really Lyngby) :) Enjoy!

Pretty sunset!

This makes me smile everytime I pass it! :)

This is the IBM headquarters- really neat building!

I miss everyone back home- all this alone time has made me a bit homesick I think, but its ok!
XOXO
Joy

Danish 4th of July!

The 4th of July just isn't quite the same when you're in Denmark, but I did the best I could to re-create a "real" 4th of July for my danish friends and a couple other Americans! :) Here are a few of the pictures from the party!

Waiting for the guests to arrive so I thought I should take some pics!

I may have gone a little overboard???

Since we're in Denmark you can never count on the weather and I knew as soon as I planned to have everything outside there would be freezing cold rain/winds/ awful weather (dårligt vejr) so I set up everything inside with the hope that we could go outside if the weather cooperated... I was THRILLED when the sky was clear blue and the weather was PERFECT! We really couldn't have planned it any better. So once the guys lit the grills (yes 2 because we're in Denmark and they apparently only have kiddie-sized grills here) we took the snacks downstairs along with a football, softball and gloves and a Frisbee to play while we waited for the food to be ready. It was such a fun time to just hang out and enjoy the company of friends! :)

Then came the FOOD!! So for the appetizers we had some standards like chips and veggies with dip, but then I also added fruit skewers that looked like an American flag, ants on a log (since apparently this is something that Danes don't ever do!) and of course popcorn! :)

Jesper was NOT a fan of the Ants on a Log! lol!!



For the main course we had hamburgers with corn on the cob and cole slaw!

Then for dessert we went WAY overboard! lol! We first had S'mores outside because my neighbors have this really cool torch thing that makes perfect toasted marshmallows (not the intended use, but hey it works really well!)



I know it looks like its the middle of the afternoon, but really it was probably 9pm at this point. So we decided to head back upstairs since it was starting to get a little chilly and there was CAKE upstairs! :) I had made the "traditional" cake with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries as well as strawberries dipped in white chocolate and then dipped in blue sugar. I also had coffee and tea for everyone as well as chocolate chip cookies (but no one really ate those because everyone was full/ on a sugar high from the cake and strawberries!)



So that was our 4th of July celebration overseas! :) I had such a good time introducing my new friends to a lot of the things that remind me so much of home! The only things missing were my family and friends from home and the fireworks (but apparently its illegal to shoot fireworks off on a "random" Wednesday night!)
What do you think? Did I miss any other big traditions? How did everyone back home celebrate this year?

XOXO,
Joy

Two weeks to Scotland!

It sort of seems like I'm already on vacation so its funny to me that Klaus and I will be leaving for "real vacation" in two weeks, but I'm really excited about this trip!!! :) We will be going to some pretty cool places and I have had a blast researching and finding out more about this cool country. Including random facts, for example, did you know that there are a ton of TINY little mosquito-type bugs there that you are apparently NOT supposed to swat and kill when the little jerks bite you, but instead you are supposed to gently blow them off without killing them so that their little dead butts can't alert the rest of their friends that there is fresh blood around??? Apparently once you kill one of these little guys you are going to be swarmed by THOUSANDS!?!?! Yikes! I made sure to add bug spray to our packing list! lol!

I have spent the majority of my morning confirming bookings for our hotels and tours. We will fly into Aberdeen and then take a train to Edinburgh on Tuesday (17th), we will be in Edinburgh until Friday, when we'll start our "Misty Isle and Mountains 3 day bus tour" that will take us up to Isle of Skye and then to see the Loch Ness Monster and some other fun stuff! We get back sunday evening into Edinburgh only to leave again on a different tour monday morning. This one is the one I'm really excited about the group is called "The Hairy Coo" and all the pictures on the website look goofy and everyone looks like they're having a lot of fun. :) The tour will take us to St. Andrews, a whiskey distillery and another castle! :) We'll spend another couple days in Edinburgh before going to Glencoe (where the big braveheart battle was and the location where they shot some of the Harry Potter stuff!) This part of the trip is mostly for Klaus, he's the one that really likes the hiking/ nature stuff, but I think it will be nice and peaceful so I'm looking forward to it too. Then we'll go back to Aberdeen for a couple days and fly back to Copenhagen on Saturday the 28th. Whew!! Action packed vacation!

I'm looking forward to the trip because it will be the first time Klaus and I have vacationed together and I know he's looking forward to actually having a vacation! Its also been nice to have plenty of time to research and figure out where to go and what to do. I feel really lucky that I have so much free time right now that I have the ability to plan at a leisurely pace and not stress about getting it done. I'm hoping this feeling carries over into the wedding planning which I plan to really start after we get back! (YAY!)

In addition to planning the what/wheres of the trip I've also started playing around with figuring out some real photography stuff. Since Klaus has a really nice camera I thought it would be good to learn so that we can get some good shots of our trip. :) Here's some of my "playing around pictures" from our walk thru a park this past weekend. Enjoy!

That's all for now- I'll update again Thursday after my 4th of July BBQ!!! :)
XOXO
Joy