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isle of skye: day 1 + 2

2012 July 29
by dena

almost done with these back-tracking travel photos i swear. in fact, after this post there’ll be just be one more and then wow it’ll all be HOUSTON from here on out. so, you all know how i spend a few weeks in london, mega-bussed up to edinburgh and now heres the last of my big adventure. i booked a 3 day tour of the scottish highlands because #1 edinburgh isn’t all that big and although i could have spend the rest of the week exploring more of it, i had seem most of the highlights and was ready for a change of scenery #2 scotland has so much to offer – nature wise at least and #3 i’d head rumors that this tour in particular was full of young adult foriegn backpackers and since i LOVE meeting new people i thought it’d be the perfect and cheep way to spend my last few nights.

the tour took off from high street hostel on monday morning at 9am. i had to take a bus from the boon-docks where i was staying to get there on time. i ended up being early and chilled out in the communal dinning hall for a while. wow, i didn’t realize how much i LOVE hostel life – totally gave me a super positive co-op vibe. from there the tour began. there were 30 of us total. i sat next to a 20-something year old 2nd grade teacher from NYC. first stop: a whisky distillery. i didn’t particularly like my shot-sample and passed it off to a guy from mississippi – and that was how i made my first friend on the trip. notice how i seemed to flock towards the americans first, funny how that works out.

from there we continued on the 6+ hour drive up to the isle of skye (which is supposedly ranked national geographic’s 4th best island in the world – but upon further research i can’t really find that stat online, so just take my word for it. it was beautiful) the photos above are  from a battle field, and the photos below are from loch ness. no nessy spottings, but we did all try our skill of skipping rocks. photo below: george (22 year old from Georgia)

here’s a romantic picturesque distant castle, you know, just driving around castel spotting. and the picture below is from the isle of skye bridge over the atlantic. 

1/3 of the group photo. nationalities from left to right: denmark, holland, america, america, holland, germany, italy, germany, america, and france. those not included: thailand, taiwan, australia, spain and brasil.

on our way from the bridge to the pub we caught the most beautiful sunset, i must say though, i think houston’s got it beat.

at we pub we drank pints of skye island brew and one of the german guys even bought us all shots. we also listened to the advertised “live music” which i assumed would be some little old scottish singer/song writer – but NO it some old hippie who, along with his karaoke-like-laptop-thing played 1970s american rock n’ roll cover songs. i felt right at home and still regret not dancing to “take it easy”. after the pub that night we all shuffled back to the hostel, took turns waiting in line for the showers, and climbed into our bunkbeds.

the next morning we headed out to explore the island of skye. 1st treat of the day: literally “awe”some rainbows. 2nd treat of the day: dunking our faces in this glacier-ish stream for 7seconds because it will supposedly keep you young. ya the water was FREEZING but what the heck, you never know when you’ll come across a fountain of youth again, so i HAD to take advantage of the moment.

lunch in some little baby village town: macaroni pie and raspberry tart. 

and now for my FAVORITE sight of the trip: faerie glen. these hills are supposedly filled with fairies and, if you can imagine, were even more breath taking in real life.

we took a while exploring the hills and i even took some time to do a few sun salutations (if i recently went on a date with you and talked openly about the relationship between my life and yoga over dumplings – you  know what i’m talkin about) there was even this little rock spiral that someone made who knows how long ago. legends says that if you walk into the center thinking about all the aspects of your personality you don’t like – reach the center – and then while re walking back out think about all the things you like about yourself – you’ll be a better and happier person because you’ll leave all those negative parts of yourself inside the rock formation. so i obviously had to do it and well, we’ll see.

from there we …

well i guess you’ll just have to come back and read the next post to find out what the heck else i did.

.dena.

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