Back in Black

Hey everyone! I'm sure you've all been wondering why I haven't written in awhile...(yeah...i bet you have) but I am going to catch up now...so this may be a long post...I'm not sure.

Well, my family was here to visit since last Wednesday and we had a lot of great adventures! The first being my going to get them from Edinburgh. I got up really early in the morning and caught the first bus to Edinburgh from St Andrews. It was a nice long boring bus ride and I finally arrived at the Edinburgh Bus Station. I got off and expected to find my family waiting for me there (I had given them directions to the BS) because their plane was to arrive earlier than when my bus was to arrive. However, that was not the case and I ended up waiting for 45 minutes for them to arrive at the station. It was good to see them! I helped them stow their luggage in the lockers there and we headed off to see some of Edinburgh. We didn't have all that much time because we needed to get to St Andrews that night, so we started off quickly. The first place we went was Edinburgh Castle. We went through the park and eventually, found our way to the castle and explored it. I was basically a tour guide for them because I had been there before already. (I am just realizing I think I already posted something about this...I will skip ahead to our journey to Ireland)

So...yeah. Friday was our scheduled trip to Ireland. I had class in the morning, but right after class I went to my parents house and we headed to the bus station together. After another long boring bus ride, we made our way to Waverly Station and took the Airlink 100 bus to the airport. We checked in with RyanAir and headed to our gate. My mom was quite nervous...I think it may have been because we told her that budget airlines use propellers still and she didn't like that (RyanAir doesn't use propellers). Anyway, we boarded and the flight went well except for my mom...she didn't like it much at all. We went through passport security and got our passports stamped (green ink of course for Ireland!) and we were in Dublin! We arrived when it was quite late and we didn't exactly know where we were going or what we were doing...but I had a general idea. I had the directions to our hostel and I found the bus we needed to get on. We went to the ticket machine and the one ticket we wanted was out of order and they didn't sell them on the bus...so of course, certain people got nervous...but we found some from a shop in the airport. We got on our bus and headed to the city centre. We got off on one of the main streets in Dublin but neglected to get food because we wanted to find our hostel. It was a longer walk than I had anticipated and we asked a nice Irish fellow for directions. It was a tense walk to the hostel as I think my navigations skills may have come into question (for the record, I had a spotless record for getting us where we needed to get to this entire trip!) We (finally) made it to the hostel and the first thing I saw was a sign that said 'Youth Hostel'. Some youth hostels have an age limit and, sorry to say, my parents did not fit that age range. Fortunately, this one did not have a limit and we got our room. We had a fantastic time making our beds...it was a real treat and so were the matresses. We hadn't had any food, and the only place open was a take-away shop (Ireland pretty much closes on Good Friday), in which we got some food for 20 euro! It was quite expensive. We ate our lovely dinner and hit the hay for the night.

Our next day started with complimentary breakfast. We headed to the dining hall and got a basic breakfast. I got my food and headed to the table and the next thing I know, my mom puts her tray down with her lone glass of orange juice and says, 'I don't know what's going on.' I was shocked; I didn't know breakfast was hard to get! ha ha...anyway, I got her some toast and that made everyone happy. We walked to the street we had got dropped off on the night before and caught a tour bus that lets you get on and off as many times as you want for the day! It was great! We toured around and the first stop we got off at was Dublin Castle, which was a little bit lame. Part of it looks like an old castle, but the other part of it doesn't. We hopped back on the bus and got off next at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the national cathedral of Ireland. It was a beautiful cathedral! We again hopped back on the bus and the next stop we were really looking forward to! The Guinness Storehouse! However, we opted out of getting off the bus when the line for the Storehouse was over two blocks long...:( how disappointing...however, little did we know that our next stop would definitely make up for it! We got off at (with a wee bit of Bryan's awesome navigation skills) the Old Jameson Distillery! I will take a tour anyday where you learn about the fine art of making whisky and getting a complimentary dram at the end. We got our tickets for the tour and waited for a little bit...finally we got on our tour and watched a wee movie about John Jameson. After the movie, the tour lady announced that everyone would get to taste the whisky at the end, but six people wouldn't...because they'd get to try 5! I was so pumped! First, she picked 3 women...and then the moment of truth. She asked for 3 men to raise their hands and mine shot up like a rocket! She picked me first!!! WOOO!! I was so excited!!! I went through the whole tour waiting for this special moment. At the end, there was a table set up for us six people with 5 different whiskys set up...one Scotch (Johnny Red), one American (Jack Daniels), and three Irish. Each little cup probably had a half a shot in it...possibly a little less. My parents and Zac each got a free drink as well! I got to try each one! After I was done, they gave me a certificate saying I was a certified whisky taster and I got another free drink! It was fantastic! Then Zac didn't finish his, so I drank the rest of his. I was feeling good when I left Jameson. Real good. We got back on the bus and got off next at Trinity College and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Temple Bar area of Dublin (the tourist area). After a fine meal, we took one more aim at the Guinness Storehouse. We made it there and the line outside the door wasn't long at all! It was great! However, when we got inside, there was another huge line...oh well! The seven story tour was good, and cumulated with a nice pint of Guinness at the end. Everyone in the family had one! I do say though, after Hard Rock, it's hard to finish a Guinness on a full stomach! So we left Guinness and had to find alternate means of getting home, since our tour bus was over for the day. We found a bus that took us back to the city centre and we made our way home. It was a good day overall! :D I was very pleased.

The next day we went to Easter Mass as a Catholic Church close to our hostel. The church was beautiful! After church, we went found our way back to the airport, after not knowing what to do since where we were going to wait was closed off and we had no idea which way the buses were going to go...and flew back to Edinburgh and waited in Waverly Station for our train to come that would take use to Leuchars. The bus doesn't run on Sundays from Edinburgh to St Andrews so we had to take the train! Another exciting experience for my family....

Monday we took it easy and just stayed in St Andrews. My dad made us lunch and for dinner, we went out for steaks and celebrated my birthday early. I might elaborate on this day more later, but I'll stick to the exciting parts since this is getting long!

Today, we got up really early again and headed to Stirling. We got there at 9 am and caught the bus that took us to the castle. We toured the castle and were having a lot of fun when we realized it was already 11...and we needed to leave by 1 and wanted to see the Wallace Monument. After a long time of trying to decide what to do...I decided that would walk to town and catch a taxi to take us to the monument. It ended up working well and I got to experience hailing a taxi. It didn't even cost all that much. My mom and Zac got to see the Wallace Sword like they wanted to. Zac and I climbed to the top of it! It was a long climb...I'd done it before as well with Justine, but the crown was closed then due to high winds! It was open today luckily. We caught the bus back to St Andrews after that and I said goodbye to my family. They are staying in Edinburgh tonight because they fly back to the States tomorrow morning early! I am so glad I got to see them; It was a good experience for them to be here and I was happy I got to spend some time with them here! I hope they get home safely (to Florida...for more vacation)!

I am sick now and really sore and tired. I think I will rest for awhile.