Thanksgiving Break Part One: Scotland

I'm going to split my Thanksgiving break into two posts. The Scotland part and the London part. Here goes Scotland:
A few days before Thanksgiving, my mom, Laura and Peter, Ruth, Leslie, and I took a short three day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a blast. The weather wasn't too bad other than one day which left me frozen. It didn't help that that was the day we had to wait 40 minutes for a bus that supposedly came every 15 minutes. I was dying and wanted to take a taxi, but everyone was sure our bus would be the next one. Right when we were ready to give up (I had been ready for a long time) we decided to wait for 15 more buses because the bus we needed was number 15. And of course, it was the last bus to show up. But, it was all worth it because it took us to the Rosslyn Chapel which was amazing. It was one of my favorite places of the trip. The inside was covered in carvings and masonic symbols. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so you are going to have to go to see it for yourself. We also got to go to the Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is where the Queen's residence in Scotland. We saw some great art, went on a wonderfully cheesy tour of the underground vaults, and got to walk around a lot and experience Edinburgh that way. We found some great restaurants and Peter was brave enough to order haggis. He claims to have enjoyed it. Leslie was brave enough to try some too. The rest of us wouldn't touch the stuff, but did have some intestine free vegetarian haggis. Edinburgh was such a beautiful place and I'm most certainly planning on going again. Preferably when it is warmer.



Edinburgh Castle







Huge cannon!







Palace of Holyroodhouse

How well they know me

My sister introduced me to these comics and I just adore them. They are funny and a little dark and twisted. So brilliant! Anyway, one of my biggest phobias is being watched. Google Earth freaks me out, people staring at me, even all the security cameras here bother me. I think this comic is so fitting:

Paris is only a chunnel away

My trip to Paris was more than two weeks ago, but better blog late than never. Hopefully you have read my sister's blog, she does a great job telling you what we did every day. And, since I am writing this two weeks later, I don't remember those kind of details. Paris was much cooler than I expected it to be. I had heard so much about how wonderful Paris is I thought there was no way it could live up to all that. But it definitely did. Even being rained on all but one day it was completely enjoyable. We managed to stay out of tourist traps and only got sucked into one restaurant that look great, but was worse than McDonald's. I'll just give you my short list of highlights in no particular order:
~Mom getting forced into giving a woman money who "found" a "gold" wedding ring on the ground and refused to keep it. She made Mom take it and then asked for money. We had no idea what to do with it, so now it's my key chain.
~d'Orsay! Especially the Van Gogh room. I think I want to live there.

~Victor Hugo's house was really cool. He had some odd taste, but can't argue with a genius.




~Saint Chapelle was indescribably beautiful. The stained glass everywhere was just incredible.




~Angelina's is a charming cafe. Their hot chocolate is so rich that one sip was all I needed. The inside was decorated exactly like you imagine a tea place should be. The first time we went we were able to walk right in. I was wondering how it could fill up because it was huge and had two floors. The second time we went, we had to wait 25 minutes. It was wonderful and everyone seemed to know it.
~Montmartre was a favorite if only because Amelie was filmed there. It was the most tourist-filled place out of the whole trip. I don't know why there were more people there than the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, maybe it was the time of day. Or just lots of Amelie fans.
~Walking everywhere was really cool. We did taxi a few times when the water sloshing in our shoes was just too much, or the water had soaked up to our knees, but we walked most of it. I loved walking as a was to experience the city away from the more touristy areas.
And, that was Paris! I definitely am planning to go again. Any takers?












Getting ready for the James Bond premiere.









Ok, the picture is small, but in the middle of the floor is a pigeon. He somehow managed to get in the building, up the escalators, through security, and through a bunch of stores. I guess he really wanted to go to London where all the fat pigeons are.

Related to Clooney?

My friend has recently decided that my dad is the LDS George Clooney. I don't know how I didn't see it before, the resemblance is uncanny.

Necklace from Israel

This is the necklace I brought home that was made by an Israeli jeweler. The store it was in was filled with her things, and they were all so wonderful. I just wandered looking at all the pretty sparklies. This necklace was my favorite one, and I couldn't resist. As my aunt pointed out, it was a great buy and I can even wear it on my wedding day. That day isn't coming anytime soon, but being prepared can't hurt.

Jordan and Israel

This trip was amazing. I had already been to Israel once with my sister Laura and a group of church members from Egypt, but it was such a different experience. Before, we didn't have a tour guide, and we just kinda showed up at sites and wandered around. It was great, but this time we had guides and the amazing Michael Wilcox who talked at each site. I learned a lot and loved being with my family. Being in Jordan made me miss Egypt (Leslie, don't kill me for saying that for the 1000th time!) and I'm going to have to save up to go back. I love the friendly chaos of it all. I didn't buy as much as I thought I would. I bought a beautiful long pearl necklace for insanely cheap, an amazing necklace made by an Israeli artist, a dirt cheap widow's mite, and some scarves (cause you can't live in London without them). I did bring home a rock from the valley where David kicked Goliath's trash, an oil lamp that was a gift, and a 13th century piece of pottery I found at the excavation site we went to. I know I already posted pictures on Facebook, but I'm going to post highlights anyway. I love pictures!

























The cool excavation site we got to check out. This is inside a cave where doves were raised for sacrifices, it is the biggest one found in Israel.










The only picture I took of Michael Wilcox, our amazing teacher

No pictures, but great videos

I know that I have been neglecting my poor blog, but I am having problems uploading pictures. I can't blog without pictures! It would be like trying to play a guitar without any strings. Or making cupcakes without frosting. Or some such metaphor, maybe one that actually makes sense. The point is, as soon as I figure out how to upload my pictures, you will get to hear (and see!) about all my adventures. In the meantime, these video should keep you entertained. I can't wait for The Office! Would it be completely ridiculous to fly to the US just so I can see the premier? hmmmm.