Super Bowl XL

Here is our wee Super Bowl party at Hard Rock Cafe. We left at 3am when the game was over. We are die hards! Too bad the team we were cheering for lost. Now, I won't name any names, but the intern who is not Trisha, Adam, or Kendra cheered for the team that was not the Seahawks. Lame! Ya know what else was lame? The commercials. We got stuck watching Scottish TV commercials. Yeah. We got jipped. Not that commercials are my favorite anyway. The last time (and only time) I watched the Super Bowl was the year with the Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson fiasco. And I was muy disappointed in commercials. What's the big deal anyway? I thought we hated commercials? Oh, yeah, we also got stuck watching lame Scottish/British/whatever announcers. At one point the poor lad forgot the score! It was sad how dumb they were. And then this chick interviewing a rugby player kept pretending like she knew what she was talking about. But she didn't. Scots have a great deal to offer culturally, but they should NEVER be allowed to do the Super Bowl. They are clueless.

Dunstaffnage Castle

You Are Here.

Okay, I really have no idea where I was pointing to. I just wanted a picture with the name of the castle on it because I knew I wouldn't remember how to spell it. It is definitely a tongue-twister. Dunstaffnage Castle is the first castle I have ever been to and I was psyched! I hope these measly pictures do it justice. It wasn't extremely big, but it was sure fun to explore.

Ta Da! The large fortress of a castle. And me. We learned this castle held many a famous prisoner. However, they are only famous here. We, Americans, have no clue who they are. I would tell you, but I'm not sure how appreciated the information will be.

Take a look on the inside:

This was a cool view looking out of a hole in the wall. I'm not sure if it is an intentional hole, like a window or not, but I like to think that they used it to see if the enemy was approaching so they could shoot arrows and throw rocks!

Dunstaffnage Chapel. Probably only used by those living in the castle. We all know peasant-folk aren't religious. There wasn't a whole lot left of the Chapel besides a few walls. So, I climbed on top of them.

To be perfectly frank, by the time I am finally getting this post up, I am royally sick of it. It has been acting funny the last few weeks, so now that it is working I just threw the pictures on and gave little or no descriptions. I apologize for the lack of professionalism, but, seriously, it's a blog. Nobody really cares that much anyway. Just think of my blog as more a picture book than a novel. I know it lost its novelty for me weeks ago!

Oban

This is a map of the Oban and Highlands Tour we took Saturday, Feb. 4th. It doesn't look like we covered a whole lot of space, but we did a lot of driving. It was a good enough combination of driving and stopping. Whilst driving you get to see a lot of landscape.

Meet Hamish! (pron. haym-ish) That name is so Scottish; it's ridiculous! I love it. This lovable Highland Coo (aka Cow) is part of the tourist attraction at the little village called Kilmahog.

Oban. Me in Oban. And Walking in Oban.

Fish and Chips. Me looking unsightly and eating fish and chips. The Oban Inn, where I looked unsightly and ate fish and chips.

These boots are made for walkin'

Boots. Boots. Boots.

That is all they wear, but now I fit in, so I'm not complaining. I think my boots are neat! If there is ever a way to amalgamate myself into the culture, Boots is it!
I should probably take a better picture, but this was the best I could do while I was by myself. Dont' be jealous. No. Do be jealous.

The Parthenon...in Edinburgh?!

On our way to the Parthenon on Calton Hill we stopped in this old cemetery. We found this memorial with good ol' Abe Lincoln up top! I don't know if you can read, but the bottom says, 'In Memory of Scottish-American Soldiers.' I don't know what the crap I'm doing, but the statue was awesome. We were glad for some good wholesome American company whilst in Edinburgh!

This is a shot of the cemetery where we found Abraham Lincoln. It was so peaceful and beautiful there. I can't help but imagine how much history lies here. I'll stop before I get all cheesy. Let's just say these old graveyards will make anyone think in cheesy-poetry-type-words.

This is the view from up top Calton Hill. That clock tower is the Balmoral Hotel clock, I believe. (honestly, I just looked that up online). I am standing right next to the Cannon Memorial.

Here I am shooting the cannon. Watch out Edinburgh! Actually, nobody should be scared at all. I'm a terrible aim.

And this is the beautiful view of trash you get when you look inside the Cannon. What is the world coming to? Haven't they read the signs?:

Keep Edinburgh clean. Bin your litter.

There is me looking off to the gorgeous view of Edinburgh below. I am standing on the steps of the unfinished Parthenon. Don't ask me exactly what the point of it is. I believe they were building a Parthenon as a memorial of some kind, but for some lame reason they didn't finish it. It's real sweet from a distance, but up close there is litter and graffiti. Especially in the back where it just...ends.

The Parthenon.

This is a good shot. Doesn't it look so funny, though, like it's only two dimensional!

Go Team Scottish Interns 2006!

Huntingdon Flat

We had a birthday party for Shawn on Jan 15th! You can't tell from this picture, but the decorations actually said 'Happy New Year!' Kendra and I left the decorations up because they made our flat not look so empty.

My tiny little kitchen.

And the water closet.

My room

And the shower from hell! Just kidding, its not that bad, but as you can see there are two dials. One controls the heater and the other controls the pressure. It gets pretty hot, but the pressure is the same whether you have it on low or high. It's a pain in the butt to rinse the conditioner out of my hair. I'll be honest, some days I just don't wash my hair. It saves and extra 10 minutes!

My First Day in Edinburgh

Well, here's a wee piece of Edinburgh for ya. These fellows were just strollin' down the street! And I got a picture! This was my first day in Scotland, January 14, 2006 and what a wonderful day it was. I got in at 7:30 AM, but luckily I didn't suffer from jet-lag. I walked around the city that day in absolute awe and wondered what took me so long!

Beautiful. Especially the kilts!

They have awesome buildings that curve with the streets. It looks so cool when you are standing in the middle of the courtyard. It's like a large circle building. This is to my right and...
this is to my left.
Another building. And Shawn.
This chuch is beautiful, but my favorite part are the bright red doors!