June Stop Part 2: Ireland and Scotland
June comes to a close after an extremely special family trip abroad to Scotland and Ireland. It was hard to say goodbye and hop on a plane home, but the memories will last a lifetime. I most likely won’t do the full trip justice with this one post, however I’m going to give it my best shot! Here is my attempt at capturing the memories in words.
June 13th - Coatbridge, Scotland
A 15 hour travel day brought us to the family flat in Coatbridge, Scotland. Connor and I promptly crashed for a five hour nap before walking over to the local market to grab dinner and then heading to a cute, local pub to meet our hosts who are Connor’s cousins. From the flat, the pub was only a five minute walk! It was really fun getting to know Maureen and Brian, and we had the place to ourselves so the bartender took our photo behind the bar. It was the prefect way to kick off our family and fun filled trip.
June 14th - Coatbridge, Scotland
Connor’s parents and sister arrived the next day and also rested before we joined more Scottish family members at a different local pub to watch the Scotland vs. Germany game in the Euro Cup. Everyone was in great spirits meeting family and enjoying dinner when a bagpiper came out to play before kickoff. Regardless of the Germany win, we all had a blast sharing stories and laughing all night.
June 15th - Coatbridge, Scotland
The next day we met up with Maureen, Brian and their daughter Chiara to catch a train to Glasgow where we celebrated another cousin’s 60th birthday. We got to meet a bunch of family at a bar where Prosecco and Guinness glasses were never empty. As it got later, us kids split off to go to Wonder Bar where everyone dances to live music instead of a normal bar DJ. We all had such a blast dancing and singing along. We caught the train back to Coatbridge to Maureen’s house where we thought the adults would all be ready to head home, but no! They were having a wild time just like us! So, we all sang, danced, drank and laughed until the sun came up. It was about 5am when we finally walked home.
June 16th - Coatbridge and Loch Lomond, Scotland
Safe to say we slept in pretty late on the 16th, but we still got up and headed out for an adventure in the Loch Lomond area which had a beautiful, massive lake, a small village and a thick forest.
We walked around the cute, old houses that were decorated with flowers or garden features, and then walked along the lake to a pretty, old church where we looked at how old some of the headstones in the cemetery were.
They were worn down with age, but a few of them could be made out to be as old as the 1700s.
After walking through the village and lake areas, we went on what we thought was the Quarry trail through the woods on the hill.
Somehow we ended up on the Fairy trail which I 100% did not complain about.
It was really cute with all kinds of interactive elements to make young children think they were in a fairy realm complete with bridge trolls, unicorn stables, fairy school and people sized mushrooms.
We had dinner nearby at Duck Bay which overlooks the lake, and we got to enjoy watching the sun set as we ate our fantastic dinner.
The following hours after dinner were filled with a hunt for fish and chips for Connor’s dad since it was Father’s Day and that’s all he wanted us to bring home for him.
We tried tons of places as we drove home, but had to run to the grocery store in our time of need so we could get home before midnight. He was very appreciative of our efforts and Father’s Day ended with competitive games of Uno.
June 17th - Coatbridge, Scotland
The next day was full of family time where we visited Connor’s great aunt in the morning and in the afternoon met a new group of roughly 10 family members on Connor’s grandpa’s side. Denise and her husband were very gracious hosts as well having everyone over and serving food and drinks throughout the whole day.
It was wonderful getting to meet everyone and hear all the stories and connections everyone shares.
June 18th - Edinburgh, Scotland
We traveled to Edinburgh the next day to stay with Christine Ann and Mark who are family members from Connor’s grandma’s side.
They also graciously opened their home to us and were amazing hosts.
They even went out of their way to buy me tons of gluten free and dairy free options so I could be included in meal times and have snacks of my own.
We all caught up on life for most of the evening, and then shared a delicious family meal which became the pattern over the next few days.
We also played a hilarious game of Herd Mentality which Connor’s mom and I may never live down.
June 19th - Edinburgh, Scotland
The next morning in Edinburgh was exciting because Connor’s brother and sister-in-law flew in, and we all got to explore the city together.
We took a tour of the Georgian House which is an 18th-century town house restored for visitors to step back in time, and it was really interesting to see the rooms and read about life back at that time.
After, we walked through the bustling city streets to find lunch and walked into a place called Badger & Co.
I was instantly enchanted by the Wind in the Willows theme that was executed to a tee from the menu options, to the decor, to the paperback copy they served the check in. The reason for the literary restaurant experience was because the bar is located inside the former house of Kenneth Grahame who wrote Wind in the Willows. It was a special gem we stumbled across, and I would highly recommend it.
We continued our explorations by walking through Princes Street Gardens which was covered with picnics and people because of the beautiful sunny weather we had. The Scottish National Gallery was right there as well, so we peeked in to find amazing oil paintings from tons of artists. We only walked through the first floor, but my favorite artists were Phoebe Traquair and Joseph Noel Paton. When we left the museum, we saw an interesting structure in the distance and decided to make the trek to discover it.
Turns out, it was a collection of the National Monument of Scotland, Nelson’s Monument and the City Observatory on top of this old volcanic hill that gave us panoramic views of the city.
Talk about cool find!
We walked around the monuments and took pictures before heading back to the house for our family dinner. Our day wasn’t over yet though because we still had to don our Scotland fútbol jerseys to watch the game against Switzerland at a local pub.
That tied game wrapped up the evening, sending us all back to the house to play board games and crash.
June 20th - Edinburgh, Scotland
Our last day in Edinburgh was even more packed with fun excursions. We started off with a morning tour of the famous Edinburgh Castle.
Not only is it a magnificent stone construction balanced on top of a steep mountain, but it has a rich history of war and life dating back to the 12th century.
I was very taken by all of the stories and artifacts there from the different battles, to the Crown Jewels, to the jail cells and so much more.
St Margaret's Chapel was tiny and beautiful, and the war memorials were amazing.
I loved our self guided tour and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting.
When we left the castle, we started our walk down the Royal Mile. It is an old cobblestone street lined with restaurants, shops, tours, stories and more.
Street performers colored the sidewalks and cars sneaked through the foot traffic and small streets.
During the walk, there’s a famous dog fountain that pays tribute to the Greyfriars Bobby who was a terrier that protected and sat by his owners grave for 14 years before he passed away, rubbing the dog’s nose is rumored to give you luck.
We gave the good boy a nose rub and continued our walk past The Elephant House cafe where J.K. Rowling is thought to have written part of Harry Potter.
That led into a cemetery nearby where it is also said she found names from the tombstones for the series. We walked around and found Tom Riddle, McGonagall and the Potters.
The cemetery itself was also really pretty and I’m sure it had tons of history, but we were on a mission to find the Harry Potter references.
We even went to a Harry Potter themed museum that replicated items from the stories such as his room under the stairs, floating candles and quirky candies. The street we walked down is Victoria Street which is believed to be one of the inspirations behind Diagon Alley with its multicolored shops and windy travel path (I included pictures at the bottom of this post). It was really fun discovering all of these little places.
After grabbing lunch and resting our feet at a cute tavern along the Royal Mile, we continued the the walk. We walked the full Royal Mile to get to the Palace of Holyroodhouse where King Charles the 3rd stays when he is in Scotland. The self guided tour we did through the palace was amazing with all of the incredible interior room details and history.
We even got to walk through the pretty royal gardens.
Our day wrapped up with a look at Arthur’s Seat right before we got picked up to go back to our host’s house.
A quick note to mention:
I wore 5 inch heels that day because I wanted to look like a princess at the castle, and I was in tears by the end of the day. I hadn’t thought about the cobblestone streets and winding roads through castles, shops and cemeteries.
My thought process had stopped at princess and my feet were in rough shape after walking 9 miles on the cobblestones.
I also convinced Connor’s sister to dress up like a princess as well, and I feel so bad because she was in pain with me the whole time.
Lesson of the day, cool princesses wear sneakers.
June 21st - Coatbridge, Scotland
In the morning we traveled back to Coatbridge, to rest and reset before meeting up with 15 other family members for a fun dinner at the Mint, a cute local restaurant. The dinner was a blast, and they were all so sweet for giving us such a heartfelt sendoff.
June 22nd - Frankfurt Airport
The following day was one to forget for sure. After packing until 1am, Connor and I had to get up at 3am to go to the Glasgow airport to catch a flight to Dublin. The lack of sleep sucked, but the reason I want to wipe it from my memory is because we spent 15 hours in the Frankfurt airport between the flights. I was so unwell from not having sleep and having to be in airports at 3:30am that I slept most of the afternoon on the airport gate chairs. Plus, food is really hard for me to get at airports because of my dietary restrictions, so that never helps. Moving on!
June 23rd - Dublin, Ireland
The hotel in Dublin was great! Our room was perfect to crash in and then when we got up, we were right off of really fun, busy streets with lots of shops and restaurants.
Once we joined up with Connor’s family, we jumped into a tour of the Book of Kells and Trinity College.
Our tour guide was a Shanakee which is a storyteller who shares the myths and lores of the ancient land. The way he weaved stories and told us about the history behind items we saw on the tour was so special.
The Book of Kells experience was really incredible as well. The book itself was mind-blowing in its intricacies, it’s believed four monks took 75 years to make it.
Upstairs from the book exhibit is the Long Room which displays 200,000 of the library’s oldest books. This Long Room was so amazing, I could’ve stayed there for days.
The whole room was made of rich, glossy oak with shelves after shelves of books and busts of great philosophers and writers. There was an impressive world globe and the oldest medieval harp in Ireland displayed at the end of the room. To keep up with the tour, I couldn’t stay in there for hours sadly. Trinity College was a pretty campus, and the tour took us from there to the Dublin Castle.
The castle was cool, but my favorite part was when our tour guide told us the story of Oisin and his enchanted wife. I would tell the story here if it wouldn’t lose its magic, however I’m not a Shanakee and these written words wouldn’t capture the special art of spoken stories.
We looked for lunch after, and found the oldest pub in Ireland! The Brazen Head was established in 1198 and was still packed to this day.
We enjoyed a fun drink there before heading to the famous Temple Bar where we danced to live music and played games.
The Scotland game against Hungary was happening that night, so we went back to the hotel to change into our jerseys.
We had a great time eating dinner and watching the game at a nearby restaurant, until Hungary made a goal in the last minute of the game knocking Scotland out of the tournament.
It’s all good at the end of the day though, and we went back to Temple Bar to end our evening with fun, live music.
June 24th - Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
The next day was a travel day with everyone packed together in the car singing to childhood movie soundtracks, heading to the Cliffs of Moher! It was a three hour drive to our hotel in Lisdoonvarna which is actually where the biggest matchmaking festival in Europe takes place every September. We unpacked and got ready to go to our true destination, the Cliffs of Moher.
The cliffs were breathtaking. I wish I had a better vocabulary to describe the awe and scale these soaring cliffs inspire. Their green, grassy tops drop off to reveal the ragged 700ft rock cliffs below with birds and waves as constant visitors. I could’ve sat and watched the cliffs play with the ocean for days. It was entrancing and stunning. We had the perfect weather with the sun out and medium wind.
It has also been a dream of mine, since before I could remember, to see them. I had always dreamed of visiting Ireland as well, so being able to see the cliffs and be in Ireland made those dreams come true. The experience was extra fun because Connor had booked a professional photographer to come out and take family photos of everyone for his mother’s birthday gift. Sabina Sitek was an amazing person and photographer. We haven’t gotten the photos back, but I will share them on Instagram when I do. She first took us to a more secluded area of the cliffs to the left of the main viewing area, so it was really unique getting to see two different vantages and angles of the Cliffs of Moher. After soaking in as much of the view as we could before fog rolled in, we went to dinner at Fit’s Pub where our delicious food was paired with spritely, live music.
June 25th - Dublin, Ireland
We packed up the next morning and drove back to Dublin to join our tour of the Guinness Storehouse.
What an awesome, interactive experience it was!
It felt similar to Disneyland where they take a space and transform it into an environment that piques all of your senses.
It was seven floors of information and sights from the ground floor being the ingredients they use to the top floor being a panoramic view of the city with full glass walls and two bars serving Guinness.
Throughout the other floors, you learn about how they make the famous, dark Guinness, how to drink it, how they market it and more.
We all loved the tour.
We rested at the hotel afterwards, and Connor and I met up with his brother and sister-in-law at the pub Whelans where they filmed the love interests meeting in ‘P.S. I Love You’. It was a cute place with a history full of music which was very fitting to the film’s purpose. Dinner was next on the day’s itinerary and we went to a fun place called The Boxty House. Our server was a riot and we all had such a great family dinner bringing up highlights from the trip.
June 26th - Dublin, Ireland
This was our last full day in Dublin. Connor and I woke up early to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral with a coffee stop and a flower shop along the way. The flower shop was really cute, just a little hole in the wall place.
We walked around the garden outside the cathedral’s entrance before going inside to see the beautiful space inside the old stone walls.
The stained glass and arched ceilings were incredible.
We stayed quiet to pay respect to the space’s beauty and purpose. It also took us a full hour to walk around and see everything which surprised me, but it was just so amazing.
When we stepped out, the afternoon sun had encouraged more people to be out and about which was fun to experience as we walked through the streets.
I had this desire to find the original Dublin city wall for some reason, and after searching for awhile, we finally found it! It was this tiny little section of a large, old stone wall with no signage.
I was stoked to find it though, it was cool to see.
We joined Connor’s mom and sister for lunch at the Church which was a pretty, old church that had been turned into a restaurant.
We had lovely weather and food, despite the fact that Connor’s sister got pooped on by a bird. After some panic and laughter, we changed at the hotel and went back out with his sister to go exploring. It was our last day, so we just walked around peeking into thrift stores, walking around parks and avoiding birds. Lots of the shopping streets had flower vendors and live musicians playing which created this beautiful ambiance as we explored. We stopped for some tea before meeting up with Connor’s parents to walk across the famous Ha’penny Bridge. Then, we all went for dinner at Slattery’s Bar by the hotel to escape some rain. The rain gave us the perfect Ireland experience on our last night of the trip.
June 27th - Oregon, USA
Connor and I left early in the morning to make the long trip back to Oregon, we were awake and moving for roughly 24 hours. We made it though! And now we get to look back on all of these perfect memories. It was really hard to say goodbye to Connor’s family and for the trip to come to an end, but we made plans to see everyone again soon so that made it better.
I am beyond grateful to Connor’s family for including me in this unforgettable trip. I loved every second (except for the Frankfurt airport). I hope I was able to bring some of you along on our trip through this retelling as well! I couldn’t include every detail or moment, but I tried my best without writing 20 pages about the trip. Of course I also have hundreds of photos, so I am including a lot of them in this reel below. Feel free to reach out if you need any recommendations or have any questions!
