Getaway to Guinness!

Here's a run down of my trip to Dublin with the ladies!

Day 1: Arrive at 10 am, drop off bags and do a walking tour the entire city with Garvan our fantastic tour guide. We lounged a little in the park afterward. For dinner we went to Porterhouse and had an amazing meal with microbrews from Dublin. I know, city of Guinness and our first beers are microbrews. We tried the porter, the oyster stout (amazing!), the temple brau ale and the red ale. All were fantastic and very refreshing after the long walk.
Day 2: Immediately get out and head to the kilmainham gaol, the Dublin jail for the historical tour. Then a walk through some gardens and then.... GUINNESS!!! We definitely got our money's worth. We did the tour, drank the fresh beer in the tasting room and learned to do the perfect pour (with attempted shamrock). After this was lunch outside of Christchurch cathedral. Then we did the Dublinia viking museum and Christchurch cathedral, which had the cat and rat mummies. Then St. Patrick's cathedral. The day was ended with the Jameson Distillery where we tried three type of whiskey, comparing flavors, had a tour, and a complimentary mixed drink with Jameson. The night ended with dinner at a small italian place (we shared pizzas) and then drinks at Grogan's in a busy area.
Oh, I mapped out this day on mapmyrun.com and not counting the fact that every building we went into we walked in and did countless stairs (Guinness is 7 stories), we walked over 8 miles. Ouch! No wonder my feet hurt.

I guess the night didn't end there. Our fire alarm in the hotel room started leaking and went off. Yes- you are reading that right, leaking. So we had to move to another room for the night. But nevermind the drama.

Day 3: Woke up early to fix the room problems and headed off to the Archaeology museum for the bog bodies!! Amazing!! So well preserved and so much fun to look at. This was followed by the Natural history and national gallery museums. Both were fantastic. Then it was off to lunch at the same place as yesterday (because we loved it so much). Also got the chance to get real soda bread! Then we were back on our feet and headed to the wax museum, dublin castle, the chester beatty library, and the dublin city hall. To end our day off right... back to GUINNESS, for round two of tasters and free guinness pints. Dinner was at a fun pub where they had taps at the table. We did an irish tapas, trying out all the classic dishes, complete with another Guinness round. Then off on the town to the No Name bar (literally has no name).

Day 4: Woke up at 3:30 am to catch our flight at 6:30 am. Back in Edinburgh in my apartment at 8:15 am. Now I'm going to spend the day doing a little reading, watching a little tv, and not moving.

More pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2114568&id=16504620&l=7c3bd7cfbf

Spring/Summer is here!

Edinburgh is finally experiencing a little bit of spring and summer! We have trees in bloom, sunshine and every park is full of people. While this has definitely done wonders for my spirit, I can't say the same for my dissertation. Sure- it's nice to eschew work for a day and head to the beach (yes, there are beaches in Scotland). It does wonders for my mood! However, the dissertation does need to be completed at some point. Must avoid giving into the sunshine every time I see it.

The last couple days have actually been pretty busy. I spend the mornings plowing through the dissertation (8,000 words so far!), and then in the afternoons take care of necessary errands, such as baking shortbread cookies or going to the beach. Okay, not so necessary, but still worth it!
First off, lovely blooming trees out by West Mains. Photo taken happily after baking cookies before heading out on 2 mile walk back home. Luckily I had tons of sugar in my system to keep me going.
Tuesday was beach day! We set off around noon, grabbed the bus, and walked along the beach until we found a spot to nosh. We ate at the Beach House, a cute little place that seemed straight out of Cape Cod. I had a wonderful ham sandwich with veg chutney and a salad. Desserts looked fantastic, but lunch was too filling!
The beach is wonderful, and a return trip will be necessary.

Now back to the dissertation. Working away on the climate section.

Linlithgow!

Some days you wake up here and its just what you expect from Scotland, like this morning. Brown-gray clouds, the crag hidden by fog, stone buildings coated in dew, etc. Other mornings, like yesterday, you wake up at 5:30 am to a bright yellow sun and pale blue sky unadulterated by clouds. It's these sunny mornings that inspire action!

On a whim I decided to head out with a friend to Linlithgow, a neighboring town. We hopped the train, and 20 minutes later we were there. The castle was fantastic. It was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, and expanded until the 17th century. In the 18th century it had a fire which removed all the wooden parts of the castle. The whole castle was beautiful, and the sunshine made it so much fun. It had about four different levels, and was a maze of rooms. We felt like little kids running around, trying to get to every room on every level.
Also, its located right on a loch, where kids were learning to kayak. An unexpected diversion from studies that was amazing.
We were back in Edinburgh by 12:30, perfect timing to head to the farmer's market for a nice buffalo burger and walk through the meadows. Dinner was at Brown's (I had the aubergine ratatouille special with a chenin blanc, and camembert to start), and then we hit up the Pear Tree for a final drink.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good saturday. Now if today's weather perks up a bit we may be able to go to Rosslyn Chapel and Sheep's Heid. If not, I may have to convince myself to do some dissertation work... 6,000 words down, about 7,000 left!

Back in Edinburgh

Ahh, to be back in Edinburgh again. After being away for a month (three weeks in NY, one week in London), it feels nice to be a little bit settled. It's the first time I've arrived and really felt like I was coming home.

Home was amazing. I had a fantastic birthday, spent a good amount of time at the cabin, and didn't do any work. Just how a vacation should be!

Revel in the beauty of the lobster cake!!!

I was only in Edinburgh one day after break, and then I headed down to London! It was very different going without the family. I felt like I was a real Londoner, going by tube into the cty at 8 am, getting back around 6 pm. It was tons of fun working at the Museum. It was like living someone else's life for a week! Below is a picture of the park that I ate lunch in most days.

After spending my week there, a couple of the girls took the train down to meet me for the weekend. We had a great time doing the tourist part of London, which I haven't done in ages. It was fun getting to see all the attractions again. I had a blast playing tour guide! The weather was fairly nice in the morning, but as you can see from the picture below- a storm was imminent!

For some reason we got ... lucky? and got to see two different rallies. One at Parliament and one at Trafalgar square. It was pretty cool, especially with the way the weather was acting! Very foreboding! I feel like I should have something really metaphorical to say about the picture. But I'm not that deep.

Overall it was a really amazing trip. Glad to be home, but loved getting the chance to wander around London. Below is us, victorious after a nice long weekend of walking, wine and overall awesomeness. (We won't discuss the Newcastle fiasco!)
Now that I'm back its down to business. Time to put my head down and really focus on my studies. I have a dissertation of 15,000 words to write. This week has been spent mainly working on the methods and writing up my London research. I'm 16% done with the paper, and not slowing down at all!

Last post before crossing the Atlantic

The Final Countdown to Home!!!

I've only got three days left, and I'm finding it really hard to focus on work. I've completed all of my essays, and even printed them out. They just need to be handed in. At this point I'm just trying to occupy myself with possible work. Hoping to make the last push so that I can take all of next week off without feeling guilty. What I should be doing now is continuing my dissertation research, at least for the historical background part, since it will be easier to study here than at home. Instead I find myself reading fictional books and hanging out way too much at Starbucks. Considering we've got a nice sunny day outside, I will probably take a long walk today and ignore my assignments completely.

I can't wait to be home! I'm already making a list of must-do's during the April.
1. Visit RSMC and see the dinosaur exhibit
2. Visit Strong Museum and see the Lego exhibit (yes, we notice the pattern, I'm a 5 year old boy at heart)
3. Wine Tour of Seneca or Cayuga
4. Beer Tour of Seneca
5. One weekend trip somewhere, maybe Cooperstown or Philly?
6. Run a 5k (Look's like it'll be the one on April 11th, if I don't end up making b-day weekend plans)
7. Work on dissertation (okay, not fun- but necessary)
8. Paint Easter eggs (seriously, I'm not missing out on this one)
9. Have Nana teach me to make that brown bread she does at Christmas (its like crack, only healthier)
10. Spend way too much time at the cabin... the dock better be in!

Alright, now it's time to pretend to do work so that I can goof off all night and not feel guilty about it. See you all in a few days!

What an amazing weekend! One of my friends hosted a dinner of Mussels on Friday night. It was paired with amazing french bread, homemade mayonnaise, white wine sauce, and a buttery rich Macon Chardonnay. Incredible! I brought Grampa's famous NY cheesecake, and as you can see below it was quickly decimated.

Saturday was spent trying to recover from both Thursday and Friday. Did the normal farmer's market thing, got a little bit of homework done, but mainly laid around! Oh, right, I also made 48 cheddar meatballs for another food and wine party.

We had this idea to do a night of finger nibbles and favorite wines. It was like a wine tasting, only we got to eat! I brought the meatballs and a Spanish Albarino. Delicious. Everyone brought really amazing foods. It's fun hanging out with a group of foodies. Everyone really puts the effort into their food and is really proud of it. We all just made really simple delicious dishes. It doesn't hurt that everyone also brought amazing wines. We got to try wines from almost all of the big wine countries (France, Spain, Italy, Australia) and even began the night with a nice fizz.



Now I'm done with the parties and on to my last week of this semester. Only four days until I'm home! I'm actually pretty hectic with school work until then. Monday through thursday I have 9 am lectures. I also have a staff/student meeting on Wednesday and tons of little things to get done before I can head home. Also have to hand in my massive final essays (we're talking like 70 pages here for two essays).

Hopefully I will find some time to say good bye to people and enjoy myself a little. Although I think I'm going to avoid drinking wine for a little. My liver must look like a raisin at this point.

Nous Allons au Champagne!!!

That's right! The University of Edinburgh Wine Tasting Team won our competition against St. Andrew's University. We won in every category: reds, whites and reserve. Huzzah! Our grand prize is a trip to Champagne, France to visit the Pol Roger vineyards.

For lunch we were lucky enough to go to The Kitchen, a Michelin starred restaurant. Honestly, the best food I've ever had. I had the amuse-bouche of a leek and fennel soup with creme fraiche and crab, ox tongue with chorizo and beans for starters, hake with gratin macaroni and veg for the main, and a cheesecake like pudding of rhubarb and goat's milk with raspberry sorbet. The whole thing was paired with an Alsatian Riesling and a Chianti Classico.

Following lunch we had a quick pint at the Bow Bar, and then headed off for more champagne. We ended the night eating takeaway Malaysian and drinking martinis and more wine and even more champagne!

For the complete story you will have to chat with me when I'm home next week. For the photos visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2109388&id=16504620&l=1c4bdd7287