St. Andrews

Last week Andrew, his friend Aaron, Danielle, and I traveled to St. Andrews. It is the birth place of golf and last summer the British open was played there. The old course at St. Andrews is the most historic golf course in the world. It was pretty cool to see where the last British Open had occurred. I remembered watching Tiger when he was playing at St. Andrew's and how the wind was whipping through his clothes. Then I couldn't understand how the wind could be so brutal but now it just seems normal to me. We all took turns taking pictures on the famous bridge at the 18th hole and then watched some of golfers play the course. These golfers had been waiting for years to play on the course so it was a big day for everyone out there. We walked along the shore which runs next to the golf course and makes for a really pleasant walk. The town of St. Andrews was surprisingly very nice and tranquil. In one of the flat windows there was a confederate flag which was very surprising but weirdly comfortable to me.While walking through the center of town we passed St. Andrews University where Prince Williams and Kate went to University. The school was made out of stone, just like everything in Scotland, and had great architecture. However, one of my favorite parts about the trip was sitting next to the ocean with St. Andrews Castle in sight. It was a sunny and warm day with a nice ocean breeze. I just had to sit back and think that I was in the quite town of St. Andrews which was home to the most historic golf course. After that we all went to a small outdoor vendor next to the ocean and got chips and burgers. While we set there talking about our different travels, it was just nice to enjoy the good weather and a good meal. We left St. Andrews and headed back to Edinburgh on the train where there was hens and wives bachelorette group. It was a pretty long train ride back.

Dublin

Andrew, Caleb, Jess, and I all went to Dublin, Ireland for three days the other week. It was the first time I was leaving Scotland so I was ready for a little adventure. From what I had heard from everyone going to Dublin it was going to be a really run trip. Our hostel was located in the Temple Bar district where there was many bars and attractions. The afternoon we arrived, we decided to walk around the city a bit to get our bearings. This just ended up in us finding a bar and ordering our first of many pints of Guinness. Temple Bar was such a cool place to walk around and hope in and out of bars. There was always people walking around on the cobble stone streets and chilling in plaza that was located in the middle of Temple Bar. While in the bars there would be live Irish folk music which was very entertaining and reminded me of Appalachian folk music.
The second day in Dublin we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Guinness Factory. St. Patrick's Cathedral was amazing. It was a an awesome cathedral and people could enjoy looking at it from the little park that was next to it. The park was blooming with different colored flowers and had people laying in the grass and sitting on the park benches. From there we went to the Guinness Factory. A couple hundred feet away all you could smell was the fermentation process. The tour of the factory was sweet. They took you through how it is made, the origins of the factory/owner, how to properly taste Guinness, advertisements, how to pour the "perfect Guinness", and a free pint in the gravity bar on the 7th floor. One cool fact I learned was that Dublin is not home to the biggest Guinness factory, it is actually in Nigeria...yeah weird. I really enjoyed the different TV ads they had in the advertisement section and the gravity bar. The gravity bar was a circular bar on the 7th floor with glass windows and a 360 view of Dublin. You could see for miles all around Dublin and see the different monuments all around town. We all enjoyed our free pint and the sights of the city then headed out to see some more of the town.
On the the third day we met up with Michal who was meeting up with one of his friends the same we were there. It was cool that all of us could meet up and have fun in Dublin. Our third day was pretty chill. We walked through the business/shopping district of Dublin. The business district was at the far end of the river and had some massive glass buildings. Michal had not seen St. Patrick's Cathedral so we decided to get some fish and chips and eat in the park. It was a sunny warm day again and made for a pleasant afternoon of laying and joking around in the park. After our meal we walked to Phoenix Park which is the largest city park in Europe. In the middle of the park they had a monument that basically looked like a smaller Washington Monument. But it was a cool park and there were loads of people playing football outdoors. We walked back and checked out of our hostel. We headed for the airport and back to home (Edinburgh) which I was already missing. Dublin was awesome, I probably drank my weight in Guinness, saw the entire city, and experienced it all with my friends.