The Great Exodus from the UK.. er, Britain

Behind with updating again.. oops! I seem to go in spurts where I'm good about posting what I've been doing.

At the end of April, Heidi, Kay, and I ventured to Belfast in Northern Ireland. While Belfast itself wasn't overly impressive, Giant's Causeway was a different story. Pictures simply couldn't do it justice. On Saturday, the three of us took a tour up to Giant's Causeway and spent the afternoon there. When we returned to Belfast, we found our adorable bed & breakfast and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant. We spent the following day exploring Belfast, which included taking a black cab political tour.

While I haven't found my camera cord, I did manage to borrow a friend's so the following photos are my own:

Coastline of Giant's Causeway


Beautiful, no?




Kay and Heidi




Our B&B


Queen's University


City Hall


Murals in Belfast

Visiting the Scottish Highlands and Sunny Cambridge

I recently decided to take a tour of the Scottish Highlands. A lot of people had recommended going up there and so I decided to act upon the opportunity. I'm so glad I did because Scotland is absolutely gorgeous, and it was a nice change of scenery from London. As tacky as it might sound, it was seriously like being wrapped in a blanket of natural beauty for five straight days. The tour was amazing and took us all over Scotland, including Stirling, Oban, Inverness, Ullapool, Loch Ness, and my personal favorite, the Isle of Skye!

Hopefully I'll post my own pictures later on, but for now, courtesy of Myles, let me give you a taste of what Scotland is like:

The Royal Mile in Edinburgh


William Wallace Monument


Glencoe


Ben Nevis


Carbisdale Castle


Balnuaran of Clava


Since we had all been to Oxford, Heidi, Kay, and I only felt it was fair to visit Cambridge as well. We lucked out with the weather again as it was just perfect! Similar to what Kay, Mara, and I did in Oxford, we visited several of the colleges and just explored the city. It's an adorable area. We even went punting on the River Cam, which runs right through Cambridge.

With much thanks to Kay and Heidi, here are some photos::

Walking to the city centre
\

Inside King's College




Downing College


Mathematical Bridge


Punting on the River Cam


Heidi and I with the Bridge of Sighs behind us


Market


Trinity College


Clare College


Round Church


Sidney Sussex College


Sidney Sussex College Dining Hall


Magdalene College

Jackee and Allison Go to Porto

I'm a little behind on updating again. A lot has happened within the past few weeks, but I'm just going to focus on the beginning of the month in this post.

It's fitting that the first time I leave the UK, it's with Jackee. I wish she and I could have traveled to London together, but I'm so glad she came to visit!

On the first day she arrived, we hung out at the hostel and just caught up since it's been quite some time since we've seen each other. The following day, we met Kay at Vapiano for dinner. I know I've said it before, but I love the food there! Although, as far as I'm concerned, it's really hard to go wrong with Italian..

The real fun began Friday evening, which is when we flew down to Porto, Portugal for the weekend. When we initially started to plan our trip, Dublin, Paris, and Madrid were among the destinations we were considering; however, then we decided that our goal was to go somewhere interesting but less typical than the usual traveler would venture. That decision landed us in Portugal.

And now some pictures, courtesy of Jackee::

Wandering around the city




Down by the Douro River


Porto from across the river


Restaurant where we ate lunch


Wine tasting


Boats on the Douro River


Vila Nova de Guia




Dom Luis Bridge (Eiffel Bridge)


On our cruise


Toward the Atlantic Ocean


Old city wall


View from the bridge


Beautiful sunset over Porto


Night view


Park in Casa da Musica


Casa da Musica

"Borrowed" Pictures

Compliments of Kay, here are some photos from the past few weeks:

Outside church




Windsor




Windsor Castle




St. George's Chapel


Bridge to Eton


Eton




Oxford Castle


St. Aldate's and George & Danver


St. Mary's Church


Climbing St. Mary's


All Souls College


Radcliffe Camera


View from St. Mary's Church


Bodleian Library


New College


Jesus College


Dining Hall


Chapel at Jesus College


Merton College


Harry Potter scene!


University College


Bridge of Sighs


Christ Church College


Magdalen College


Eagle and Child


Lamb and Flag


Ice-cream at G&D


At the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race


Pub where we watched the race


Barbeque


Watching the race inside the pub


Oxford wins


Kay, Mara, and I sporting our Oxford gear