Yes, we are still in Amsterdam. However, we went to the train station last night after leaving the library and got train tickets for today. We can use them at any hour, so we plan to leave Amsterdam around 5 this afternoon. We decided to make one last blog before leaving the city to wrap up Amsterdam. Last night when we got back to our hostel from the train station, we went to go drop off our stuff in our rooms and have a little snack. Christine's room is first in the hall, then way down at the other end is [View Full Entry]

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The day started out with a lot of stress. Since we couldn't pack our bags last night, we woke up early to organize. We also needed to call the Czech Republic to try to find out if we could order our bus tickets over the phone since the website still wasn't working and we had to leave today at 1. While packing, we ate French Toast and then Christine went to brave the international phone. A woman answered in Czech or some crazy language and then began speaking in broken English. She was not at all friendly. Basically she said to [View Full Entry]

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We both slept better last night, but were still tired this morning. Nonetheless, we had a tour to Belgium today. So we got up and ready. We had forgotten yesterday that we got free breakfast at the hostel, but we remembered today. We each got an egg, ham, and cheese sandwich and a glass of juice. After eating quickly, we walked to the tour agency (we knew where it was because we saw it on the way to and from the library yesterday) where we exchanged our vouchers for tickets and were put on the bus with 20 minutes to spare. [View Full Entry]

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We both woke up tired this morning. Kim is sick so she couldn't breathe and kept waking up all night (also she is in an off-balanced bunk bed that jolts whenever the girl in the bed below her moves - which is often). All in all, we are not too impressed with our hostel. We noticed there is not a single outlet in our room, which means that charging our Ipods and camera batteries has to be done in the common rooms which we think are unsecure. There are 16 girls in our room. Since it poured last night we had [View Full Entry]

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Today was a sad day. It was our day to leave Scotland. We got packed and are suspicious as to why our bags have grown. It is as if they have eaten a whole other bag because they have somehow become fat. We aren't really sure why they seem so much bigger. We stopped at the post office today so that Christine could send home a box of souvenirs and things she did not need/want. On the way, we got what we thought was a "meat pie" but in retrospect, we are not so sure what it was. It was some [View Full Entry]

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Today was the last day of our tour. We got up, left the hostel, made our way back to Edinburgh, stopping at a few places along the way. We went to Eilean Donnan Castle again for daytime pictures. Then we went to Loch Lochy which is where G (our tour guide) is building a house/hostel. We stopped at his family's farm to take pictures of sheep next to Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in Great Britain). We stopped at Glencoe for lunch and ate in the grass. Two Swedish girls hitched a ride with our group to the next town. They were [View Full Entry]

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Today we explored the Isle of Skye. We left at 9:30 Highland time - which means around 9:45. The first place we visited was a stream called Sligichan that is between the Black and Red Cullien Mountains. The stream is part of a Highland legend about a famous warrior woman named Scáthach who was challenged by a warrior man named Cúchulainn from Ireland because he didn't believe that a woman could be a great warrior. As they were fighting her daughter saw them and was so upset for her mother's safety that she just ran away into the woods getting scrapped [View Full Entry]

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We did not get a whole lot of sleep last night since we were updating our blog into the wee hours of the morning. We were up late because the internet somehow became free. That was after we had already gotten a free hour because when Christine went to pay with only a 10 pound bill and had nothing smaller, the receptionist just have it to her because there was no change available. We woke up at 7:15 to get ready to check out of our hostel and join our 3 day tour to the Highlands of Scotland. We got picked [View Full Entry]

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Today was Royal Mile Day! Our plan for the day was to visit Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, shop, find a camera store so Christine could get her camera fixed, and climb a large hill called "Aurthur's Chair" for a view of the whole city, if there was time. At Edinburgh Castle was saw an advertisement for a free tour of the castle, and we like free things so we took the tour. Our guide showed us around the points of interest and gave a little background information as well as his opinion on what order we should see the castle in. [View Full Entry]

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Today we went on a day trip to Loch Ness. It was pouring rain, foggy, and cold. The bus was quite steamy inside and overall uncomfortable. However, we were happy to have a very happy spirited tour guide and to see such beautiful sights (through the fog). Our first stop on the tour was to say "Hi" to Hamish the Hilan Coo (Highland Cow, unique to the Highlands of Scotland). Then we drove passed Doune Castle (the castle they used as the French castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and Sean Connery's Loch (Loch Tullah), and then to Glencoe [View Full Entry]

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