Here Comes the Sun

After days of rain and dreary skies, sunny and beautiful Liverpool was exactly what I needed.

I think it's fitting that I begin writing about this part of the journey with a bit of my history in mind. As I sit here and try to describe my family, particularly on my mother's side, I find it to be much harder than I had anticipated. My family is fun. One of the things I remember most from my childhood is watching as my mom (Lee), my aunt (Julie), and my grandmother (MeMommy) danced around our camp in the Adirondack Mountains, singing every word to every Beatles song ever written while harmonizing each line perfectly. It was beautiful. Memories like these just radiate happiness to me, and despite every bad things that's every happen to me, I think I'm the luckiest person in the world for having the privilege of growing up with a family as wonderful, loving, and joyful as my own. That being said, this post is dedicated to the Maitland family.

Liverpool, England is the home of the Beatles. John, Paul, George, and Ringo were all born there, went to school there, met there, and founded unarguably one of most influential bands of all time there. During my stay, I was so luckily graced with warm weather and a few (almost completely) rain-free days. (That's about as good as it gets in the UK...) Brian and I settled in to Hatters (or according to Brian, "Haters") Hostel, which was great (aside from the fact that we had to pay for internet, which is obviously my excuse as to my lack of blog posts... although that's a lie). We arrived around nightfall so we grabbed dinner and spent the night making friends with fellow travelers.

For our first full day in Liverpool, we hadn't made an prior arrangements for tours or anything. We really lucked out, though, when we were able to book a "Fab Four Taxi Tour" for the day. Our driver, Danny, arrived at noon and took us on the most all-encompassing tour I've ever experienced. I mean, we saw everything! If I wrote about each Beatles-related attraction we visited, this post would be miles long, and I'm sure no one would read the whole thing. (Also, it's sooo much easier to just add photos and describe those. Besides, you only look at this to see my beautiful face, right?)

The Fab Four Taxi Tour:

Each of the suitcases in the statue behind us is dedicated to someone from Liverpool who contributed art (in some form) to the world. All of the members of the Beatles had a guitar case in that stack.

This cathedral doesn't have anything to do with the Beatles but we stopped by it along the way because it's just beautiful... and massive.

Sloan, this is for you. There's a debate going on in the city right now about whether or not to tear down Ringo Starr's childhood home. On the door of that home, travelers from all over have signed their names, etc. The large J.B. is none other than our very own Justin Bieber, who visited the week before we were there.

This is a shot of Ringo's old home, which may not exist anymore in the coming weeks. Sad.

I don't even feel like this needs a caption. This street sign, however, was placed on the wall because the city grew sick of replacing the signs on the street that were often stolen by tourists.

The Penny Lane Barber Shop.

Our tour-guide insisted that Brian and I get these pictures in the barber shop. Note the gentleman in the background actually getting his haircut. That must get old.

Another picture that requires no explanation. One interesting story that our guide told us at this sight was about Yoko Ono. In the weeks after John Lennon's death, Yoko was seen wandering through the field at midnight. It is apparently an old Japanese tradition to spread a loved one's ashes at their favorite place at midnight. It may just be a legend but it is rumored that John Lennon's ashes were scattered here.

This is another photograph that our guide insisted we take. The picture I'm holding is a picture of John Lennon posed the same way in the same spot. The house in the background is the house he grew up in with his aunt, Mimi, who took him in after he was abandoned by his mother at age 6.

The man in the photo was a childhood friend of John Lennon. He was present the night that John first met Paul McCartney. The brick building in the back left is where they first met. It is said to be the most important meeting in musical history. It was great to meet him because I actually asked him, "So, where did you and John meet?" I mean, have you ever met anyone who was friends with John Lennon?? (He gave me his business card!)

On our second day in Liverpool, Brian and I explored Albert Dock, which houses the Beatles Story museum among other cool attractions.

These people love their ferris wheels.

Another picture of Albert Dock and part of Liverpool.

This picture was taken in Cavern Pub. In the beginning, the Beatles often played in Cavern Club (located across the street).












Overall, Liverpool was such a great city to see. It's strange, though, because whenever we told people we were visiting Liverpool, they looked at us with surprise. I guess, to them, it's a pretty random place to go. Regardless, with my family's history and everything, I'm so happy that I was lucky enough to be there, even if it was only a few days. I wish my mom could've been there, too.

Well, I'm in London now and have finally gotten my blog up to speed. We're staying at the home of Sophie Blake, who did a study-abroad at Ole Miss for a year. (London to Oxford... Really?) Tomorrow, we're going to some fancy garden party or something at the University of Cambridge. How "posh!"

My goal for the week: find Prince Harry, marry him, get hair as great as Kate Middleton, become Queen on England. Piece of cake...

Caroline

EdinBRRRRRgh

The name says it all.

Brian and I had a few days before we needed to arrive in London, and decided that Edinburgh, Scotland would be a nice place to go. It was wonderful but the weather was awful on our only full day in town. We made an agreement before leaving that we weren't going to let things like that keep us locked up in our (most bizarre) hostel, so we set out anyway.

A warm welcome from Scotland... (Note the sarcasm.)














We started the day off visiting Camera Obscura, an amazing exhibit dedicated to light tricks and the unknown side of camera lenses. It was absolutely great. Essentially, the museum was a 5-story fun-house with distortion mirrors, 3D pictures, and all sorts of other oddities. Some highlights:

Edinburgh from the 2nd floor of Camera Obscura.

One of pictures in the 3D exhibit. It appeared black until you stood right in front of it.

The optical illusions were so much fun. We were the same size in that room...

This sign says, "If you are able to read this, you are standing too close to the wall." Joke's on us.












After Camera Obscura, Brian and I walked around and explored the rest of the city. We went up to the Edinburgh Castle, but made it as far as the gift shop before heading back to the hostel for warmth.

One of my old friends, Everitte Barbee, attends the University of Edinburgh and was kind enough to hang out with Brian and me while we were in town. He made us a lovely dinner and we had a great time drinking wine, catching up, and going out to meet some of his friends from school.

Everitte, thank you so much for everything during our stay. We had a great time and I hope to see you back in the States eventually!

I will admit I've been a bit lazy about updating my blog (obviously), so... on to the next post!

Caroline

"And today, sudden showers will sweep the nation."

After flying from Rome to Dublin, Brian and I settled into our bed and breakfast and turned on the TV. Quite literally, the very first thing we heard was the quote in the title of this post. Talk about an understatement.

Greeting from Ireland! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Since I've been here, I haven't been in the same city for more than 24 hours, which is hectic as you can imagine. (I got a text from my mom that said, "What, no internet in Ireland?" Yes, mama, there is internet here. I miss you!)

Anyway, Brian and I have a mutual friend, Emma, who is from Ireland and studied abroad at Ole Miss for a semester. She came to meet us in Dublin and essentially take us around this bizarre country during our stay. "Bizarre" is yet another understatement. This is the strangest place I have ever been... in a good way (aside from the fact that it is cold). I've been in Ireland for four days, and have visited Dublin, Belfast, and now Newcastle (where Emma is from). This is my photo-diary of the trip thus far:

Dublin:

Ummm... you are on the wrong side of the road...

Even with the reminders, I still can't figure out which way to look when crossing the street.

I knew it!!!

It was freeeeeezing in Dublin, so we grabbed some hot chocolate and walked around the park. Yes, that is a swan.

Brian and Emma in Temple Bar, the tourist area of Dublin. Brian is laughing in this picture because as I'm taking it, I'm being chased in a circle by a mental homeless woman with a white beard. That is not a joke.

Brian, Emma, and I at some bar in the Temple Bar area. I think it was called O'Reilly's... Typical!

Brian carved our names into a post at the bar. As the night went on, he added the names of the people we met and liked. I think there were six in total at the end, but we were the only important ones.

I ran into my roommate, Becky, on the street. Oh, wait a minute... That's just another leprechaun. My mistake. (I love you, Becks!)












Brian, Emma, and I only stayed in Dublin a night before taking the bus up to Belfast.

Belfast:

The sky in Ireland is absolutely beautiful (when it's not gray and rainy). Apparently, the government spent quite a bit of money to build this ferris wheel, and now it's where all the crackheads hang out. Sad.

Me and Emma in front of a monument on the Queens University campus. This is mainly to show that I'm freezing to death in my raincoat while Emma is all fine and good in her cute outfit and scarf. Irish people seem to think that their weather is normal. Not a chance.

Brian and I weren't as prepared as we should've been for the Irish climate. On our second day in Belfast, we had to flock to H&M and Gap in order to stock up on long sleeve t-shirts. This picture is taken at the top of the dome in the Victoria's Square mall. Note the horrible sky.








I wish that I had taken more pictures in Belfast. We stayed with Emma's friend, Laura, who is wonderful and was so sweet to us during our visit. On our night out, we went to a bar called Limelight, which was nooothing like Brian and I expected Irish bars to be. It was a metal club or something and there were tons of people with dreadlocks and skimpy outfits. Regardless, we had a great time people-watching (as usual). After wandering around in (freezing) Belfast, Brian, Emma, and I took another bus to Newcastle, where Emma's family lives.

Newcastle:

When we arrived in Newcastle, Emma's family had prepared a (delicious) "Sunday dinner," that they normally eat around 1 pm. It was so great to have a home-cooked meal after so much traveling. We were so appreciative.

Something is missing here... Oh yeah, the steering wheel!!!

After walking through the city center a bit, we stopped at Maud's for ice cream. It was a surprisingly beautiful day, so it was nice. I was rather chilly after I finished it though. I had Belgian chocolate chip with sprinkles. (In the background, Brian is baffled that Newcastle has mountains right next to seas.

They have this random sign that tells you how far you are from big cities around the world. I am 3782 miles from my sister, Lindsay, who lives in New York! I miss you, sis!

We went for a drive and finally were able to see the Ireland that we pictured. It was breath-taking.

Everything here is bright green (but probably because it rains all the time). It's definitely worth it for the views! Two of Emma's brothers, Niall and Daniel, rolled their eyes at me as I snapped a thousand pictures of their mountains.

We went to Silent Valley, the reservoir that provides water for Newcastle. It was really windy...

We decided to go through the forest to get back to the car. Bad idea... we didn't make it that far.

On our drive back into town, we rode next to the Irish sea. Again, they have the most beautiful skies. None of these pictures do this place justice.











I think the strangest thing about Ireland so far is its lack of scary things. This place has nothing scary. There are no spiders, snakes, bears, wolves, alligators, crocodiles, sharks, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, cicadas, mosquitoes... and the list goes on. Seriously!?!? If it weren't so cold, I think I'd move here. We're visiting during their summer season (which is about 55 degrees Fahrenheit), and I undoubtedly would not make it through the winter. Sorry, Ireland.

Well, it's almost 3 am and we're waking up early to go on a hike in the morning, so I should get some sleep. I will have plenty more updates soon, I'm sure.

Please don't rain, please don't rain, please don't rain... Send me warmth from America!

Caroline

Rome is where the heart is.

Rome, Italy is without a doubt my favorite place that I've been on this trip, thus far. It is absolutely breath-taking. Throughout history, the city has been attacked, burned, and destroyed many times, yet the many of the incredible old buildings have remained in tact.

Though Brian and I are only here for two days, we've managed to see most of the amazing things that the city has to offer. We arrived yesterday, and after a long lunch (as usual), we began yet another one of our wandering expeditions. Some highlights include:

The Tuscan country-side. No matter how hard I tried, some sort of ugly structure managed to sneak its way into my pictures, so disregard that weird gray thing.

Within 15 minutes of walking, we found the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. This picture does not do it justice. This building is absolutely massive and made almost completely of shiny white marble.

We climbed to the top of the Vitorianno, only to find a beautiful view of Rome and the Colosseum.

We obviously headed there straight away.

Brian and I channeled America's Next Top Model and had a fun photo shoot throughout the Colosseum.

I'm so happy that we got to go in, and we didn't have to wait in line at all, which was fantastic.

We really wanted to watch Gladiator.

Bonjourno from Italy!

We went at a great time of day. It was about 7 o'clock at this point and most of the tourists had already left.

On our way to the Trevi Fountain, we got incredibly lost in a maze of alleys. Luckily, Brian is a master navigator and could figure out where we were.

I'm so glad you can't tell from this picture, but there were literally about a thousand tourists at this place. I managed to find a good spot for a picture, but this family kept ruining my shots. That is a face of annoyance, right there.

... But I finally got a good picture! This fountain is famous because people from all over the world come here to make wishes while throwing a coin into the water. Hopefully my wish comes true... I spent a whole euro on it!








After another long day of hiking around and tripping on the cobblestone streets (which I did literally 100 times), we had a nice dinner and went in for the night to relax.










And that was just the first day!

Brian and I have been staying in private rooms throughout our trip so far, but we decided that we should try out a real dorm-style hostel room at least once. We're sharing a room with two other people currently, and when we saw their bags when we checked in, we could only picture that they were going to be some weird old couple or some creepy other people. Luckily, that wasn't the case at all! We're staying with two 20-something year olds from Quebec, Canada, who are incredibly friendly and easy-going! We met them late on our first night in Rome, and chatted about our travels through Europe. They also recommended a great tour of the Vatican that they had taken earlier that day.

We woke up early on our only full day in Rome with plans to visit Vatican City. We met up with our tour group (consisting of other young tourists) and made our way to the Vatican. Our tour-guide was this nice girl named Monica, who was from Toronto and was very funny. She did a fantastic job on our tour.

That dome in the background is part of St. Peter's Basilica.

This is just one of the (seemingly thousands of) amazing marble statues throughout the Vatican.

I think the ceilings might have been my favorite part. They were all so intricate.

I wasn't supposed to take pictures inside the Sistene Chapel, but I obviously did anyway. Luckily no security guard caught me or I would've been kicked out. When in Rome...

The ceiling of the Sistene Chapel was painted by Michaelangelo over the course of four years. It is truly a sight to see. And this is a pretty good photo, if I do say so myself!

After touring the Vatican (for over 3 hours), Brian and I attempted to go inside St. Peter's Basilica, but the line was so long so we decided to skip it. I guess I'll have to come back here again. (I couldn't help but think of the Da Vinci Code while we were here. Fun book.)








Tonight, Brian and I may go on another walking tour of Rome. (Apparently, you can bring bottles of wine, so that should be interesting.) As usual, our legs are like jello so we'll see how it goes.

It's my last night in Italy. I might cry when I have to leave the pasta... I mean city.

Caroline