Well, my little sister has been home for a month, so I think it's about time I wrote a post about all of our adventures! After the New Year, we embarked on a trip from London to Edinburgh to Dublin to Paris to London! All in 10 days!
I am quite proud to say that even though I hadn't driven for 2 months, and not with a standard transmission for many years, I drove around Ireland on the left side of the road in a manual car without much incident. Then we went to France where I went back to the "proper" side of the car, which suddenly felt weird, and was only beeped at once! Hailey became a master navigator and we had a wonderfully mad adventure! So much happened, but since "a picture is worth a thousand words", I think I'll let the photos do the talking this time.
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| This is what I look like as a traveller...always in search of a great photograph! Edinburgh, Scotland |
(It should also be noted that I left my DLSR in Canada. All of these shots, excluding Hailey's, are taken on a Lumix ZS10, quite often in full manual mode and usually without a tripod. This little camera has been amazing. I haven't really missed my big Canon too much. I should write a post on travel cameras one day so I can really brag about this little beauty.)
ENGLAND
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| January 2, 2014 St Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridge London, England I am ridiculously proud of this photo. f3.3, 4s |
SCOTLAND
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| January 4, 2014 Edinburgh, Scotland After 2 months in London, I had almost forgotten what a proper sunset looks like. f5, 1/20s |
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| Modern amusement rides and a medieval castle. Edinburgh did not disappoint. f3.3, 4s |
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| January 5, 2014 Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh Castle is properly impressive. We spent nearly the entire day in there. f3.5, 1/125s |
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| Sisterly bonding at the top of a castle. No better place! |
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| Edinburgh The views of the city from the Castle are breathtaking! I showed Hailey how to use the special effects on her camera and became immediately jealous that my camera doesn't have this miniature effect. Someday I will own a tilt-shift lens for my DSLR and I'll be able to do this properly. |
IRELAND
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| January 6, 2014 Galway, Co. Galway, Ireland The British Isles have been experiencing some crazy weather! Ireland wasn't as peaceful as I'm accustomed to and definitely not as Hailey expected! |
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| January 7, 2014 County Clare Driving in Ireland on tiny roads is made much more interesting by road signs such as these. Also, I'm certain this building was blue last time I was here... |
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January 7, 2014
The Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland.
After a slightly harrowing coastal drive in strong rain and winds to get to the cliffs,
Hailey prepares herself for the 40mph sea spray and I give up on looking like a classy world traveller.
Hailey prepares herself for the 40mph sea spray and I give up on looking like a classy world traveller.
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| January 7, 2014 The Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland Even with horrible weather, this place still amazes me. |
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| Eventually, the clouds began to clear... |
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| ...And the sun decided to join the party. Ireland: 1/10th the size of Alberta, but just as moody. |
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| The rain stopped. The wind continued. A "super-vivid" shot on Hailey's camera makes us look even more glowing from the sun. I really like this photo of us. In our matching Campbell Clan scarves from Scotland, we don't look related at all, do we? It's too bad Hailey isn't wearing her glasses! |
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| January 8, 2014 Blarney Castle, Blarney, Co. Cork, Ireland |
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| Me kissing the Blarney Stone...for the third time. No wonder I'm long winded. (First proper photo, though!) |
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| Hailey kissing the Blarney Stone for the first time. I don't think she realized what she was getting herself into when she said she wanted to do this! |
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| Blarney Castle Hailey couldn't believe that people used to RUN through this place! She did really well with her gimpy foot - what a trooper! f3.4, 1/4s |
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| Blarney Castle Megan: "You doing alright?" Hailey: "Gah! Uneven surfaces!" Megan: "Yay, castles?!" Hailey: "YAY! CASTLES!!" |
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| Misty Ireland The view from Blarney Castle f4.1, 1/100s |
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| The grounds of Blarney Castle. This place is stunning from every angle. f3.5, 1/125s |
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| January 9, 2014 The Guiness Factory Dublin, Ireland The factory is shaped like a pint glass and at the end of the tour, you arrive at the top to a 360ยบ view of the city. Hailey enjoyed her free pint of Guiness and I took a million photos.... |
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| Hailey waiting patiently for her Guiness to settle up perfectly. |
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| Dublin Left: Croke Park Stadium. Right: Four Courts and the Millennium Spire. |
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| The Long Room Trinity College Library, Dublin Trinity College is home to the Book of Kells and this beautiful library. On previous visits, photography was not allowed in here. The sign allowing non-flash photography was the highlight of my trip! f3.3, 1/4s |
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| I took way too many photographs in here.... Psshhh. No such thing as too many photographs of old books. f3.3, 1/6s |
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| I'm a happy girl :-) |
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| "Ruby 2.0" We drove two little cars around Ireland. The first one, which we had named Ruby, began making funny noises, so we exchanged it in Cork. But the second car was red as well, so Ruby 2.0 carried us through! Cue Hailey singing: "Tiny car, tiny car, where're ya takin' us on these tiny roads?" |
FRANCE
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| January 10, 2014 Pierrefonds, France This tiny village is home to a beautiful castle that is best known as "Camelot" in BBC's "Merlin." This was the sole reason I rented a car in France. |
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| Chateau de Pierrefonds Pierrefonds, France I've decided that January is best time to visit. It's a little trickier to find restaurants that are open, but with very few tourists, we basically had the castle to ourselves! |
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| I look so at home, right? Can I move in? |
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| f3.3, 1/6s |
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| Pierrefonds I loved the contrast of wood and stone. f3.9, 1/4s |
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| Someday, I want a house that has bench seats in the windows. f3.3, 1/4s |
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| The Great Hall f3.3, 1/4s |
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| Yeah, we could live here. |
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| This place is a photographer's playground. f5, 1/4s |
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| A familiar sight for "Merlin" fans. Again, I loved the contrast of the wood and the stone. f3.3, 1/4s |
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| Just chillin' on the steps of Camelot. No big. |
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| The courtyard and well. f3.3, 1/40s |
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| January 11, 2014 Paris, France Paris in winter? Still beautiful. |
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| The view from the Eiffel Tower: Arc de Triomphe to the right. |
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| We're in Paris. We had to eat a crepe. It's the law. |
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| Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris I've imagined seeing this cathedral for my entire life, yet it was still amazing, perhaps even more than I imagined! f3.3, 1/4s |
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| Notre Dame f3.3, 1/4s |
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| Notre Dame f3.3, 14/s |
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| The Arc de Triomphe and The Eiffel Tower f3.3, 1/4s |
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| January 12, 2014 For our final hours in Paris, we walked up to the Sacre Couer. We were distracted by a classic car parade through the tiny Parisian streets led by a shouty man in a Nun's habit! |
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| La Basilique du Sacre Couer de Montmarte |
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| We marvelled at the amazing cathedral behind us and drooled over the classic cars on the street ahead. Oh, Paris. |
ENGLAND
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| January 13, 2014 Stourhead Gardens, Somerset, England On our return from Paris, we visited our aunt and uncle in Somerset. It was nice to relax in the countryside for a bit! |
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| Stourhead Gardens, Somerset Our wonderful aunt and uncle led us along the pathway, hand in hand. These two are adorable in every way. |
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| January 15 Battersea Power Station, London After we returned to London, we took a train to Redhill to visit our aunt. Redhill is a beautiful little town where our Granny was raised and where her sister still lives. We spent a lovely afternoon visiting and eating a delicious meal. Unfortunately, I didn't take any really artsy photos, but I was happily surprised to see Battersea Power Station on the return train journey. I've been meaning to seek out this London landmark, but it found me instead! |
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| January 16, 2014 "Henry V", Noel Coward Theatre We spent a lot of time in the theatre during Hailey's visit. This is just one example of how beautiful these buildings are. f3.3, 1/4s |
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| January 17, 2014 St.Paul's Cathedral, London There are a number of these reflective, silver balls in the walkway down from St. Paul's Cathedral to the river. I've been trying to get this picture just right for a little while now, but I always end up here at night and it never works. Success! f5.4, 1/125s |
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| A portion of a quote from Henry VIII by William Shakespeare. "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water." f4, 1/800s |
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| Tower Bridge & The Tower of London We spent Hailey's last day at the most iconic of London landmarks. It was a gorgeous day and we made the most of it! f4, 1/640s |
So, there it is. The summation of our sisterly adventures. I hope you've enjoyed the journey. Of course, there are more stories, laughter and nonsense hidden behind these images that will only ever be truly understood by me, Hailey and Ruby.
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