Edinburgh, Scotland

OK, last post about traveling, I promise!  A few months ago a good friend of mine suggested we enter the Edinburgh Marathon.  After I stopped rolling on the floor with laughter she said, "well we could do the marathon relay" and then I was like, "sign me up!"  We ended up in Scotland with 14 girls.  We had 8 girls running the marathon relay, 4 girls that ran the 10K, 1 girl that ran the half marathon and then one cheerleader (that makes 14, right?)  It was so much fun and the weather in Scotland was AMAZING!  I totally fell in love with Scotland.  I missed out on seeing the town of St. Andrews and I was sort of bummed about that but it just gives me a great excuse to come back again some day.  A huge shout out goes to our husbands who watched all our kids over the long Memorial Day Weekend.  All together, these moms left a total of 30 kids behind...thanks Dads...you did a great job:)

Reporter: "So girls, how do you all feel about being in Scotland without your kids?"

...I guess you can tell the answer:)

We flew into Edinburgh really late on Thursday (May 24th).  Friday morning 10 of us squeezed into two rental cars to drive 3 hours up to Loch Ness.  This is Jody, our fearless driver.  I'm so glad it wasn't me that had to drive on the wrong side of the road!  

On the way up we stopped at Scones Castle.  Can you believe that white peacock was just laying on the lawn like that?  How picturesque can you get?

Loved the shaggy highland cow (or highland coo if your from Scotland)

The Stone of Scone (or Stone of Destiny).  This is a replica of the real stone that is now housed in the Edinburgh Castle.  For centuries the Kings of Scotland were crowned on this stone at this site.  Even today, when a crowning takes place, the Stone of Scone is sent down to Westminster Abby for the ceremony and then returned to Edinburgh.

Eating cream and jam scones at Scones Palace, too yummy for words.

The grounds around the Palace were beautiful.  Here we all are posing in the branches of the very first Douglas Fir planted in Great Britain (straight from the pacific NW, where we're headed in 2 weeks).

After wandering around Scones Palace we were off to search for Nessie.  We kept seeing these yellow flowering bushes everywhere.  I'm not sure what they were but they were very vibrant against the glowing green of the Scottish countryside.

At Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness.  I looked and looked but no sign of Nessie

Saturday morning we woke up and all cheered for our friends that ran in the 10K.  Here they are after the race, don't they look super excited to be done?

After we congratulated our friends it was time to see a bit of Edinburgh.  First, lunch.  This waffle was topped with bacon and brie and then drizzled with maple syrup, oh so goooood.  I also tried haggis, by the way and it was really yummy too.  I'm convinced everything just tastes better in Scotland:)

St. Giles Cathedral.  I loved how the top of this church looks like a crown.

Inside St. Giles.  I loved the blue ceiling.

Pretty little angel inside the Cathedral.

Walking along the "Royal Mile."  Charee and I couldn't help but do a jig when we saw this bag piper.

Edinburgh Castle.

Inside the Castle we got to see the real "Stone of Scone" which was pretty cool (but no pictures were allowed).  We also saw the room that Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to King James I.  This is a photo of me outside the Scottish National War Memorial which is located on the Castle grounds.

Cool cannon looking out from the top of the Castle.

Walking all over a city makes me hungry for waffles with nutella:)

Sunday was race day!!!  I was leg 4 for our relay team so I got to run the glory miles and come in at the finish line.  Man, I felt like I was running soooo fast because I kept passing all these people!  Then I realized, I was running fresh at mile 22 and passing all the marathon runners that had been running for 22 miles already...so I guess that's why I was passing everyone:)

They made all the relay team members wear these tags on the back.  I guess it didn't make the marathon runners feel so bad when someone passed them if they had one of these bright yellow signs on:)

My relay team: Pam (7.6 miles) Me (4.6 miles) Sarah (8.4 miles) Charee (5.6 miles)  I was so proud of myself.  I ran my leg at a personal best time of 46 minutes!

This is a photo of all the girls that ran the marathon relay.  We had two teams of 4.  It was so much fun to run this race.  Everyone was out on the roadside cheering for all the runners and little kids would run up and give you a high 5...it was a real community event and lots of people came out to support the 27,000 runners.

We had just enough time on Sunday afternoon to see one more site in Edinburgh, Calton Hill.  This hill is in the middle of the city and from here you can see all of the city and out to the Firth of Forth, which leads to the North Sea.

On Calton Hill with the city of Edinburgh behind us.  

At the airport on Monday morning.  I had so much fun with these ladies.  We laughed and played all weekend, and who couldn't use that every once in a while?

Stockholm, Sweden

We did not have enough time in Stockholm.  We could have easily spent another 3-4 hours and still had more to do!  I would definitely come back and visit when I had more time to explore and enjoy this beautiful city.  I loved all the canals and bridges and old buildings and statues...So much to see, too little time.

Beautiful!

Picturesque!

Fabulous Old City!

The sky line was so great with towers and steeples poking up all around

The City Hall.  Biggest bummer of this city was that the City Hall was closed for a private event so we couldn't take a tour.  I really wanted a tour because this is where the Nobel Prize Banquet is held each year and the interior is supposed to be amazing!!!

Oh well, if you can't go inside City Hall, go inside a church:)  This Cathedral had the best statue of St. George slaying the Dragon.  As Rick Steves put it, "the gnarliest dragon's head in Europe!"

Loved this lions happy face

We watched the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace...pretty unspectacular, but in the summer there is supposed to be a big parade and band that goes along with the guard change...I guess I'll just have to come back in the summer:)

Every time you turned a corner you had to take a picture!

This sculpture is the smallest of the 600 sculptures in Stockholm.  You're supposed to rub his head for good luck but I figured I would get even more luck if I kissed his little bald head.

After Stockholm we headed back to Copenhagen on the ship and then drove 12 hours back to our homes in Germany.  What a wonderful trip!  I got to see so many places and I got to spend some time with fabulous friends.

Helsinki, Finland

The next port for our ship was Helsinki, Finland.  It was so nice to be able to walk around this great city and explore on our own.  The "site" to see in Helsinki is the Temppeliaukio Church (don't ask me how to pronounce that.)  Other than that church the best thing to do in this city is walk around and enjoy the well laid out streets and the 1800's architecture.

Outside the Temppeliaukio Church.  Built in 1969, this church was blasted out of solid rock and capped with a copper roof.

The copper roof.  It was constructed from a copper coil that was 13 miles long!

We saw this statue and had to have a photo

We took a taxi up to the Helsinki Temple.  Jody and Jenn went in for a session but Paula and I opted to do a bit more exploring of the city.

Supposedly if you are a virgin and walk in front of this statue they bang the anvil with their giant hammers.  

Lutheran Cathedral.  I loved the steps leading up to the church and I loved the symmetry of this building.

You can find these "bridges of love" all over Europe.  The happy couple puts a lock on the bridge and then throws the key into the water below.

Uspenski Cathedral.  The Finnish Orthodox church in Helsinki.

I loved this little turtle sculpture, it was the perfect resting spot after wandering around the city all day.

Paula and I ended our day with a walk along the waterfront.  Earlier in the morning it had poured down rain but by the afternoon it was sunny and beautiful.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

The main reason I wanted to take this cruise was to visit Russia.  I had always wanted to go and I had heard that it's pretty hard to get a personal Visa to travel to Russia so I was excited the cruise ship handled all the red tape for me.  On the down side, since I didn't have my own Visa I had to stay with the organized cruise excursion group the whole time...I hated that.  I just wanted to wander around the city and explore on my own but I wasn't allowed to.  So, if you go, make sure you organize your own Visa, even if it's a hassle.  I was very surprised by how Westernized this city was.  Most of the buildings reminded me of Venice or Salzburg or Rome or Berlin.  It turns out that Tsar Peter the Great (who founded St. Petersburg) intended it to be modeled after all the architecture he had seen while visiting Europe.  So it wasn't as "Russian" as I thought it would be.  Another interesting thing I found out is that St. Petersburg is actually a city of islands, all connected together by bridges.  It was a fascinating city and I loved every minute we were there, I just wish I could have explored on my own.

We were docked in St. Petersburg for two days.  The first day we visited the Hermitage Art Museum and the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood and in the evening we went to a Russian Folk Dance Show.  It was a long but fabulous day.

The Hermitage museum is actually housed in the Winter Palace of the Tzars.

Inside the Hermitage.  Each room was beautiful because of the room itself, you almost forgot to look at the paintings.  These were some of my favorites:

"La Danse" by Matisse

"The Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt

My favorite painting was "Madonna Litta" by Leonardo Da Vinci.  I loved how the little baby was looking around while he was nursing, just like my little Julian used to do.

Very accurate picture of how we all felt after touring this museum.  It's a fabulous museum but it's very crowded and there's a lot to see, it sort of makes you tired in your mind and your body.

I love this picture with Jenn wearing her Russian hat!

After we had a bite to eat for lunch we were ready for more sites.  This is the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood and was probably my favorite site in St. Petersburg.

Do you see that artwork?  Floor to ceiling MOSAICS!  Tiny little pieces of stone put together to make these wonderful scenes...simply amazing!

The canal behind the church.  It was on this spot, in 1881, that Tzar Alexander was assassinated.  This church was built by his son to honor his father.

I loved this beautiful iron fence surrounding the church

That evening we went to a wonderful Russian Folk Dance performance.  The cruise was offering two excursions for the evening, a ballet or the folk dance.  I'm so glad we saw the folk dance.  It was so energetic and entertaining...I think I would have fallen asleep at the ballet.

My friend, Paula, wanted to sit in the very front row so she could get good pictures.  It kind of backfired on her because at one point in the show the dances came down into the audience to find someone to come on stage with them.  Paula was the first one they saw so they picked her.  She was a good sport but she was pretty mortified to be up on stage with a bunch of people watching her:)

Day two we went to the Peterhof Palace and Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peterhof Palace was Tzar Peters attempt to replicate Versailles.  It was a beautiful palace but I have seen so many palaces in Europe, I think I'm getting a bit jaded.

This is the back of Peterhof.  The fountains turned on at 11:00, just as we were exiting our tour.  It was pretty spectacular.  No pictures were allowed inside the palace, so you will just have to visit and see what you think.

One of my favorite pictures of the four of us.  Jenn, Paula, me and Jody, we had such a blast together!

We had a bit of time before our hydrofoil boat ride back into the city so we wandered around the Palace gardens.  It was still a little too early in the season for the flowers but it was relaxing to be out in the open, away from the crowds for a few minutes.

There were fountains all around the gardens.  I wish we could have wandered around for a bit longer but we had to make it to the boat on time.

I had never ridden in a hydrofoil boat before.

This is a pretty bad picture of Paula but the seats on this boat were so cool.  You sat down and you could lean back about 45 degrees.  All four of us slept on the ride back to the city.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral inside the Peter and Paul fortress.  This fortress was built as a protection against the Swedish who kept attacking St. Petersburg to claim it for their own.

All the Tzars, from Peter I to Alexander III are buried in this Cathedral.

After touring around the fortress we were taken to an area of town with lots of shops so we could get some souvenirs.  I found a Russian Nativity and I was pretty happy, it was really the only thing I wanted from Russia.

St. Petersburg was wonderful.  I really want to go back on my own (or better yet, with Hyrum) and explore all the things I didn't get a chance to see.