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Today was a very cool day.  We learned all about the mythology and mysticism of Ireland.  We went back thousands of years to how Ireland started.  Unfortunately, it rained in the morning so we couldn’t see a lot of the morning but the day got better as we went along.  We all got very wet for a little bit.  We wouldn’t have had a successful trip to Ireland without it raining, right?

The tour was of the Celtic Boyne Valley.  First was the Hill of Tara.  This is when it was raining so we didn’t get a lot of pictures.  This was the ancient seat of power and more than 100 kings were coronated there.  It is also where St. Patrick came to confront the pagans there.

Statue of St. Patrick

Stone of Destiny – it is said that if the true king touches the stone, it screams

Then, to Trim Castle – It is the largest Anglo-Norman castle but it’s better know as the set for many of the scenes in Braveheart (haha).  It’s amazing what they can change a site with the camera.  The Norman architecture featured square edges/towers.  It took 30 years to build this property and it was protected by a curtain wall, moat, and a ditch.

Trim Castle

Where all the scenes were shot

Family photo

poop shoot

Outer walls

underground tunnels

Slits to shoot arrows out of

Gate, fotified

One of the towers

Underground kitchen, also a natural refrigerator

Banquet hall up to, kitchen underground

Loughcrew is the location of passage tombs and megalithic burial chambers that are around 5,000 years old.  In the tombs the ancient carving show us that the people were experts in astronomy and math.  We found carvings that allowed them to tell the beginning of Sping and the beginning of Fall.

The passage mound

Witche’s Rock

Inside the passage tomb

Carvings

Stacked rocks creating the mound

The final stop was to the Hill of Uisneacht.  This is the spiritual center of Ireland.  This is the burial site of the Goddess Eiru (Ireland was named after her), and is the entrance to the 5th province of Ireland – the mythical realm of Mide.  This is where all the provinces come together.  It is the site where the first fire in Ireland was lit, and in more recent times, it is where people come to gather for political and/or social rallies.  The Fairy trees are abundant here and are unique because they grown out of rocks.  You are NEVER to cut down a Fairy tree.  One story that is told over and over again is that they were building a road from the east of Ireland to the west of Ireland.  There was a Fairy tree in the way so they had to spend $10m more Euros to go around it.  Another is that the car company DeLorean was building a car factory in Ireland (did you know that all DeLoreans were built in Ireland?) and there was a Fairly tree on the site where they wanted to build.  One morning the people woke to no tree on the site- someone had cut it down. It is said that this is why DeLorean is no longer!

Underneath a Fairy tree

Beautiful Landscape

The Fairy Tree otherwise known as the Hawthorn Tree

Goddess Eiru

Clovers!

This is a working farm

Our brains were dead by the end of the day with lots of history and names and Gaelic words.  But, it was also a magical day of Fairies, shamrocks, and movie magic.

So, what can I say about Stonehenge. Nothing. The pictures will do the talking. It’s just so grand. So amazing. Just for fun, we were reading reviews on Stonehenge as we were driving and some of it was ridiculous. One reviewer talked only about the cafe – how it was over priced and had bad food. Seriously, it’s a tourist restaurant. Another lady wrote about 8 paragraphs about how dogs were not allowed. She was very upset. People are funny. We had a great time and thought the cafe was wonderful and even thought the gift shop was interesting.

We decided to break up the drive and stay close to Stonehenge tonight so I found a place in Salisbury. Salisbury steak has nothing to do with this town of Salisbury- that’s an American concoction. Just setting the record straight. What a cute town. I picked this town because it was the only place close to Stonehenge that had room enough for the 5 of us. It’s turned out to be a great find. It’s a medieval cathedral city and, boy, does it have a cathedral. It’s grand and gorgeous. We couldn’t go in as there was a service going on. Actually, we could but Jayden didn’t want to. And the town is so so cute. Again, wish we could just hang out here for a few days.

The town’s most recent claim to fame is the recent assassination attempt on the Russian double agent and his daughter. The park where they were found was still roped off. There are police officers guarding the park 24/7, 12 hour shifts. Justin even talked up a cute police woman! 😜

Today was a fascinating day. We started with pasties! What are pasties? It’s a cross between a calzone-look, pastry shell, and a pot pie filling. The inside can be filled with various meats and veggies. Everyone had a traditional one with meat, potatoes, turnips, and onions, and I had one with a Thai filling. Yummy!

Oh, while at the pasty shop we ran into this!!

We took the pasties and went to Roche Rock for lunch. Perched on top of this big rock was a chapel dedicated to St. Michael in 1409. How the heck did they build a chapel on top of this rock?? Seriously, what effort! They really must have liked the rock. Actually, it is a pretty impressive rock and you see as far as you can imagine from this place.

We even picked some fresh wild blackberries along the way.

We then went to see dead Higmans.

This must have been the church that the Higmans attended. Richard traces the Higmans back to Roche in Cornwall.

I think it was dated to about the 1100s.

Then, we walked through the cemetery and saw a bunch of Higmans’ tombstones.

I know you can’t see most of these but it’s very interesting and very old.

So the scandal. We are actually not Higmans but Sticks. We think that Thomas Stick was a farmer and Jenepher Higman worked for him. It was believed that Jenepher had Thomas Stick’s baby but they were not married. Thomas Stick’s father left money for Thomas to provide for John (Higman) until he was 18. But, because John was illegitimate he took his mother’s last name. John was the one who left Cornwall for the U.S. So, we could have easily been Sticks. Actually, by surname, we are Sticks.

We also visited the house John (Stick) Higman was born, what we believe to be the Stick farm.

Ok, now we have a whole new branch of family to explore.

The Roche area is known for China clay (the kind they make plates and such from), tin, and slate. They were all the best in the world but many factories have closed due to cheaper (and lesser quality). We also happened upon a huge slate quarry. This was the largest hole in Europe but has since been overtaken.

Many walls along the road are made of stacked slate. It’s really quite neat.

Some more beautiful views of Trevone Beach where Richard Higman and family live.

And, I met the Queen Mother. What a trip!!

Now, we are off to see Stonehenge!

After a long drive (as in all day) we arrived in Cornwall. I didn’t know that Cornwall had been independent country. Also, people from Cornwall are Cornish. Cornish hens are from here. They still speak as if they’re independent. This is where Justin’s family is from. Through Facebook, we met his 7x cousin once removed. That means Justin’s dad is the 7th cousin.

Just as a side note, I’m posting this one via my phone as the WiFi at this place is less than desirable.

We went to an amazing little hotel with a pub on the coast called the Port William. It’s on the west coast so the sunset was beautiful. It’s literally on a cliff side. The roads were crazy narrow and directions on GPS were not great. But, we found it and in one piece. Views were amazing as was the food. Yummy!!

The next day we set off to meet cousin Richard and his family. They were as great as we expected. They live in Padstow, a very very charming town on the coast. They’re beach people like us. We had a nice surprise in that another one of our cousins was visiting from Essex so we got to meet him too.

Left to Wright: Michael (Richard’s son) Richard (the one who found us) , Mick (from Sussex), Jill (Mick’s wife), and Paula (Richard’s wife). They were so welcoming and funny!! We had such a great time with them.

Below is their house and the Queen Mother welcomed us (look in the window).

They took us to the center of town where there was so much activity. The visitors are mostly domestic and it’s very crowded. Of course we sat down for amazing food again.

If you’re ever in the U.K., come visit Padstow. It’s so so cute!!

In the time we were standing there the tide came in and totally covered up the sandbar.

We are in Glasgow today.  It’s cloudy and rainy so we are taking it easy and getting some work done.  Yesterday was a long drive day and tomorrow will be a long drive day so we’re taking some time to just chill and do some laundry.  The European Championships are being held here, too, so no tours today.  There’s a closing ceremony tonight that we might try to see.

We visited Inverness and the Isle of Skye yesterday and it was truly magical.  I don’t think the pictures will do it justice.  Around every corner of the Isle was one more amazing view after another.  A day here is definitely not enough.  A week is not enough!

Inverness is a bustling little city.  There is a quaint riverwalk with hotels/B&Bs and lots of restaurants everywhere.  The River Ness connects with Loch Ness, where Nessie lives 🙂 We stayed right across the river from the Castle in town and there was a procession of bagpipes in the early evening.  Weather wasn’t great as it rained some, but it could definitely have been worse.

We made a trek to see Nessie today.  Started at the Museum, which was really informative but kind of corny and old.  They definitely need to update their presentation a bit but it was fine. We spotted her!

Look, we found Nessie

Such beautiful scenery

Urquhart Castle stands over Lochness and is one of the largest castles in the Highlands.  The castle was founded in the 13th century and played a role in the Scottish independence in the 14th century.  You’ll see that one Higman is missing.  She is sleeping in the car.

The tallest tower

catapult

Jevyn looking into the distance.

Where is Jevyn??

Found him again!

Picturesque

Pretty awesome!

Castle from a distance

Then, a nice Indian lunch/dinner.  Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs.  Jevyn said he bets all the restaurants love it when we come because we order so much.  Yes, I bet that is true.  It was definitely delicious and we took our leftovers home for dinner.

Lots of food

So so yummy

Next day we were off to the Isle of Skye.  It was a “don’t miss” on all of the research we did.  Seriously, we could have spent a week here.  It is very busy during the summer so if you want to come and spend any amount of time here, book your accommodations early.  A great surprise was that we bumped into our ss Rotterdam!  And, even saw some of the people who we cruised with.

There’s our ms Rotterdam!

cute salt & pepper shakers

menu boards at Cafe Arriba

funniest bathroom yet!

I can’t believe we forgot to take pictures of the food.  It was delicious, especially the muscles!

Now, the scenery.  Apparently, they’re filming a spin off of the King of Thrones here.  Highlanders is filmed here and inspired by the area as well.  This area is known for hiking and Scotland is also a Free to Roam country — remember from Norway?  So, you can pitch a tent anywhere, even on private property.  Again, there are rules but this is pretty cool.  So, if you want to just wonder around, there is plenty to see if you like to hike.  The manager of our place in Inverness is from the Netherlands and she moved here because she likes to hike.  We understand why.

Highlander Cows – they’re hairy and fluffy with long bangs

Sheep are EVERYWHERE!!!

Beautiful waterfalls throughout

No words

The fam!

This is definitely a place we’d like to come back to and spend a couple of weeks.  The amazing scenery never ends.  It was quite cold, though, and it’s the middle of the summer. We saw some guys working in tank tops.  I guess it’s worm for them!

Tomorrow is a long drive day down to Cornwall so there won’t be much.  We are catching up with Justin’s distant relative who we found through Ancestry.com.  He has traced the Higmans back to the 1300s and he’s willing to show us all is research.  This will definitely be a highlight for us.  Stay tuned….

Many of you have been asking about our itinerary.  So, here it is.

First leg was Amtrak from Omaha, NE to Boston, MA.  We spent a few days in Boston then on to the ms Rotterdam.  We have learned that Holland America is targeted to the older crowd.  But, Justin and I enjoyed it because it was so laid back.  Kids… not so much because there wasn’t much to do.

This route isn’t completely right.  We didn’t go to Stavanger, Norway.  Instead, we went to Alesund and Eidfjord.

We missed 2 ports due to weather — Red Bay and Paamiut.

We have now been to London (overnight only but we will be heading back at the end of the month), Edinburgh, and Inverness.  We are headed to Isle of Skye tomorrow then to Glasgow.

That’s it for now.

It must be said that the Higmans have a lot of luggage. (OK, I will get a better picture when we are above ground.)

And, are eating their way through Scotland….  Our tour guide kept saying “it must be said” so I’m figuring it’s a Scottish saying.

Big Scottish Breakfast

“American Pancakes”

Smoothie bowl

Burger

Dinner at the Castle Pub

Drinking J20 – their new favorite drink of passion fruit and orange juices

Udon

Bento Box

aubergine

Black pudding is not our favorite but everything else was good.  Their American pancakes were baked, I think.  Texture and look were a little different but tasted good, nevertheless.

Edinburgh Castle was crazy.  It sits on top of this huge rock.  Did you know that many parts of Scotland were formed via volcanoes.  The landscape is a lot like what we saw in Norway.  I can see why they put the castle up here. It would have been very difficult for anyone to get into.  As with anywhere in Europe during the summer season, there were a lot of tourists.

Edinburgh Castle

So detailed

castle tower

Looking to the new(er) area of Edinburgh

So many tourists

In the living quarters

the Crest

chandelier

Ready, set, shoot!

way up on the rocks

On to Inverness we go.  It is definitely a lot colder here.  We went from 90 degree weather in the Netherlands and London to 60 degrees in Scotland. The landscape is beautiful and very green. We will be exploring Inverness more tomorrow.

Beautiful landscape on the way north.

River Ness

Streetsof Inverness

Finding cute streets in the center of town.

Cute street

Is this Scottish?

We will be heading to Lochness tomorrow to find Nessie!  I’m determined to find her so stay tuned!!

We struggled our way to the car rental and finally, we are off!.  Oh no, I didn’t get a picture of it.  I’ll get one for the next post.

Getting out of London took a long time but we finally arrived in Scotland!  It is as beautiful as we had expected.  The kids were really excited.  Justin is mastering driving on the right side.  We only had one “oopsie” but we are still alive.  Jayden saw the ocean and said she really missed seeing the ocean.  Ummm, haven’t we been on a ship for the last 19 days???????  Our silly girl.

Watch out Scotland! Here come the Higmans

Justin is mastering driving on the right.

The border.

Beautiful sunset

We are finally off the ship and are embarking on the road trip part of the trip!  From Rotterdam we took the Eurostar to London.  It was very comfortable and fast!  Amtrak definitely needs an upgrade!

Through the Chunnel on the Eurostar

Jevy and me.

St. Pancras station.

London lifts are very small.

sushi in Lodon.

Noodles that were not so great.

Of course we had to visit a pub.

Kids and their orange/mango soda.

Cheers, mate!

Of course we had to have sushi on our first night then off to a pub.  The kids thought it was pretty funny that they could go into a “bar.”  We were told that most pubs are family friendly so we took advantage of it.  Cheers!  On to our next adventure!

Our last port is Rotterdam…booo.

We have two days here so we decided day 1 will be Amsterdam (only a 40 minute train ride) then day 2 will be Rotterdam.

First order of business – Apple Store. We needed to unlock Jayden’s phone because she locked it on day 1 of the cruise. We hadn’t even left the U.S., for Pete sake! But, we discovered that a teenager can be without her phone for 2 weeks. It’s possible!!

It took us about two hours to get her phone up and running but we all got to use the wifi to update our iOS and apps, and Justyne got an art app lesson from one of the employees.  The app is really cool and can get really detailed.

Justin had a long conversation with Dennis, an employee, who told us about a great restaurant – Cannibale Royale. I tried a traditional Dutch Bitterball. I had no idea what it was so wanted to try it. Wasn’t really my favorite but wasn’t bad. It’s an acquired taste. The rest of the food was amazing!

Next stop river cruise. But we had an hour to spare so stopped in the Rijksmuseum. We lost the kids a couple of times but ended up finding them. Oh well, we tried.

We forgot to take a picture of our tour guide, Roy, but he was hilarious. He spent some time in Michigan and worked at a Dutch village. When he first started the owner was giving him a tour and he showed him “Tom” plugging a hole in the dike with his thumb. Roy had no idea what the owner was talking about. Apparently, in the Netherlands they don’t learn about the little boy who plugged the dike with his finger to save the entire country from flooding. 😊

Gay pride was the previous week so we got there in time to miss the mayhem. One houseboat was half under water from the partying.

river cruise

Sunken house boat

River cruise

Oh look, there’s Roy!

I think this is one of the Prince’s houses.

What a pretty city. Will definitely be coming back!!

Next stop, Rotterdam! The end of our first leg of the trip…or is it the second leg.  I’m sure I’ll mess it up more than once during the year. Rotterdam is Europe’s busiest port and the 3rd busiest in the world, after Shanghai and Hong Kong.  We also learned the pilgrims left from a neighborhood here in Rotterdam, Delfhaven.  The pilgrims settled in the Netherlands before leaving for the U.S.  I need to brush up on my European history!

Welcome to Rotterdam!

There’s our ship – home for the last 19 days.

We learned that they used the windmills, among other things, to grind grains – for consumption as well as for distilleries.  The neighborhood we loved is Schiedam and was known for having many distilleries.  Many windmills are now museums or even restaurants.

Windmill

Schiedam neighborhood

The highlight was definitely the Markthal and the cube houses.  A smart person bought one of the cubed houses and turned it into a tourist attraction.  Just seeing the number of people in and out I bet they make close to $250 a day. That’s good income!

It was definitely small but looked quite comfortable.  Europe has been experiencing a heat wave, too, so it was quite hot on the top floor with all the glass.  The kids want to buy one as a vacation home.

Our favorite was the Markthal.  Anything having to do with food is our favorite!  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Everything was so beautifully displayed, too.  We discovered that there are hot dog stands everywhere in Europe.  Our new favorite snack is the Stroopwaffle.  So so delicious!

Markthal. The downstairs is the market. All those little windows are homes. I love the use of space.

The most decadent chocolate cake, ever!

Yummy candy.

They love hot dogs in Europe.

Iberian ham.

DONUTS!

mini donuts/cupcakes

Our new favorite snack – Stroopwaffles!!!

Oh, we cannot leave the Netherlands without a shot of bicycles!  Now, this is parking!