Oban, the Isle of Mull, and the Isle of Iona (Pictures!)

I live in a beautiful part of the world. I have a gorgeous view of the Rockies everyday as I drive home from work. I can step out my front door, and above the trees in our neighborhood, see the peaks of mountains--mountains that are an hour's drive away, a couple hours to get nearly into their heart. Scenes like the ones to the left take my breath away, but are relatively commonplace. We have beautiful lakes and springs. Sometimes, in the spring, everything is so green. I've seen snow-covered mountainsides looking like their wearing robes made of diamonds. We have various trees, tons of wildflowers, and most of the time, earn our nickname of 'Colorful Colorado.'



But.




Maybe it was the adventure, the being far from home, the novelty of it. Or maybe it isn't just my perception. Either way, the city of Oban on the west coast of Scotland, the Isles of Mull and Iona, this part of the Inner Hebrides, was the most beautiful place I've ever been. All of Scotland was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. But Mull and Iona--breathtaking. So peaceful. So quaint. So lovely, so...heavenly. Gah, I'm getting--travelsick? Anyway.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

After driving for a few hours past this kind of scenery:

How could it possibly get better?

And then...the outskirts of Oban:

View from in front of our hotel:

On the ferry to Mull:

Mull

The Isle of Mull. So green. Little towns with houses made out of brick, stone, or wood, many with shale roofs. Bracken literally everywhere. Lakes and ponds, so peaceful and dreamlike. Hills and small mountains rolling on. Inlets where the sea pushes its way into the island. We saw an owl and a seal (sadly, I couldn't get good pictures of either). Flowers and dry stone walls. Sheep and cattle. We even saw sheep just walking along down the path. A telephone box overgrown with weeds and grass.

On the ferry to Iona:

Iona. So cute and quaint and quiet and beautiful. First, we had lunch in this little diner. I met this funny/neat old man from England (maybe Yorkshire, I can't remember now) who was in the navy, and then bought a boat when he retired and sailed around the world. A few times. He'd been almost everywhere. Pretty neat. And then, to my right, out the window, I could see the sea and Mull.

After lunch, I walked through the old nunnery. Ruins now, and a memorial to those who came to this peaceful island to be with the Lord.

The nunnery:

Then I visited the Iona abbey. Iona is recognized as one of the oldest and most important centers of Christianity in western Europe, and was influential in spreading Christianity  through Scotland. The first abbey on (or near) the spot was a monastery founded by St. Columba in 563 A.D. St. Columba was an Irish missionary, who sailed to Scotland to spread the gospel. In 1203 Benedictine monks founded a monastery on the site. During the 15th century the abbey was expanded, but was abandoned when its monks were dispersed following the Scottish Protestant Reformation. In 1899 the abbey was rebuilt when the Duke of Argyll gave the buildings to the Church of Scotland. The Iona community was founded by Rev. George MacLeod in 1938, and the buildings were further restored. It was so neat to stand in a place that has been a center of worship since the 6th century. It's a beautiful abbey.

The abbey:

The two columns that are different (on the left) are the only
original columns remaining.

After visiting the abbey, I went shopping. Cute little shops, three of them, I think. The main was was part gift shop, part grocer, part launders. I got some wool scarves with traditional Scottish print.

Then I went down to the beach.

I think I love the sea. I can't wait to see the ocean. The Lord had blessed us. It had been rainy in the morning, then beautiful and sunny once we got across Mull. It had rained a little in the afternoon, and now it was a little cloudy and slightly windy. But still beautiful. I stood there as small waves rolled up across the white sand. The sea rushed into the spaces between rocks, surging and then falling back again. The air smelled fresh and clean. Above me and to my left, people talked as they waited for the ferry back to Mull. On the hill behind me, which I had walked down to get to the beach, weeds and bushes grew among the rocks and sand. Seaweeds could be seen under the water off the beach. A crab leg lay on one of the rocks. Seagulls few by, floating on air currents. I leaned against a large black rock as the breeze played with my hair, gently blowing moisture into my face.

I could have stayed there forever.

I've decided, if I ever live in Scotland, it would be in northern Scotland, on the outskirts of a medium-sized city, within driving distance of the Hebrides.

My Favorite Places Visited!

Well, I've been back for about four days now. Craziness. So, I just thought I'd post a few photos on here, and let you know what my favorite parts of the tour were.

 1. Isles of Iona and Mull

Breathtakingly stunning. All of Scotland was, but particularly the brief look I got at the Hebrides. The pictures just don't cover it. If I ever lived in Scotland, it would have to be not too far from the sea (but not too close, either, I have this fear of hurricanes and tsunamis, heh). Look for more about Iona later.

2. Stirling Castle
Best castle we visited, that's my opinion. So cool. And scenic. Central Scotland is beautiful. And the castle overlooks where, during the 1st Scottish War for Independence, William Wallace and Andrew Morray lead the Scots against a significantly larger English force in 1297, crushing them in the battle of Stirling Bridge.

View of River Forth, fields where battle was fought,
Abby Craig,  and the Wallace Monument

Wallace and Morray hid on Abbey Craig, having the advantage of the high ground. The English forces, lead by the Earl of Surrey and Hugh de Cressingham, where on the opposite bank of the River Forth. The earl realized his disadvantage, and sent a message to Wallace. But Wallace refused to surrender, sending back a strong-willed, defiant retort that angered the earl. Spurred on by his anger, the earl attacked, opting to cross the narrow Stirling Bridge, which was closer to Wallace, but could only fit two men abreast, rather than traveling further away to a ford where more men could have crossed at once. Wallace waited until just as many English as he knew he could defeat had crossed the bridge, and then the Scots fell upon the English. It was a massacre. The earl (the coward) escaped, but the English force was laid waste, saving Scotland from English conquest.

Edinburgh Castle

3. Edinburgh/Edinburgh Castle
Was very impressive. Awesome castle. Capitol of Scotland.
Royal Mile has nice shops. I did most of my souvenir-purchasing there.

4. London
It's so big! So much to see! And so much history! A person could spend a lifetime there, just taking it all in, I'm sure. Within London, my favorite place we visited was either St. Paul's Cathedral or the Tower of London.

St. Paul's is so gorgeous. I do believe the most beautiful church I saw, and we visited several. It's so amazing how it was spared through WWII, and became a beacon of hope to the British.

The Tower was very neat. It was the first real castle I've been to, and I was impressed. A TON of history there, too. Weirdest fact: Did you know they keep 6 ravens within the castle grounds? Apparently, there were always ravens in the Tower. One of the kings's (one of the Jameses, I think, I can't remember) wives didn't like the ravens, so the king was going to get rid of them. However, someone told the king about a popular legend that the day the ravens left the Tower, the monarchy would fall. So the king decreed that there must always be 6 ravens in the Tower. So to this day, there have always been 6 ravens keep on the ground. Their wings have been clipped so they can't fly away. However, one did escape. Other than that, the only time there have been less than 6 ravens in the Tower was during WWII, when several of them died from shock during the bombings.

5. York

York Minister

Lots of history, here too! (I have a thing for history, if you didn't notice.) Constantine was crowned emperor of Rome here, there are remains of Roman walls and standing Roman/Norman walls, all kinds of Viking artifacts, and--we were almost to Scotland! ;) York Minster Abbey was my second favorite of the churches we visited, I think.

6. Windsor
A grand castle, to be sure. No wonder it's the Queen's favorite. Again, lots of history. Gorgeous interior, wish I could have gotten pictures. Queen Ann's dollhouse--astounding.

7. Oxford
To eat, talk, stand, and walk where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien ate, talked, stood, and walked--priceless. Seeing what they saw. Amazing!

Windsor

The Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford

Update! :D

Hey all!
Sorry I haven't posted anything in days. :-/ The internet's been slow and dodgy at every hotel, and I have't had a ton of time. So when I do get time, I just download photos to the laptop, and then upload them to Facebook!

But here's what I've been up to, and what I've enjoyed the most.

Let's see...

Day 3. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral. ABSOLUTELY. GORGEOUS. It was unbelievable. So much beauty, and all to the glory of God! Astounding. And it's so old. It's so cool how it survived WWII and became a beacon of hope to the people of Great Britain during such a difficult time. Then we went to Westminster Abbey. Also so beautiful. I love Gothic archicture, it's so awesome looking. Another great building all for the glory of God. It was neat to be in a place with so much history, too. I stood and walked where royalty have walked--for coronations, weddings--so cool! After that some of us went to the British Museum and saw THE Rosetta Stone, and statues from THE Pantheon! And then went to Covent Gardens, which is like a covered shopping center. Also, today was my first time riding a tube (subway).

Day 4.
In the morning we went to Greenwich (pronouced Gren-ich), and the Royal Observatory, and stood on the Meridian line--0 degrees latitude and longitude--so I stood in the East and West hemispheres at once. Then we sailed down the Thames (Tems), which was really cool (and kinda cold). Then we went to the Tower of London, which was AWESOME. Loved it. Saw the Crown Jewels, SOOOOO SPARKLY. O.O :D Then we rode on the London Eye, which was also pretty cool. After dinner and another visit to Covent Gardens, a couple of us went down to 221B Baker Street. !!!!!

Day 5.
In the morning we went to Windsor Castle. Also LOVED this. The Queen was there, but we didn't see her. Queen Mary's dollhouse is unbelievable. The castle is just so neat. I loved castles. <3 :) Then we went to Oxford and ate at The Eagle and Child Pub--WHERE J.R.R. TOLKIEN AND C.S. LEWIS MET. YEAH. REALLY. !!!

Day 6.
Toured Oxford, which was pretty neat. Went in Christ Church College, which was really cool looking, and where a lot of famous people went, but it's late and I can't think of names right now. For Harry Potter fans, apparently some of it was filmed there. Then we went to the Cotswolds, which is like an area, the closet thing I can think of would be a county. We went to Bourton-on-the-Water, this lovely quainty little town with a peaceful stream full of ducks running through it. It had lots of little shops and little places to have tea right by the stream. We had afternoon tea with scones. SOOOO yummy! Loved that.
Then we went to Stratford, birthplace of William Shakespeare, and saw an magnificent performance of Julius Caesar. All the original dialogue, but it was set in modern-day Africa. It was incredably well done. There were a few scenes where one or another of the actors were shirtless, and you could clearly see their excellent diaphram work (which only theatre people care about, haha). It was a small, three-level theather with a thrust stage, round theather. I had an excellent seat, and really enjoyed the play. I was also thinking in Shakespearian-like rhetoric the rest of the night. Also, a couple of the actors have been in Doctor Who (one of them was Martha's mom) so I was about 25 feet from an actor from Doctor Who!!

Day 7. Today!
We went to Lutterworth and visited St. Mary's Chapel, where John Wycliffe (Morning Star of the Reformation, translated the Bible into English) preached, and where he was buried until his bones (possibly, it could very well have been someone else's bones) where dug up, burned, and thrown on the river Swift. Then we went to Epworth, and saw where Charles and Susanna Wesley lived, and learned more about them. That was pretty neat. Then we drove to York, passing NOTTINGHAM (couldn't see it, but there were roadsigns) and SHERWOOD FOREST! We attended Evensong in York Minster Cathedral, which was pretty cool. Very beautiful, loved hearing them singing and the huge organ playing in that great cathedral. I'd so love to sing in there!

Anway, it's 11:30. And I have to be up early for more touring and awesome things! Can't out any pictures on here now, maybe after I'm home. So. Adieu, for now!

Days 1 and 2!

Chilly high above the Atlantic at 2 in the morning!

G'morin' from London, everybody! It's 7:10 here in Great Britian, midnight for most of you, so by the time you see this, I'll  be well into Day 3 of my United Kingdom adventure.

The flights went well, over all. I made it through security just fine, waited around forever at DIA for my 1st flight, and then (after repeated warning for everybody to turn off all their electronic devices, apparently someone didn't want to cooperate) rode in a plane for the first time ever. I loved it. The rush as the plane increases speed, then climbs into the sky, higher, ever higher, leaving the world behind. There were clouds around DIA. First we were below them. Then they got closer, they were so beautiful. And then we went right through them. I just sat there, staring out the window, grinning, as we soared high above the clouds. ABOVE the clouds! And then the midwest stretched out below us, a giant patchwork quilt. Full of perfect circles in Kansas. What's with those, anyway? Huge circles in the middle of boxes. Sometimes they overlapped, but both were still perfect circles. Weird.

I landed in Terminal C in DFW. I then got to ride the Skyway all the way around the airport to almost the end of Terminal D. I thought the Denver tram was fun, but it was even funnier to be ABOVE GROUND, above the landed planes, even, on the Skyway.

My trans-Atlantic flight was fairly smooth. A few spots of turbulence, but nothing terrible. We got beverages, dinner, and breakfast. The back of the seats had monitors with movies, tv shows, audio, games, and the flight path, which gave up-to-date information on altitude, speed, temp. outside, where we were, what time it was where we were, and how much futher distance and time-wise we had until London, which was all very cool.

However, I don't sleep well on planes. Horribly uncomfortable seats for sleeping in, or to sit in that long at all, actually. I got my back and shoulder all knotted up, but after some advil and stretching last night and an excellent night's rest at the hotel, I'm doing much better.

For the first day in London, we went to Hampton Court Palace, where we ate in one of the king's kitchens, then went on a tour. It was beautiful! I took lots of pictures before the previously-used batteries in my camera died. Good thing I brought a pack!

One of the coolest things about Hampton Court was that, among many other kings (and their queens) who have lived there, King James I lived there. We stood in the very room where he commissioned the King James Bible, (pictured right)  and saw a copy of it in the Chapel Royal. (Sorry, no pictures allowed in the Chapel).

Then we came to the hotel, which, although smaller than our American hotels (as I knew it would be--still, a little surprising), is quite nice. At first I thought the bed a little overly-firm, but I sleep wonderfully. I'm hoping that wasn't pure exhaustion and I'll sleep as well tonight.

The weather's a bit rainy off and on and chilly, but not horrible. Traffic in London, however--they're all insane. ;) I know this cuz I was riding in the front with Rowena (tour guide and roommate) and Colin, our driver. Which means I also got to listen to her East London slightly Americanized accent, and his north England accent, which isn't too far removed from Scottish.

Anyway, I'm off to breakfast. We leave at 8:30 for another day in London-town! :D