The Emerald Isle

Hello everyone!

I wanted to give a quick run down of my most recent trip to Ireland. This country is fabulous, and I haven't even been to all parts of it yet. From what I have seen so far, I am in LOVE. The people are friendly and as warm as the pots of tea you get at breakfast. The country is so lovely, no wonder everyone was so kind to us. Not just staffers either, people on the street were the ones that surprised us the most. If we were just a tickle lost, we would pull out our little map and within a minute would have someone come up, ask us if we were okay and if we needed help getting somewhere. Multiple times people did this! I was amazed. In short, cannot wait to go back. Or, depending on how the election results turn out, maybe I'll just live there.

Dublin:
Flew into Dublin via DFW Int. to Newark
We stayed in Jury's Inn off of Parnell Street- this place was very centrally located which is key. A pretty good place, the breakfast was amazing every day. In terms of view, next time I'll stay in the Jury's Inn Christchurch location simply because that church is gorgeous.
We ate in a great pub called Madigans, and it was a good craic (we had a good time).
We walked to Trinity college Dublin and that campus is so pretty. The next day we went back to see the Book of Kells- totally worth it, it was fascinating and the library upstairs is well... spectacular. See below.

The Long Room, Trinity College

Trinity College Campus

The next day we did the hop on/ hop off tour which took us all over- I always recommend doing these in a new city, they take you past the important things and get you around quickly.
Tour of the Guinness Factory, super fun
St. Patrick's Cathedral was amazing and so gorgeous
We had dinner in a cute restaurant near our hotel called Toddy's

Killarney:
Took a train from Dublin Euston station to Cork, but in Mallow is where we changed trains to Killarney. This little town is so small but has SO many cute things about it. I adore this town. I love it so much.
For lunch we stopped in a really authentic pub called The Laurel, and boy it was just like the movies. Everyone knew each other and it was amazing to see. And their lamb stew was to die for.
We did a typical hanson ride/ horse and carriage ride, they call it a "jaunting car" and the driver is the "jarvey". They took us through the Killarney national forest which was stunning, and over to the

Killarney Lake

Killarney lakes and to the ruins of Ross Castle.
We visited other little churches in the city, and did some shopping in their cute stores.
The restaurant we ate at, Caragh's, was perfection. I had no idea such a little place would be so popular by the locals, and with good reason. Their food is exceptional. Also, they have profiteroles which is reason enough to go.
We stayed at a GORGEOUS hotel called the Killarney Plaza. You must stay there if you get the chance. The location is prime, and almost everything is marble. So so pretty.

The Plaza staircase

Ring of Kerry:
We did this trip courtesy of Brendan Vacations, and they booked us a great trip on the Ring of Kerry. A simple bus ride with a very informative driver giving us all information on the way. We were in a medium sized group, about 30 of us. We stopped frequently for pictures, and he brought us to a beautiful spot for lunch. On the way back around we stopped at a weaving store called Avoca, and they had a working fly loom (cue fiber art nerd in me to freak out) and so many beautiful products the irish people make right in the countryside of Co. Wicklow.
Here is their website: http://www.avoca.com
Look at some of the gorgeousness we saw!

On the Ring of Kerry

On the Ring of Kerry

On the Ring of Kerry

Lady's Point, on the Ring of Kerry

I recommend always having either a private driver or a bus take you anywhere in Ireland if you're an American, because they do drive on the left side of the road like the UK, and their traffic laws are different than ours. Also, the majority of most rental cars are stick shifts. They know more about the area because they live there! So, on a vacation you want to be stress-free, right? Why drive when someone who knows it better than you can navigate it, show you places you wouldn't normally see on your own, and tell you all about it on the way? Something to think about.

Dingle Peninsula:
This was probably my favorite day of being in Killarney. We had a private driver just take us 3 along the Dingle Peninsula and it was just amazing. He knew so much history from growing up near there and raising a family there, so he knew all the cool places to go.

He would stop wherever we wanted to stop for pictures, and for fun things he saw just randomly on the road. He saw a sign at someone's farm to feed a baby lamb, so he let me get out and bottle feed a few of this guy's sheep. Funny enough, he spoke to him as if he'd known him forever, but he'd never met him. He only knew the man's mother. He even told us, he'd "never met a stranger." I think that is similar with many Irish people, and something that I loved about being there

Because Star Wars episode VIII had just finished being filmed there, he knew exactly the locations we were interested in seeing, and that will be in the next movie. It was so great.

Can't wait to see it in the film!

Countryside

Feeding sheep

Beautiful landscape, along Slea Head Drive

Louis Mulcahy Pottery Studio

So this tour is definitely one to do for sure. The weather was perfect in late October, this is certainly the time to go. It never rained on us, not once. It wasn't even all that cold, mid 60's all the time. A wonderful time to go. I'll have to go back in the spring, around early May to visit the Skellig Islands, where they did shooting of Star Wars also. The pottery studio was gorgeous as well, Louis Mulcahy Pottery along Slea Head Drive. It was AMAZING. Such craftsmanship, such quality, and beauty. I will be buying some items on their website, they ship worldwide. http://www.louismulcahy.com

Our next day in Killarney we did the Cliffs of Moher and then drove to County Cong where Ashford Castle is located. It was a pretty long drive, about 6ish hours, but very beautiful none the less. However, next time I would allow at least 3 hours at the cliffs, just to enjoy it and to walk along all of it. And perhaps an extra day in which I would like to travel out to the Aryan Islands.

The gorgeous Cliffs of Moher

Ashford Castle:
Guys. This place. This place is so worth staying at. This place is worth spending as much time at as possible. This place is worth building an entire vacation around. It is a wonderful, magical place. A bucket list kind of thing certainly. It's a 5 star hotel, with a 5 star restaurant. And, it's a fricken castle. I might never do it again but I hope to! So, as you can image, this place is just opulence opulence opulence. Over-the-top amazing, attention to detail, luxury. Blew my mind. I was so impressed at every single detail. We get there, we get taken into a large sitting room with a huge fireplace, a huge vase of fresh cut roses, a huge crystal chandelier, huge oil paintings dating back hundreds of years.

We get personally escorted to our rooms, and shown how our keys work. They just recently did a $80 million renovation, and so everything has been upgraded and elevated, especially in technology terms. A wave of the key over a pad opens the door, and upon hanging the key on its hook allows the electricity into the room (energy saving awesomeness) and all controls for the bathroom are on a touch pad and with a simple touch, turns on the lights, even a towel and floor warmer. The room controls are all next to the bed as well as near the door, and they control all lights and curtains. So, you don't even have to get out of bed to turn on the lights, or open the curtains (also done by a button), and the thermostat is just a simple touch dial, easy to work.

Every single room is different, none is decorated the same. Gorgeous fabrics cover the walls, marble floors and sinks, beautiful brocade curtains, paintings, a big flat screen tv (complete with a welcome screen and your name when you first check in), and a wonderful turn down service with more surprises! Chocolates, candles, soft music, slippers, omg.

We did archery, horse back riding and afternoon tea during our day there. Ate in their 5 star King George V dining room. Explored the grounds and the labyrinth of corridors in the castle itself. My dad took part in their cigar room, which is attached to their billiards hall. And we walked to the neighboring tiny village called Cong, where they filmed "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I've never seen a town so proud of a film having been filmed there than the town of Cong. Afternoon tea was probably my favorite; with finger sandwiches, scones, hot tea and desserts, it was perfect.

Afternoon tea

The main sitting room

Horseback riding

Ashford Castle

The bridge

Archery

Galway to Dublin:
We had a driver take us to Galway and we took a train back to Dublin and enjoyed a parade put on by the Bram Stoker Festival of Dublin. Everyone gets into the halloween spirit there and so seeing that in action was a treat.

So very sad to leave! But very excited to come back!



In short, this is the amount of time you'll need to see all the stuff you want: Stay in Dublin 2-3 days, build some extra days in here to go to north Ireland perhaps and other day trips by train, stay in Killarney 3 days, and stay in ashford castle 3-4 days. Definitely leave the castle for last, you won't get anything better than that so leave it for last.




In the words of the Irish: We had a grand time, yeah. Thanks a million, we had a good craic.
XOXO

Life Update, New Trips

Hello!

Life has a way of getting away from us every once in a while. Mine certainly has! Sorry for not updating! After creating my new site last year, I have since graduated from college with my BA in Studio Art and held a number of fun jobs with multiple companies! Firstly I finished out my stint in retail to be on staff at Shakespeare Dallas in their costume department, first as an intern on She Stoops to Conquer and Richard III. Secondly, after those productions ran I was the assistant costume designer on their fall production of The Tempest. I am currently in a position with Mulberry Lane Studios as an intern photographer on track to be a full time photographer. We work with newborns, maternity and families, 3D sonograms and also do some boudoir and weddings.

Just a few weeks ago I was taking a trip to New Mexico, and I am finishing up a fabulous trip in Ireland. I have a newfound love for both places and I certainly cannot wait to get myself back across the pond. Images from those are on my Instagram and my Flickr.

I'll do a quick comprehensive of my Ireland trip complete with images and places to eat and stay in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by!
Logan

New site!!!!

My new online portfolio just went live! Check it out!

http://logantscandling.yolasite.com

As always, my social media sites are here, here and here

What's next for me?

Ciao :)

So, leaving off from my last post, my boyfriend came to visit and while he was there I packed for 2 more trips. I packed for the beach- South Padre Island which we stay at for a week every year with my aunt and uncle- we rent a condo and it's wonderful. And then I packed for summer school. I have to take 2 classes this summer: british literature and jewelry making/ metalsmith.

We just came back from the beach, we had a wonderful time. I am now currently in waco, about to unpack my things for the 4 weeks of summer school I have here. In July, will then continue working in my store that I have been working at, and then in August I begin my final semester at baylor :) and then, who knows? Maybe an internship back in italy? :) we'll have to wait and see!

xoxo

This is the end....

Ciao :(

I'm so sad that study abroad is over! Gosh, I have learned so many things in my 4 months away!!!! Well first things first, I'll talk about my last few days.

-Lots of gelato was consumed, we went to our favorite little hangouts, my roommates and I took lots of pictures together, and there was some tears. But we were all excited to go home honestly, we missed simple things like hearing english spoken everywhere. So after we checked out of our apartment on the last day, Taylor left first to the airport and she made it home first. Maggie left second, she ran to the train station to catch a train to Milan to meet up with a family friend until her family met up with her. They traveled around for another week. And Ashton and I left at about the same time, her brother and her stayed with her grandparents until her parents got there, and they also travelled around for another week.

I had to transfer my bags to a hotel room for the night, because my flight was the next morning. I spent the day walking around, eating lots of my favorite food I knew I wouldn't get again, and watching ALL my friends back home graduate. I watched all 3 ceremonies. I found the rose garden by Piazzale Michelangelo and stayed there for a while- it was beautiful. Walked the beautiful streets of florence while I shopped for last minute souvenirs that wouldn't be able to fit in my suitcase but I made them fit. I had dinner alone at one of my favorite restaurants and tried not to think of how much I was going to miss that place.

I took a taxi ride early in the morning to the airport where I was put on an earlier flight to Paris. The paris airport is amazing :) I had a 5 hour layover there, then the 9 hour flight over the atlantic. I finally landed in Atlanta, and the line for customs was so long, it made me miss my connecting flight to dallas by 10 minutes. So I had to be put on the standby list for the next one. But praise God that I got the last seat on the flight by flying standby, and I made it home after about 18 hours of straight traveling. My luggage arrived before me, but my lovely parents got it before I landed. Finally was back in the states and it felt so good :)

Thats all for now

Day trip to Lucca | Aperitivo | Day trip to Pisa

Ciao :)

-This has been the time of the day trips lately. Because we don't want to pay for hostels or B&B's, we just have been traveling around seeing little cities nearby for the day. Luckily we all figured out how to navigate the train system and we just take a train.

-May 6 Lucca
I went with a classmate from my architecture class to this city for making up the field trip we had missed the weekend before (I was in london and she and been somewhere else also and we had booked those before we knew the date of the class field trip). So we just went there, saw some churches and other architectural sites that the class saw. Got some food, and just walked around! It was a nice little trip, a beautiful city very small but cute. They call the architecture Pisian, which means derived from the architecture found in Pisa, which was good because the next weekend i went to pisa and got to see the similarities.

-May 7 Aperitivo
Our school has a cooking school in it also, which they put on an aperitivo every week. Basically appetizers and drinks made by the kids in the cooking school. It's all really good stuff, authentic Italian food and things Italians would eat at aperitivo. This is a very commonplace thing, done before dinner frequently. We later went out to dinner, and went to a place to dance. It was all very fun, and I had never done any of it before, so that was a fun thing to do with all my roommates and their friends right before finals were going to start.

-May 9 Pisa
We went for the leaning tower pictures of course :) small little city but so fun! Lots of adorable little shops, and actually some high end stuff. The leaning tower is beautiful, so gorgeous. As is the cathedral and the baptistry which are all right by it. and it really was similar to the architecture in Lucca, must have been by the same architect or a pupil. Last day trip we were able to do :/ bittersweet it all came to an end so fast! The next week was finals week.

Ciao

London calling!!!!!

May 1-3

-Sorry this is late! Busy busy.

-This was our last roomie trip together so we wanted to do something big. We tried to do Budapest and Prague but it was hard to get there from italy. So next choice was London, because none of us had been there. We took an early bus to Pisa where we flew on an airline called Ryanair- because they are so cheap they don't fly into many large airports but hey, we were going to London so we didn't care :) Finally got to London in a few hours to Stansted airport, where we had to take another hour bus ride to the city center, where we took a double decker bus to a stop near our hostel (finally! It was basically a whole day of traveling).

-We walked around, and saw we were right by king's cross station which happens to be a tube stop, so we bought oyster cards (reloadable cards you put money on to ride the tube) and we went to see some stuff straight off! Saw Big ben, the London eye at night, thames river, telephone booths, we went to starbucks, randomly saw a spanish culture festival where there was live music, food, and other cool stuff. We got dinner in a place recommended to me by some friends that had gone a few weekends prior to us- I had curry which was delicious! We later went to a pub for a drink (!!!) And then crashed in our beds. Our hostel wasn't bad, 4 to a room (so luckily we didn't have strangers) and we shared a bathroom with the hall- so basically freshman year of college communal bathrooms. They were a little strange, because in one stall there was a sink, shower and toilet in that order, separated by curtains haha. But hey, they made the small space work, and it was fine for two nights.

-Next day we got up super early to get our picture at the Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 setup inside King's cross station-- we were first in line, actually there was no line up yet heh heh we beat everybody by getting up at 6 am :) then we ran around all day long! saw the harry potter gift shop, parliament, shakespeare globe theatre, a cool vintage bookmarket underneath the waterloo bridge, an ethnic food festival was going on by shakespeare's theatre so we had lunch there (I had a moo pie which was essentially a meat pie), and kept going and occasionally taking the tube to get us around. The tube is wonderful and very easy to navigate. It was wonderful. we saw tower bridge, london bridge, took cute pictures by the phone booths, st paul's cathedral, westminster, buckingham palace (actually we went there the DAY the princess Charlotte was born :) how cool are we???) Trafalgar square, and we actually found Abbey Road out in westminster and we did the picture in the crosswalk :) we also had afternoon tea in a little teahouse, because that's what you have to do.

-We had dinner in a pub (I got fish and chips of course, what else) and almost everything was going so well, until at dinner my roommate had her purse stolen. So unfortunate and soooo scary- luckily she had her passport, our plane tickets and cellphone back at the hostel. She cancelled her cards and lost some money, but it could have been way worse.

-We had to leave at 3 am, which sucked, because we had to taxi to the bus station, then bus to the airport, go through customs, and then board our flight to a city called Perugia in italy. Then we took a train from Perugia to Florence where we all happily arrived. We were excited with the fun weekend, the things we saw and with our souvenirs we got, but still freaked out from the purse-stealing situation and drained from all the traveling... and yet we all had homework due next day haha. So homework sucked but hey, we spent the weekend in London :) it wasn't perfect, but I was able to do it with my friends and it was awesome.

Ciao for now