UK trip week 2

On Saturday, we went to a discovery museum in Belfast called W5 (who, what, when, where, why). At the exhibit in the picture, Brandan and Sofi made motor-powered cars that they then got to race on a special track nearby. The other exhibits included Flight, Motion, Senses, and Animals.

Paul drove us around to see places our family had lived hundreds of years earlier. We appreciated his gift, as gas is over $7 a gallon.

After a relaxing Sunday, we caught a ferry to Scotland, then spent the day visiting towns where our ancestors lived, looking for family names in old church cemeteries, and making our way to the city of Edinburgh.

Tuesday, we spent at Edinburgh's records office called the Scotlands People Centre. We got a lot of research done. On Wednesday, we went on this underground tour. During the 1700's, they decided to rebuild parts of Edinburgh. Instead of knocking down the old buildings, they just leveled them off, and used them as foundations. This left a whole bunch of underground passageways and rooms. In between the buildings are narrow outdoor hallways called closes. The name of the tour is called Mary King's Close. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures, so here is a picture of a normal, aboveground close.

 On Wednesday, we went on a tour of Mary King's Close, narrow corridors under the old city.

 

There was a beautiful park right next to the Royal Mile. 

Later on Wednesday, we went to this place called The Camera Obscura. A camera obscura is a giant periscope on the top of a building, that projects down onto a white table in a dark room. By turning the periscope, you can get a 360˚ view of the city in live motion. There were a lot of other exhibits dealing with illusions and tricks too. This here is Brandan standing in a tunnel of lights. It's two mirrors facing each other, reflecting lights back and forth endlessly.

Here's a picture of Sofi being headless in another exhibit in the camera obscura.

 

On Thursday, we visited Edinburgh Castle. Inside, we saw places like the Chapel (built in the 12th century), the Dungeons, and the Great Hall.

 

Friday, we headed back to Belfast, and stayed with Kathleen again before catching our plane on Saturday. Here we are with Paul and Kathleen. We were grateful for the wonderful hospitality our distant cousins provided us, both in Belfast and in Dungiven.

As we were landing in LA on the way home, we were descending through the clouds, and hit a place where we were above one layer, and below another. Just a beautiful view. Our trip was amazing, but coming home was even better. We love our family!