Walking to the edge of the Earth

North Wales was beautiful. Snowdon and the surrounding natural sites of the Snowdonia National Park are probably what attract most people to this part of Wales, but for me, what captured my heart was Anglesey. It is an island off the northwest coast of Wales and it was filled with so much serenity and beauty. South Stack was the most anticipated part of my trip to Wales and indeed the most memorable. The South Stack Lighthouse stood there alone on that windy morning, so humble yet so pristine and majestic.

“I walk to the edge of the Earth while you stand half a world away…”

…was all I thought of as I stared into the vast blue. Though Dublin is just on the other side, as I approached I felt with every step closer and closer to the edge of the Earth. It was as if this place held the end of time. I could have stayed there forever.

Basque Country part 4: Biarritz

Last but not least, Biarritz! It’s been more than two weeks, but Biarritz will be the concluding post in the Basque Country series.

Training school finished at around noon on a Saturday. While most people either headed back to Bordeaux with the school shuttle buses or left for their flights back to their host universities, a small group of us had some time to spare. Mariel and I would be taking the 18h45 bus in Biarritz to San Sebastián, while Nhi, Naresh, and Ragu had a train to catch in Bayonne at 18h30. That gave us five hours of free time from 13h00, after lunch. Hmm. Mini-Biarritz exploration team, anyone?

Of course, we decided that the little we saw on the bus to the excursion was definitely not enough, and since we had the time, we took a taxi to the Biarritz town centre to walk around a bit until it was time to go. We were joined by Diana, whose flight was at around 17h00 and who would leave Biarritz at 15h00. A cozy group of six, off we went!

The taxi dropped us off at the Biarritz town centre, and before going anywhere, I needed to head to the tourist information centre to make sure that there was actually a bus later that day that would take Mariel and me to San Sebastián. Biarritz has a very cute tourist information centre – it looks like a noble castle! I would have thought this was a tourist attraction itself, hehe 😉

Tobermory road trip with my ladies

Today’s post is about…Tobermory! Did Annie head back to Canada already? Nope, not a chance, not until September, at least. I was stuck in a gray, melancholic Louvain-la-Neuve this weekend, where the sun has disappeared for no less than a week. Yesterday, I saw sunshine for about five minutes before the dark clouds devoured the light hastily. I was going to go to Maastricht yesterday, and was glad that I didn’t, as the weather would have completely killed the mood. Oh, and I had to go to the lab, that would be the main reason.

So I thought, why don’t I dig out and organize some photos from previous trips that I hadn’t written about? (I still haven’t gotten to Cherbourg and don’t know if I ever will write about it.) I was surprised to find that I actually never wrote about Tobermory, which happened last August during my vacation back home in Canada.

The trip was planned long before I arrived in Canada with the intention of spending a relaxing weekend with my dear ladies Florence and Candy. We chose Tobermory, a tiny place right at tip of the point between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, 273 kilometres north of Toronto. It was far enough to be away from the bustling of the city while close enough to be reached by car in a relatively short amount of time. It would be two fun days of hiking, exploration, mad photo-snapping, girl talks, and generally being in touch with nature.

Setting out from Mississauga at 7 in the morning, we got to Tobermory about two and a half hours later and there began our adventures into the wild.

As soon as we parked the car, we embarked on a journey to Flowerpot Island, a couple of kilometres off the coast of Tobermory in Georgian Bay. Flowerpot Island got its name from the two gigantic rock formations on the island, both of which look like flower pots. We passed by this cute lighthouse during the boat ride to the island.