The Kelpie, Mythical Scottish Water Horse

During our trip to Scotland, we went to Falkirk District to see the Kelpies. We rode a train from Edinburgh. Its just less than an hour. So what is a Kelpie?

Kelpie, or water kelpie, is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. It has usually been described as appearing as a horse, but is able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie retains its hooves when appearing as a human, leading to its association with the Christian idea of Satan as alluded to by Robert Burns in his 1786 poem "Address to the Devil".

Almost every sizeable body of water in Scotland has an associated kelpie story, but the most extensively reported is that of Loch Ness. Parallels to the general Germanic neck or nixie and the Scandinavian bäckahäst have been observed. More widely, the wihwin of Central America and the Australian bunyip have been seen as counterparts. The origin of the belief in malevolent water horses has been proposed as originating in human sacrifices once made to appease gods associated with water, but narratives about the kelpie also served a practical purpose in keeping children away from dangerous stretches of water, and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers.

Kelpies have been portrayed in their various forms in art and literature, including recently as two 30-metre (98 ft) high steel sculptures in Falkirk, The Kelpies, completed in October 2013. (Wikipedia)

I missed UK, i missed Scotland. I still wanna go back there, theres a lot to explore :)

LAND'S END, CORNWALL UK

Okay so this picture was way like long time ago lol. Like a year ago, I missed UK so i went to my site and just browsed the places i been to UK and i dont have article about Lands End. When you become so busy and you totally forgot to write an article about some important things happened in your life. This was important because this was the last place we visited in the UK before we leave for good :(. I love UK how i wished we can stay there forever.

So for the last time we went to Cornwall mainly to visit the St. Michaels Mount. But sad to say it was close because it was already winter. We saw the hill from afar but we cannot get in there. 

Lands End was close also that time, i mean the attractions, restaurants and everything inside was close, there is only one store open where you can buy souvenirs. It was a bad timing for visit because it was so cold, but we really wanted to see this side of Cornwall. Im pretty sure this place is packed during summer. Its the best season to visit this place. Summer. :) 

Below are the photos taken by my phone only. The photos that i took with my Canon Camera was all gone.

Trip to Cornwall - Tintagel Castle

Tintagel Castle (Cornish: Dintagel, meaning "fort of the constriction") is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel, North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Romano-British period, as an array of artefacts dating to this period have been found on the peninsula, but as yet no Roman era structure has been proven to have existed there. It was settled during the early medieval period, when it was probably one of the seasonal residences of the regional king of Dumnonia. A castle was built on the site by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century, during the later medieval period. It later fell into disrepair and ruin.

Archaeological investigation into the site began in the 19th century as it became a tourist attraction, with visitors coming to see the ruins of Richard's castle. In the 1930s, excavations revealed significant traces of a much earlier high status settlement, which had trading links with the Mediterranean during the Late Roman period.

The castle has a long association with legends related to King Arthur. This began in the 12th century when Geoffrey of Monmouth described Tintagel as the place of Arthur's conception in his fictionalized account of British history, the Historia Regum Britanniae. Geoffrey told the story that Arthur's father, King Uther Pendragon, was disguised by Merlin's sorcery to look like Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, the husband of Igraine, Arthur's mother.

Tintagel Castle has been a tourist destination since the mid-19th century. Owned by Charles, Prince of Wales as part of the landholdings of the Duchy of Cornwall, the site is managed by English Heritage. (Wikipedia)

This was such a long due post. Been to Cornwall last January 2018. I know I know i have a lot of blog post to catch up. Many things has been happen. My laptop was broken and after that it was stolen. All my photos from my DSLR Camera was gone. Good thing i had on my phone and backed up to google photos. Tintagel Castle is beautiful. It was on the top of the hill. It is a ruins already but still looks beautiful. Below are the photos.

London Skyline and St. Pauls Cathedral

One of my bucketlist??? hehehe to visit St. Pauls Cathedral and we finally did it a month ago. I was so excited to see it for real. It was so beautiful, everything in there was so beautiful for me. Camera is not allowed inside, so i put my camera inside my bag and to respect the place. There was an on-going mass during our visit. I really want to get my camera out and took photos but i just cant. Some people took photos secretly so i did it with my phone as well.

Well while were at the top of St. Paul, we are free to take photos. Hahaha the london skyline sooo wow . Of course i took a lot of photos lol Check it out below!

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grade I listed building. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren's lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the City after the Great Fire of London.

The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1967. The dome is among the highest in the world. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.

St Paul's Cathedral occupies a significant place in the national identity. It is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as of images of the dome surrounded by the smoke and fire of the Blitz. Services held at St Paul's have included the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Elizabeth II.

St Paul's Cathedral is a working church with hourly prayer and daily services. The tourist entry fee at the door is £18 for adults (March 2017, cheaper online), but no charge is made to worshippers. (Wikipedia)

St. Paul's Cathedral

London

The Shard

London

St. Paul's Cathedral

 St. Paul's Cathedral

London Skyline

Swear St. Paul's Cathedral is beautiful. Climbed to the dome is a must. You can see most of London Skyline. It's worth the climbed :) :) :)

Fireworks - Photography - Long Exposure

I been dreaming of having a photo of fireworks like a pro. During our visit to Scotland we witnessed the fireworks before the new years eve. There was a fireworks display at Queen Street Garden. I had my camera with me but i don't have tripod. I still tried to capture a photo on long exposure mode, just holding the camera with my hands. I dont move as i really wanted to see how will it turns out. Ohh well the first two pictures below turns out pretty good hahaha. It's not like a pro but not bad at all. 

So they said that the best view to see fireworks on New Years Eve was to climbed to Arthur's Seat. We went there and yeah we witnessed the beautiful fireworks all over the city but too bad my camera cant zoom that much. I had photos of fireworks but it was too far and looks so small. I am a lil bit disappointed but its fine, better luck next time. Instead of taking pictures, I enjoyed myself watching the fireworks light up above the sky. I do really like to watch fireworks. I enjoyed it a lot. 

These are the fireworks photo i captured in the Queen Street Garden.

Edinburgh Scotland - Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. At a spur of the hill, Salisbury Crags has historically been a rock climbing venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty; however due to hazards rock climbing is now restricted to the South Quarry and a free permit is required. (Wikipedia)

During our visit to Scotland we went to Arthur's Seat. I want to see the whole city so we went there. I never thought that the climbed was so hard. I thought that its just like an ordinary hill, but i was wrong this one is tall and what makes it so hard to climb was the snow that become an ice. I was so icy and slippery and so cold and so windy. It was scary, i thought of not going to the top, i thought of giving up. But in the other side that was once in a lifetime opportunity so even if the situation was like that, i still go. It takes us almost two hours to reached the peak (by the way we're not a mountain climber and we don't have exercise, so its a struggle for us lol). 

All i can say is its worth the climbed. It's worth the struggle. It was beautiful up there, you can see the entire city. Also if you happened to be there during New Year, its a beautiful spot for watching fireworks up there. Even though its a struggle in our first climd, we still go back there to see the fireworks during New Year. We did not went to the peak we only settled halfway to the peak where we can see the city. The peak was too far to climbed and its dark.

We settled in that hill during the new years eve to watch the fireworks

Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh City

Peak of Arthur's Seat 

Edinburgh City

New Years Eve fireworks from Arthur's Seat

My camera cant zoom that much so the pictures i took was like that. That fireworks is from the Castle and its far from the Arthur's Seat. You need a better lens if you want to have a beautiful photo of the fireworks.