Scotland

9 – 12 February 2011

So much to write about Scotland!!! This is going to be a loonnnnggg post… Prepare yourselves. Maybe I should do this in installments. Nope. I’m getting this over with.

Wednesday!

The train ride to Edinburgh was really fun. We had our own train car most of the way there and I got a lot of homework reading done. The second half of the ride was by the seaside and just beautiful. Our train called in several beautiful little seaside towns that we snapped pictures of as we passed. In the afternoon we dropped out bags at the hostel and then walked up to Edinburgh Castle. It was huge and awesome and had amazing views of the city and Arthur’s Seat. My brother told me that somewhere along the line we are related to the royal Stuart family and it definitely made me look at the royal apartments and the Honors of Scotland (crown jewels) differently. However, what really moved me was seeing the dungeon where several American prisoners of war were kept during the American War of Independence.

The Castle and views of Edinburgh from the Castle Walls:

            In the evening we walked through a large textile store/ museum where we got to actually see a weaver making tartans. We walked through a bunch of textile and tourist shops along the Royal Mile which runs between the Castle and the Palace of Holyrood and a bought a long-sleeved tshirt and some chocolate and Scottish shortbread. 

For dinner, the hostel front desk recommended a pub called Maggie Dickson’s I had a wonderful chicken melt with ham, cheese, and BBQ sauce and chips and salad for about 5 pounds. Wonderful. When we got back to the hostel, I had a really hard time falling asleep. Flat pillows, loud roommates, and a nagging fear of bed bugs…

Thursday!!

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh – high 40s. First stop was Parliament! The Scottish Parliament was re-founded in 1999 (?) after closing in 1707 after the treaty of Union with England. Its powers are very similar to a state government’s. Its buildings are very modern-looking – not like any other government building I’ve seen before. The lobby held an exhibit showing the history and functions of the Scottish parliament and I persuaded Michelle to come into the debating chambers with me on the premise that we would only stay for five minutes. Poor Michelle. I guess I just can’t understand why people don’t find politics as fascinating as I do!

We took a picture outside the Palace of Holyrood next door, the official residence of the Queen when she is in Scotland and a regular vacation home for Prince Charles.

The “Royal Mile” between the Palace and Edinburgh Castle held our attention for two hours as we hopped in and out of textile and tourist shops. We ate lunch at an awesome pub called “Malt Shovel”. I got a falafel burger with chips for 3.99 pounds and I discovered HP sauce!! This brown sauce that’s sort of like BBQ sauce… Yum. I have really grown to love pubs. In my head I compared the number of pubs in Scotland to the number of churches at home in the Bible Belt. On one hand, Scotland has a really heavy drinking culture. If we said we were tired someone would ask if we had too much to drink the night before and people were getting drinks at the pub midday! However, pubs are also just a casual place for anyone to go grab a meal – not like a bar in the US. It was more of a friendly gathering place. It isn’t weird for me to just go up to the bar and ask for a pitcher of water instead of ordering drinks. They are always so friendly. As long as you’re not there late at night, a pub is a really fun, relaxed place to eat and usually has pretty inexpensive food. I’m really starting to like pubs J

In the afternoon we walked by the Sir Walter Scott Monument (which was huge – bigger than the Prince Albert Memorial!) and then visited the Scottish National Gallery. I really loved this art gallery and my favorite piece was A Boy Blowing on Charcoal by Godfried Schalken. It just seemed magical.

On our walk back to the hostel we watched a comedian/magician performing in the street and gave him a couple coins. After our big lunch at the pub, we weren’t very hungry so we stopped at this awesome restaurant called Chocolate Soup and I bought a cup of tomato soup with a chunk of rye bread. It really hit the spot. We also had to try a certain Scottish delicacy which we had seen in tons of little shops – fried mars bars. Michelle and I split one and it was actually really good.

Friday!!!

Friday morning we hopped on the bus and headed to Stirling. We stopped for a couple hours at an old cotton mill called New Lanark, now a World Heritage Site. The mill used to be powered by water and so several of us hiked up to see the waterfall after our tour of the mill. It was nice, but the water was full of mineral deposits and I just thought that bridal veil falls in Utah are much prettier.

When we got to Stirling in the afternoon, we went up to Stirling Castle straight away to look around for an hour or so. The views from the castle of the Scottish countryside were simply gorgeous. I’m pretty sure we could see for several miles. After the castle, we decided to walk down the main road and find a pub for dinner. Stirling is a pretty small town and it only took a couple of minutes to find a classy pub called Cape. We sat down in this classy, laid-back lounge and watched the Egypt crisis on the news and chatted. I ordered a tex-mex salad and a small cookie bowl with a scoop of ice cream and toffee for dessert. I only paid 5 pounds for the meal – including the tip! The food was delicious and the service and environment were great. Most of the town was closed down by the time we finished dinner and so Holly and I decided to go take pictures of the castle at night. On our way up we found this beautiful cemetery. It was kind of magical. We got back to the hostel at only 7pm. Because of a severe lack of available entertainment, we chose to sit on our beds and do homework. Very exciting night! Lol. 

            When I and the three other girls in my room were finally ready to go to bed, we kept hearing loud voices in the hall. A certain friend whom I shall not name in this blog came to our door in her pajamas to ask, “Do you know what bed bugs look like?!?” Shelbi and I replied that we did and we quickly found ourselves climbing out of bed to perform bed bug checks in two other rooms. Finally appeased that there were no bed bugs, the girls quieted down and we were able to fall asleep.

Saturday!!!!

Wow. I hope you’re not bored of this yet. You probably are. I’m really sorry. I’m as tired as you are right now. Next trip I’m bringing my laptop so I can blog as I go!

Saturday morning Holly and I grabbed some breakfast at the hostel – which was not very good but free – and headed out to explore! We went back to the cemetery we had found the night before at the base of the castle to look around and found a trail leading around the base of the castle. Standing at the bottom of that cliff face was just amazing. I really pity anyone who had to attempt to attack that castle.

We then re-joined the group at the hostel and hopped up the bus to head to the William Wallace monument. The bus dropped us at the base of the hill the monument was on. As the bus slowed down, and I realized we were nowhere near the monument, I started whispering, “Oh please don’t stop here. Please don’t stop here…” Prof Dursteler promptly picked up the mic and said “ok! We’re stopping here!” The hike wasn’t too bad, but the 246 steps up a narrow spiral staircase to the top of the monument were not what I would call fun… The view was spectacular – even from the middle of the platform! Ok, so I refused to go near the edge. It was scary, ok??

Our bus took us back to Edinburgh where we had just enough time to grab lunch before our train to London. We were supposed to have a couple of hours in Edinburgh, but our bus was caught in heavy traffic before a rugby game, which was evidenced by crowds of people wearing rugby shirts and different tartan kilts around Edinburgh. I grabbed a sandwich from a mall food court and then hopped on the train. I finished my homework in less than an hour and then I sat. And readmy scriptures. And sat. And slept. And sat. And listened to music. And sat. And walked down the aisle to see what my friends were reading. And sat. And wrote a letter and two postcards. And sat. And edited my cell phone contact list. And sat. And deleted pictures from my camera. And sat. And ate dinner. And sat. And borrowed a newsmagazine from my professor which I read cover-to-cover. And sat. And took notes on what I should blog about. And sat. And tried to go to sleep again. And sat. And switched seats so I could find someone to talk to. Ok. I’ll stop now. Suffice it to say, I WAS BORED OUT OF MY EVER LOVIN MIND FOR 6 AND A HALF HOURS! Just so you know, our train ride was only supposed to be 5 hours and 40 minutes. Just so you know. Never again will I leave my laptop at home.