I went to Scotland and I loved it! We were so blessed with the weather - the forecast before we left predicted rain every day, but we had sunshine! It did rain a little bit, but only at times when we were heading into pubs for a meal or going into a museum for a while! It was perfect. We took the (6 hour) train ride Thursday afternoon and got to our hostel late
Thursday night. Friday we went and got some breakfast rolls (a Scottish thing - pretty good!) and then looked in a few gift shops as we made our way to the meeting point for our free tour of Edinburgh! It was a 3-hour tour (...yes, a 3-hour tour...Gilligan's Island anyone?) that took us to all the main points of Edinburgh (the castle, the Royal Mile, some significant pubs, the school that inspired J.K. Rowling to write about Hogwarts, graveyard
s, churches, etc.) It was a really neat tour and our tour guide was great - she was actually from South Africa, but she knew a lot about Scotland. After that tour, we went shopping on the Royal Mile (the main street through Edinburgh that runs from the castle to Holyrood Park, where Arthur's Seat is located) and saw lots of kilt shops and tartan factories that sold lamb's wool scarves in all the different plaids from all the different Scottish clans. Then we went and had tea at The Elephant House, where the first Harry Potter book was actually written! We sat in the same window that J.K. Rowling would sit in and look out the window to the castle and write about the magical land of Harry! It made me feel like I was in some kind of magical place myself! It really was a great little cafe - it had elephants everywhere - statues, chairs, posters, figurines, coffee mugs...everything! After that, we went back for another tour (we found out that the same company was giving a free tour of 'the darker side of Edinburgh' at night) that took us into graveyards and through obviously-blocked-off roads through the hills outside of the town (yes, I willingly went into a graveyard at night in one of the most haunted cities in Europe - not my proudest accomplishment) Anyway, it could have been much scarier (thank goodness - I don't handle that stuff well...) but we got a great view of the city at night! After that, we were very hungry because we hadn't eaten dinner before the tour, but, true to the E
uropean way, almost every restaurant stops serving food by 9pm. So we searched for any place at all that would give us some food, and finally found a "Mexican" restaurant. Being the Texan that I am, I was severely disappointed in the food, but more so in my own silly mind for thinking that any European "Mexican" restaurant could satisfy me. Daley and I shared some "quesadillas" (2 little things about the size of my ipod with some strange cheese inside) and some chips and salsa dip - for some reason, when we entered this mexican food establishment, we assumed that we also exited the United Kingdom, but that was not true. Even in a Mexican restaurant, if you're in the UK, "chips" still means french fries. Duh. So, our "chips and salsa dip" turne
d out to be skinny little french fries and some (spicy?) ketchup. We were disappointed to say the least. but now we laugh at our ignorance. Saturday we got up to go climb Arthur's seat - I had no idea what I was in for. The weather could not have been better, considering that we were planning for the coldest, rainiest hike of our lives. We did have to stop quite a few times on the way up (it was STEEP!) but the view was great so I was glad to have an excuse to just stand still and see how far I could see. We were basically surrounded by the North Sea on all sides - it was gorgeous. We finally made it to the top where we experienced the strongest winds of our lives - the puddles had whitecaps, I'm not kidding. It was intense, knock-a-grown-man-down kind of wind! But it was awesome and so worth the long hike up! We climbed around for a while up there and then headed back down for lunch - we went to a cafe to experience haggis. "What's haggis?" you're probably wondering. Let me just tell you. I have heard rumors that this food is illegal in the states. I'm serious. Haggis is what they make out of all the parts of the lamb that nobody wants - after they sell all the good meat, they take everything else, mash it together, stuff it in the stomach of the lamb with some veggies and lots of spices, and cook it. It wasn't that bad, but I probably won't ever ask for it again - I just had to since that's basically the only place in the world to get it. (It's illegal in the states because apparently they cook the heart....i don't want to think about that). So there's your little lesson in the Scottish culinary arts. After lunch, we took a quick power nap (Arthur's s
eat wore us out) and then headed over to the National Gallery of Scotland to see some art - I've seen more beautiful artwork this semester than I've ever seen in my life. I just sat in one room for the longest time on a couch just enjoying being surrounded by real art. (this was one of the times when it started pouring rain just after we came inside - God was watching out for us!) After the National Gallery, we headed to the Hogshead (a local pub) to have dinner and watch the Manchester United game (european football - one of the greatest teams and one of my new favorite English hobbies). We enjoyed the excitement of everyone who was also there to watch the game, and some good, cheap pub food! Sunday morning we went to the Edinburgh Castle and spent about 2 hours looking around there (in the great halls, the dungeons, the prison cells, the towers, the chapels, the graveyards - it was huge and awesome!) and then we had to head to the train station to come home to Oxford - that was probably the most beautiful train ride of my life. We got out of Edinburgh and the rain clouds disappeared and the blue sky shone through. We rode right by the coast - I could see the waves hitting the rocks - and saw pastures and meadows full of sheep and their new baby lambs! It was a great (long) ride home! Scotland was one of my favorite trips I've been on - I really enjoyed it! And yes, people really do wear kilts and play bagpipes there. It's not a lie. And Mel Gibson is famous there - they love him almost as much as William Wallace himself. Scotland is great!
Thursday night. Friday we went and got some breakfast rolls (a Scottish thing - pretty good!) and then looked in a few gift shops as we made our way to the meeting point for our free tour of Edinburgh! It was a 3-hour tour (...yes, a 3-hour tour...Gilligan's Island anyone?) that took us to all the main points of Edinburgh (the castle, the Royal Mile, some significant pubs, the school that inspired J.K. Rowling to write about Hogwarts, graveyard
s, churches, etc.) It was a really neat tour and our tour guide was great - she was actually from South Africa, but she knew a lot about Scotland. After that tour, we went shopping on the Royal Mile (the main street through Edinburgh that runs from the castle to Holyrood Park, where Arthur's Seat is located) and saw lots of kilt shops and tartan factories that sold lamb's wool scarves in all the different plaids from all the different Scottish clans. Then we went and had tea at The Elephant House, where the first Harry Potter book was actually written! We sat in the same window that J.K. Rowling would sit in and look out the window to the castle and write about the magical land of Harry! It made me feel like I was in some kind of magical place myself! It really was a great little cafe - it had elephants everywhere - statues, chairs, posters, figurines, coffee mugs...everything! After that, we went back for another tour (we found out that the same company was giving a free tour of 'the darker side of Edinburgh' at night) that took us into graveyards and through obviously-blocked-off roads through the hills outside of the town (yes, I willingly went into a graveyard at night in one of the most haunted cities in Europe - not my proudest accomplishment) Anyway, it could have been much scarier (thank goodness - I don't handle that stuff well...) but we got a great view of the city at night! After that, we were very hungry because we hadn't eaten dinner before the tour, but, true to the E
uropean way, almost every restaurant stops serving food by 9pm. So we searched for any place at all that would give us some food, and finally found a "Mexican" restaurant. Being the Texan that I am, I was severely disappointed in the food, but more so in my own silly mind for thinking that any European "Mexican" restaurant could satisfy me. Daley and I shared some "quesadillas" (2 little things about the size of my ipod with some strange cheese inside) and some chips and salsa dip - for some reason, when we entered this mexican food establishment, we assumed that we also exited the United Kingdom, but that was not true. Even in a Mexican restaurant, if you're in the UK, "chips" still means french fries. Duh. So, our "chips and salsa dip" turne
d out to be skinny little french fries and some (spicy?) ketchup. We were disappointed to say the least. but now we laugh at our ignorance. Saturday we got up to go climb Arthur's seat - I had no idea what I was in for. The weather could not have been better, considering that we were planning for the coldest, rainiest hike of our lives. We did have to stop quite a few times on the way up (it was STEEP!) but the view was great so I was glad to have an excuse to just stand still and see how far I could see. We were basically surrounded by the North Sea on all sides - it was gorgeous. We finally made it to the top where we experienced the strongest winds of our lives - the puddles had whitecaps, I'm not kidding. It was intense, knock-a-grown-man-down kind of wind! But it was awesome and so worth the long hike up! We climbed around for a while up there and then headed back down for lunch - we went to a cafe to experience haggis. "What's haggis?" you're probably wondering. Let me just tell you. I have heard rumors that this food is illegal in the states. I'm serious. Haggis is what they make out of all the parts of the lamb that nobody wants - after they sell all the good meat, they take everything else, mash it together, stuff it in the stomach of the lamb with some veggies and lots of spices, and cook it. It wasn't that bad, but I probably won't ever ask for it again - I just had to since that's basically the only place in the world to get it. (It's illegal in the states because apparently they cook the heart....i don't want to think about that). So there's your little lesson in the Scottish culinary arts. After lunch, we took a quick power nap (Arthur's s
eat wore us out) and then headed over to the National Gallery of Scotland to see some art - I've seen more beautiful artwork this semester than I've ever seen in my life. I just sat in one room for the longest time on a couch just enjoying being surrounded by real art. (this was one of the times when it started pouring rain just after we came inside - God was watching out for us!) After the National Gallery, we headed to the Hogshead (a local pub) to have dinner and watch the Manchester United game (european football - one of the greatest teams and one of my new favorite English hobbies). We enjoyed the excitement of everyone who was also there to watch the game, and some good, cheap pub food! Sunday morning we went to the Edinburgh Castle and spent about 2 hours looking around there (in the great halls, the dungeons, the prison cells, the towers, the chapels, the graveyards - it was huge and awesome!) and then we had to head to the train station to come home to Oxford - that was probably the most beautiful train ride of my life. We got out of Edinburgh and the rain clouds disappeared and the blue sky shone through. We rode right by the coast - I could see the waves hitting the rocks - and saw pastures and meadows full of sheep and their new baby lambs! It was a great (long) ride home! Scotland was one of my favorite trips I've been on - I really enjoyed it! And yes, people really do wear kilts and play bagpipes there. It's not a lie. And Mel Gibson is famous there - they love him almost as much as William Wallace himself. Scotland is great!
1 comment:
Hi Krisann,
I have been enjoying your blog the past couple of weeks. Your mom told me about it right before she left to join you. I hope you don't mind that I posted it as a link on my blog.
You must be having such a great semester in Europe! Reading your blog makes me want to go back to school and spend a semester abroad. I'm afraid it would be tough for me to concentrate on schoolwork though with so many incredible distractions and extra curricular things to see and do.
I have enjoyed looking at your pictures too. They really help to illustrate all the wonderful adventures you've had. I would love to see more photos from your trip sometime.
I am now eager to go to Scotland after reading your latest post. It sounds like such a cool place...especially all the Harry Potter stuff. Tim and I are huge Harry Potter fans. It would be a blast to see some of the sights you have visited pertaining to JKR and the Potter books.
Well, take care, and enjoy every moment!
Blessings,
Amye
Post a Comment