Mom and Steffi in Scotland!

I was lucky enough to spend my first week of spring break with my mom and sister.  I still can't believe that I'm done with classes, although it's nice to have so much free time it's hard to keep in mind that I still have exams at the end of May.  I had my last class the Thursday before they arrived and was with my friend Cindy for the week (she is studying in Lüneburg, Germany).  We were on High Street that Friday doing some touristy shopping when I got a call from a Pollock Halls receptionist telling me that my mom and sister had already arrived even though I thought they were landing later that evening! It was a great surprise though because they got to visit with Cindy just before she went back to Germany.  We all had lunch together in Greyfriar's Kirkyard, which was so nice.  Although I'm sure the idea of having a leisurely lunch in the graveyard is a pretty foreign concept to anyone who hasn't spent time in Scotland.  When the weather is nice people actually lay out picnic blankets and sun themselves in the kirkyard, so I figured this had to be part of the Scottish experience.

It was so much fun having them here because I got to do a lot of the touristy things that I usually don't have time for while I have classes.  I also got to retake all of my Edinburgh pictures with my new camera (thanks Dad)!  We visited Saint Gile's which I knew my mom would enjoy (like me, one of her favorite things to do in Europe is to visit cathedrals).


Mom and I inside St. Gile's Cathedral


Steffi and I outside St. Gile's Cathedral

We also took a tour of Edinburgh Castle.  This was my third time at the castle, but I really didn't mind because the view is so beautiful.  It's pretty much the main symbol of Edinburgh besides Arthur's Seat, and I notice new things about it every time I go.  We did our own sightseeing for an hour and then took the walking tour.


view from Edinburgh Castle


upper courtyard of Edinburgh Castle


really cool view from one of the canon-holes of Edinburgh Castle (extra clear thanks to my new camera!)

One thing that I really enjoyed was the city bus tour because it focused a lot on New Town.  Because all of my classes and Pollock are in Old Town, I very rarely get the chance to go to New Town.  It's really beautiful and the city planning style is totally different from where I live, which is medieval, while New Town was designed in the 18th century.  It has a really swanky shopping district and and more up-market housing and it feels like a different city.  We also got to see the Royal Britannia, which is the yacht that served the queen for 44 years.  I hadn't seen it before, and although we didn't go inside, it was pretty cool just to see it in passing on the tour.


Steffi on the bus tour through New Town

I'm sure that the highlight of the trip for Steffi (besides Top Shop) was the chocolate shop on the walk back to Pollock Halls.  I always make sure that whoever visits Edinburgh at least goes inside.  It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall place, but it is so adorable (and yummy).


chocolate shop on Nicholson Street


chocolate shop on Nicholson Street

Later that evening we planned on going on a ghost tour through the vaults underneath the city.  Before that we stopped for a quick dinner at a High Street restaurant.  We had a very typical Scottish meal, Steffi ordered fish'n'chips and Mom and I ordered haggis, neeps, and tatties.  I was shocked that she took the plunge.  She said she liked it and finished the whole thing, I was so proud.  Even Dad and Geoff chickened out and never tried it while they were here!


our haggis dinner

After dinner, we walked a few doors down to where the ghost tour began.  This was something I had heard a lot about, but hadn't done yet, and it was definitely worthwhile.  After spending this much time in Edinburgh I am definitely convinced that ghosts exist.  Some of the tours actually take you through the vaults with an EMF detector which are those instruments they use on all the ghost hunting shows to detect paranormal activity.  We took the more mild route and spent the two hours listening to some of the famous Edinburgh ghost stories.  As if that wasn't scary enough, we were brought down to the vaults after the first hour.  They were absolutely terrifying.  It could easily have been a scene out of a horror movie.  The vaults were dank and water dripped from the ceilings.  They were completely made of stone and candlelit just to add to the creepiness.  We had a great tour guide who had to have spent some time in drama school.  I definitely had trouble sleeping that night thinking about all of the stories and how creepy the vaults were.  I practically ran from Mom and Steffi's hotel to my dorm room that night, pretty pathetic.


vaults underneath the city

The next day we decided to climb Arthur's Seat, which was another activity I saved for their visit.  On the way we snapped some pictures of the Harry Potter characters' graves in the kirkyard and posed by the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby.  Arthur's Seat was really nice and we were lucky enough to get great weather that day.  The view from the top was incredible, but I was surprised by how athletic the climb was!  We had to take a pretty long break on the way to the top and were passed by a runner probably in his fifties (show-off).


Steffi and I with the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby


before the big climb


Steffi on the way to the top


Steffi off-roaded a little bit

After we climbed Arthur's Seat we had a really nice, quiet lunch at a local tea place.  Steffi and I ordered quiche and it was delicious!  Later on we found out that the restaurant was featured in one of our travel books as a pretty famous spot for tea. So nice!  After lunch we visited Holyrood Palace, another thing I hadn't yet done.  It was really interesting to see where the royal family stays while they visit Scotland.  It was pretty impressive, and definitely just goes to show how much of the royal lifestyle is for show.  Each room had it's own very particular purpose and some of the furniture and art had been in the family for centuries.  We also visited the ruins of Holyrood Cathedral.


tea time!


Steffi and I in the courtyard of Holyrood Palace


Mom and I in front of Holyrood Palace


Holyrood Cathedral ruins

The next day we woke up bright and early and went on a day-long bus tour of the highlands.  This was my third visit to the highlands, but I was more than happy to go back.  The Scottish highlands are gorgeous and the scenery is unique from anywhere else in the world.  We went through Glencoe (the sight of the famous MacDonald Massacre) and we visited Loch Ness as well.  We took a really nice cruise through Loch Ness, which I hadn't done on my earlier visit.  It was really cool because there was a screen which showed the depth of the lake, which hit about 600 feet at some points.  We also got some great views of the castle on Loch Ness while on the cruise. 


Mom and I at Glencoe


Steffi in the Scottish highlands


Steffi found Nessie!


looking out onto Loch Ness


Steffi and I on the Loch Ness cruise in front of the castle


uh-oh.

Once back from the day tour, we walked down High Street where we met a very interesting character who reset my mom's camera.  He definitely knew what he was talking about when it came to photography, but not so much when it came to American politics.  Anyway, after that we had dinner at a nice Italian place near High Street.  The next day we rode the National Rail to St. Andrew's.  It was absolutely beautiful and much smaller and more quaint than Edinburgh.  We walked down the boardwalk of the port there where there were some fantastic views of the North Sea.  We also visited the ruins of the cathedral, which was definitely my favorite part.  The foundation was set in the 1150's, so it was one of the oldest churches I have ever seen.  We also visited St. Andrew's Castle, also gorgeous and in ruins.  I didn't realize how ancient the history of St. Andrew's is.  I was really impressed by the town, which felt like a quiet resort village.  I could definitely see how Kate and William met and fell in love here, but I'm also glad that I'm in a city with a little more hustle and bustle. 


Steffi and I at the St. Andrew's Cathedral ruins


gorgeous views of the North Sea from the port at St. Andrew's

Obviously one of the most important parts of visiting St. Andrew's is walking the Old Course.  We checked out the very fancy pro shop and walked along the course, which is open to visitors.  It was pretty funny seeing tourists running across one of the oldest and most famous golf courses of all time with sneakers and cameras while the players were all dressed up in argyle sweaters.  The course itself is pretty rough, in keeping with most Scottish golf courses.  The sand traps were absolutely massive, and my mom and I could not get over how difficult they would be to get out of.  After the course we also walked around some of the campus buildings which were really nice. 


Steffi and I by the Old Course sign


St. Andrew's Old Course


fancy St. Andrew's pro shop


St. Andrew's Golf Club entrance (looks exclusive)

The next day, and sadly the last day of Steffi and Mom's visit, we spent the day at the two major museums in Edinburgh.  We went to the National Museum of Scotland (where I have my internship) and took a tour from a really nice elderly volunteer who was very knowledgeable about the collection.  It was really fun for me because, although I work there, I have never really taken an in-depth tour and I didn't realize how cool the museum really is.  We also visited the National Gallery of Scotland, my personal favorite.  I did my best to give them a tour of all the Dutch and Poussin paintings and we also checked out the Impressionist section.


Steffi in the National Museum of Scotland


Poussin's Seven Sacraments (the topic for my final paper in History of Art), I'm sure this was absolutely thrilling for Mom and Steffi

We finished the day with dinner at the Elephant House, the birthplace of Harry Potter.  We were there right at sunset, so we got a great view of Edinburgh Castle.  I had so much fun with Mom and Steffi, and I am so happy they came.  We basically saw the entire country in less than a week, which is pretty impressive.  I really enjoyed seeing them, and I already miss them again! So much fun!


view of Edinburgh Castle from the Elephant House

Scotland v. Italy Six Nations Rugby

Yesterday a group of about ten of us went to the Scotland v. Italy Six Nations rugby game.  We left Pollock Halls around noon and took one of the city buses, which was full of fans, to Murrayfield on the outskirts of the city.  It was a pretty long bus ride, but it was full of kilts and painted faces which was pretty cool!

Once we arrived and found our seats, they sang the national anthem ("The Flower of Scotland"), which I think was my favorite part since I'm still pretty clueless about how the game is actually played.  Either way, rugby is a VERY physical sport and it's really fun to watch.  The crowd is pretty rowdy, and the atmosphere was really similar to an American football game.  And...SCOTLAND WON 21-8! Hooray!
"Flower of Scotland" video, this is just about where our seats were

I am pretty excited that I got to see a Six Nations game, because the championship is definitely the talk of the town around here.  On football and rugby game days there are people all over High Street dressed up for the game.  The Six Nations Championship is always played annually between Scotland, Italy, Wales, Ireland, England, and France and the winners enjoy the title of European Champions for the year.  It's a huge deal in Scotland, and is actually sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland.  It was a great time!

Six Nations emblems


there were lots of fans dressed like this, I love the ginger wigs!


Murrayfield Stadium during a 2005 match, reminds me of Iowa!

Ewing-Chancellor's Court Ball

Last night was the Ewing-Chancellor's Court Ball.  All of the houses in Pollock Halls have yearly formals at really nice venues, very similar to sorority or fraternity formals.  This actually reminded me of a really nice Bar Mitzvah!  I live in Turner House, but most of my friends live in the Ewing House (next door) and Chancellor's Court, so I opted to go to theirs instead.  We arrived at around seven at the Roxburgh Hotel, which is in a really swanky part of New Town just past Princes Street.  It's very rare that I ever get to spend time in New Town, so this felt like a pretty special occasion.


The Roxburgh Hotel

The hotel was really nice, and even had a red carpet going into the dining room!  The dinner was also really good; tomato soup, chicken and potatoes, and meringue for dessert (yum).  After that there was a ceilidh, as there always is at special events here.  Lots of the guys wore the full highland outfit, which is the kilt with sort of a tux-like top (looks really complicated).  My favorite part of the highland outfit has to be the sgian-dubh, a dagger that is traditionally worn inside the right or left sock depending on whether you are right or left handed (a real highlander always has his dagger at the ready).  It seems like wearing a highland outfit to formal events here is like when military people wear their uniforms to special events in the states.  It's actually really common to see guys in highland outfits on any given day around here, but when you do see them you can pretty much assume they are going to some really fancy event, no one wears them on an everyday basis or anything like that.  Anyway, the ceilidh was so much fun (as they always are) and afterwards there was a "disco", basically just your typical DJ, but that was also really fun.  The party lasted until two and then we went out in New Town afterwards, so it was definitely a really great night!


all dressed up for the ball

Officially Scottish

Today I came home from class and there was a large blue envelope on my desk.  I turned it over and realized it was the 2011 Scottish Census that I had been hearing so much about.  I still think it's really weird that I am legally obligated to fill it out since I'm American (there is a £1000 fine for failure to complete it), but at the same time I feel so much more official knowing that my name will forever be written somewhere in a stack of government paperwork at the Scottish Parliament.  It's pretty similar to the United States Census (really boring and official), except that in the section for race there are about ten different types of Caucasian.  It's pretty obvious that Scottish-Caucasian is viewed as a completely separate race from Welsh, British, or Irish-Caucasian, which I think is kind of funny.  Also, there was a section on what type of English you speak at home, which included Scots.  I heard Scots spoken at the Burns Supper and it is definitely very distantly related to English.  I have been trying to listen to BBC Scotland Radio in the morning and apparently preserving Scots is becoming a really big deal, but I seriously doubt anyone who isn't Scottish would be able to pick it up.  Oh well, I'm sure my contribution to the census will be really useful to future Scottish lawmakers.

A Sunny Sunday in Durham

Over the weekend I went to see a friend from middle school who is from Surrey and goes to Durham University.  I used the National Rail and left the station near Princes street early on Sunday.  It turned out to be a really pleasant train ride (only about two hours) with incredible views of the North Sea and lots of sheep farms.  The train also stopped in Newcastle, which is another city I need to add to my list of places to visit.  It was much bigger than I expected and I've heard it's a great city for college students.


Newcastle, England


view of the North Sea

Once I arrived in Durham, Catherine was there to pick me up and we walked through town.  We walked from the train station to Durham Cathedral, which was gorgeous.  There was a Sunday mass going on with a full choir, which made the experience that much more authentic.  We had the chance to walk around the courtyard of the cathedral where much of Harry Potter was filmed.  Durham Castle was right next door, and Catherine explained that this was the only university where students could actually live and take their classes inside an original castle.  The Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies (where all the kids at Hogwarts get sorted and eat their feasts) is also within the castle walls, but sadly we couldn't go in because we weren't in time for the tours.  Either way, I totally felt like I should have been wearing a robe and carrying an owl on my shoulder.


inside Durham Cathedral


Durham Cathedral, there is a really great view of the city from the church


courtyard of Durham Cathedral where lots of scenes from Harry Potter were filmed


inside Durham Castle

After the castle and cathedral, Catherine and I walked through downtown Durham.  It's really small and quaint, and very hilly.  We found a little coffee shop where we could catch up and people watch.  After that we did a little grocery shopping for Catherine and her roomates' Sunday roast.  I met her three flatmates and we made brownies to munch on for tea while dinner was cooking.  They were all really sweet and they asked me about all the wierd British things I have come across.  They were really interested in what a sorority was, which was really hard to explain and probably just ended up sounding cultish, but they have similar social clubs at Durham so hopefully I didn't make it sound too horrible.  Later on Catherine and one of her flatmate's boyfriends came over for dinner, which turned out to be really fun.  They had just had their university ball the night before, so I got to hear all the fun gossip. 


Durham town square

After dinner we sat around chatting and drinking tea and buscuits (so British).  Then I was back on the train to Edinburgh.  I am so glad I went to visit her and to see Durham.  It's a really nice city and it seems like an ideal place to live and go to school.  I really enjoyed seeing her and hanging out with people who have grown up in England because sometimes it's hard to branch out of my little exchange student bubble at school.  I'm hoping to go home with her one of these weekends so I can see the south of England and catch up with her family who I haven't seen since middle school!

Adventures in the Highlands with Uncle Tony and the Clan

I just returned from a three day tour through the highlands with a group called Haggis Adventures.  We departed from High Street at 8:00 AM Friday morning and walked all the way from the dorms with all of our luggage in typical European backpacker style.  Once we arrived at the office we met Tony, our Glaswegian tour guide whose thick Scottish accent proved that his Italian name had nothing to do with his upbringing.  He was an excellent guide who knew pretty much all of the stories of the parts of the highlands that we visited and he was really funny as well, definitely catering to the humor of the 22 college kids on our bus.  We travelled with groups from Australia, Singapore, Norway, Canada, and a group from New England, which was really fun!

We headed straight away to Inverness (the area where the famous Loch Ness is located) and made several stops on the way.  We drove through Queensferry which is a small town just outside of Edinburgh.  Our first stop was to the William Wallace Memorial which is a huge tower on a hill with a pretty impressive view of Stirling.  Tony's rendition of the William Wallace story was dramatic with Braveheart-style music playing in the background for intensity.  He explained that the highlanders fought the battle against Edward I in the 1200's.  The battle was fought atop the very hill where the monument stands today.  The highlanders were well-known for their guerrilla warfare tactics and would carry all sorts of farming tools for weapons and would actually attack in the nude.  To add to this already barbaric image of the medieval highlanders, Tony explained that this was an area known for growing mushrooms (and I don't mean the kind you saute), so we could only imagine just how crazed this battle would have been.


view of Stirling from the William Wallace Memorial

The next stop was Glencoe (not Illinois) which was a gorgeous valley, but has a really sad story behind it that the people living in the highlands still identify with today.  In the 1600's this was a major settlement area for the clan MacDonald and many of these families had lived in the area for generations.  Following the invitation received by William of Orange to take the throne, the clans of Scotland (who were under much suspicion because they were Jacobites, or supporters of James) were asked to sign an oath of allegiance to the new king.  For centuries the clans had been very hospitable to those moving through this very harsh area, and to this day hospitality is considered to be a virtue of the highland people, something which was increasingly obvious as we became pretty chummy with the hostel owners and workers in Inverness despite our short stay there.  Just before the massacre, the MacDonald clan had been taking care of British soldiers in their homes for weeks in the freezing cold winter in the mountains.  In February, an order was sent out by William saying that the MacDonald clan had taken too long to sign the oath of allegiance and the troops settled in Glencoe were told to kill off the clan.  Entire families were killed despite the fact that they had housed these soldiers for weeks and those that tried to escape through the mountains often didn't make it.  Although Glencoe is beautiful, its story is really sad because you can see exactly where these houses would have been tucked into the mountains four hundred years ago.


Glencoe, the site of the famous massacre

Our next stop was the Ben Nevis Distillery which was really interesting because it was much smaller than the Dewar's distillery.  Even though this one was much smaller, the process is pretty similar.  I am still trying really hard to like whiskey, but I have a feeling it might be a lifelong process. Even though I may not have enjoyed the complimentary tasting, the owner of the distillery gave us a tour complete with his typically dry Scottish humor, which made the tour much more personable than the very commercialized Dewar's tour.

From there we went to a very small castle that was in ruins.  It was really fun because we could actually climb some of the ruins.  This was one of the oldest castles I have seen that has been left the way it was originally built.  Our first meal of the trip was a delicious haggis roll (which is basically just haggis in a hamburger bun).  I have decided that I actually really like haggis (I have eaten voluntarily more than once now, which I think is pretty impressive).  I'm a little sad because I have heard that it's illegal in the states.  I'm assuming there are some animal rights concerns, but I guess I'll just have to get my fill here.

We arrived in Inverness after dark and got to the hostel which was really nice and had excellent food.  A born and bred Scottish highlander named Kenny runs the place and he was quite the character, and he makes a mean curry.  That was possibly the best meal I have had in my two months here, and sadly it wasn't Scottish at all and of course it was somewhere that I can't really go back to anytime soon.  In his little introduction to Scottish culture, Tony explained that Scotland's national dish couldn't possibly be haggis because of the incredible amount of curry they consume here.  I would guess that this has something to do with the fact that most of the food here has the texture of mashed potatoes and the flavor of dry toast.  I would also venture to guess that for every one restaurant offering traditional Scottish food, there are about five offering falafel, curry, or some other Indian or middle eastern dish.  All and all, I was pretty thrilled when I recently opened a package and there it was..."Slap Ya Mama" seasoning all the way from Ville Platte, Louisiana.  Thanks dad, you have greatly improved my previously bland Scottish dorm-food experience.

First thing the next morning we went to check out Inverness, and saw what Tony referred to as the "love shack".  It's a little stone hut atop a cliff with a gorgeous view of a bridge and some pretty wild looking rapids.  Next, we saw the Five Sisters Mountains which were absolutely stunning and looked very green and Scottish.  The mountains got their name from a Celtic story in which two sisters fall in love with two Irishmen.  The Irishmen ask the girls' father for his permission to marry his daughters, but he denies them saying that their three older sisters would be upset if their younger sisters got married first.  So, the Irishmen promise to go back to Ireland to fetch the other sisters some men to marry so that they can return to marry the other two sisters.  The sisters fear that they will age by the time the men return so their father sees a witch in the hopes that she can put a spell on the sisters to preserve their youthful good looks (there is lots of superstition and witchcraft in the highlands).  The witch promises the father that she will preserve their beauty until the men return.  The problem was that the witch's idea of preserving the sisters' beauty was by turning them into five gorgeous mountains.  According to Tony, clearly a born and bred Scotsman, the moral of the story is never to trust an Irishman.  It is said that if you drink the "tears" of the five mountains, or the melted snow, you will be cured of heartache.  The mountains were gorgeous and we were lucky enough to get really good weather throughout the weekend.


mountains from the five sisters story

The next stop was Eilean Donan Castle, which was incredible and definitley the highlight of the trip.  It is truly an epic view as the castle juts straight out into the water and is backed by the mountains.  The sun came out in perfect time and we were able to get lots of great pictures there.  We also had the opportunity to walk up to a ruined fort way up on a hill.  This was yet another incredible view of the mountains, but the walk up was definitely a trek.  Tony warned us that he had seen more than one broken leg on that hill and I definitely believed him after I almost got knocked over by the wind.  I guess the winds are a lot stronger out there because of all the water, but we were all pretty suprised when we climbed up the ruins and had to immediately get back down for fear of being blown away.


the walk up to Eilean Donan Castle


Eilean Donan Castle


castle ruins on a hilltop

Day two was also the day that we visited the Isle of Skye, another very picturesque place famous for Viking activity.  This gave Tony the perfect opportunity to mess with the only Norwegian on the bus.  The best part about Scotland is the incredible variety of places you can see all in one country.  Edinburgh is the epidome of a medieval city, but it also has New Town, where you can see what is considered to be a masterpiece of eighteenth and nineteenth century city planning.  Similarly, the highlands are more than just a series of mountains, there are glens, lochs, farms, valleys, castles, ruins, and just so much to see.  Skye was not at all what I would have expected out of Scotland, despite the ruins on one of the hills which, of course, were very green.  The island reminded me of Nantucket more than anything with all of the sailboats and piers.  It was really nice and overall a very refreshing change from Edinburgh.


boats at the Isle of Skye


Isle of Skye

This morning (the last day of the trip) we drove all along Loch Ness, which is the largest body of water in Britain.  It was definitely murky and mysterious, but I would not have been able to tell it apart from any of the other lochs in the area.  It was definitely worthwhile though, and now I can say that I have waded in the famous Loch Ness.  Tony told us about the original sighting of the Loch Ness monster in the 500s AD, claimed by a Celtic saint.  Since then there have been hundreds of recorded sightings and scientific research about the monster.  It is thought that Nessie is some sort of Plesiosaur, which was a carnivorous marine reptile back when the dinosaurs were around.  It is actually pretty amazing to hear about just how much scientific research has been done about the topic and how many theories there are.


posing with Nessie


wading in Loch Ness

Our last stop was to the Culloden Moor, which is a famous battleground where Jacobite highlanders fought the British redcoats in the 1700's.  This was another really sad story in which the highlanders were totally annihilated by British troops.  They were completely unprepared for the the "gentleman's" style of British warfare and were basically lined up and fired upon in a wide open field.  It is pretty moving to walk around the field and you can definitely sense how important this place still is to people in the area.  There are small gravestones that haven't been touched since the 1700's that mark mass graves for many of the clans whose surnames still belong to this area.  It was really interesting to hear the story from Tony, who had an obvious personal connection to a lot of these legends.  The tour was a really great experience not only because I finally got to see the highlands, but because I had the opportunity to see just how different highland culture is from lowland culture.  Overall, I would say that Scottish people have quite a lot of national pride, and now I am really starting to see where it all comes from.


Culloden Moor, site of the famous highland battle


the very green highlands


another highlands vista