We made it to our third country - England! We pulled into Kings Cross Station around 9:45 tonight after a 4 1/2 hour ride. We learned our lessons, and no one got sick!! It was a decent ride but not really anything exciting to report.
Earlier today we started off with a less than impressive breakfast of carbs, carbs, and more carbs in the university dining room. Then, we left our hotel at 8:30 and headed to the city center. However, we took a small detour for Mrs. Agundez who was determined to see a Highland Cow (pronounced "coo") before we left Scotland. We quickly found the wooly cows and were able to take a few pictures before moving on! They really were cute.
We picked up our local tour guide, Dave Stalker (of the McFarland Clan). He gave us a brief description of the clans and how each clan has specific colors they wear. He was dressed head to toe in traditional Scottish attire - including his "hunting" green kilt.
One myth we wanted to bust was that men don't wear anything under their kilts -- okay, that might have been something only the adults were wondering, but we asked our bus driver, Kev, after realizing that he was a fun guy. His answer: "If everything's in workin' order, why put a bandaid on it?" Of course, that was in a very thick Scottish sing-song accent. Enough said. Not a myth!
Our tour guide pointed out several beautiful old buildings, but really, the entire city of Edinburgh is full of beautiful old buildings. A new building to them was built in the 1800's! Dave let us get off the bus at Hollyrood Palace which is exactly one mile for Edinburgh Castle. We were able to see a few things inside, but we really only had a few minutes.
Then, we boarded the bus again and rode up the hill to the Castle. He did a nice tour of the outside of the castle, but we were so cold it was hard to pay attention! Then, it started raining on us and he kept talking! Thankfully, he finished quickly and we all dispersed into different areas of the castle. It was a shame we weren't able to listen more intently, but the weather was crazy - cold, windy, and rainy! Some people stood in line to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland. Others went to sit in a café for a bit. Many of us saw the area where the prisoners of war were kept during the 1700's. We worked our way down the hill in small groups and met up at the bottom where some of us were able to shop for kilts to bring home to family! Maybe we can start a new fad in the US!?! J/K
We walked a little further down the hill and spent a few minutes in St. Giles Cathedral - another beautiful church. From there, it felt like we walked 10 miles to a little pizzeria for lunch. After enjoying some pizza and pasta, we boarded our bus and headed to the train station.
Kev dropped us off, and we said our goodbyes to our big Scottish bus driver. He would have been fun to have much longer. He told us we would not have any fun in England because he wasn't there and it was full of Englishmen!
We got on our train without any problems, and now we are here! We will be in London three nights. So, we are excited to settle into our hotel rooms a little better than we have been. We're also all trying to figure out how we'll get all these souvenirs home!?! Hopefully we can find some cheap bags!!
Until tomorrow....
Jacqueline Hughes
Wow! It has been a long day! We woke up at 4:45 this morning in Belfast, Northern Ireland, boarded the bus at 6:00 with a "take-away" breakfast made by the hotel, and left on a ferry for Scotland at 7:30!
The ferry ride was two hours of fun for many as they toured around the many levels and rooms of the ferry. It was like a cruise ship with lots to do! I've seen some great pictures that people were able to take, too! However, the rest of us were laying anywhere we could to try to sleep through the motion sickness - even with Dramamine! A few people even discovered sea sickness for the first time!
We arrived in a very rainy Scotland around 9:30 and boarded our new bus with Kev, our Scottish bus driver that none of us understand! Well, we're working on it.
Kev drove us several hours north to Edinburgh (pronounced "Ed-in-burrow") where we stopped for a pre-dinner "snack" and some free time.
We got some great pictures of Edinburgh Castle from afar and the William Wallace Statue.
Remember Braveheart? Mel Gibson played the part of William Wallace who was a hero in the Battle of Stirling. I'm planning to watch that again when I return!
We were also able to take a few pictures of Stirling Castle as we passed on our way to the hotel. The castles look just like what I had imagined they would. So far we are LOVING Scotland. We even had some beautiful weather this afternoon to really enjoy the scenery.
We are staying at Stirling University tonight. So, the kids are getting a good idea of what it's like to live in a dorm! They are loving it!
After our pre-dinner, we stopped by an old cemetery where our bus driver told us we could find a few people from Harry Potter. This cemetery is across the street from the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote the first HP book. There were people walking all around the old cemetery. So it did not take us long to find the grave site of Tom Riddle and Professor McGonagall! The kids were excited to take their pictures next to the names and are looking forward to more Harry Potter adventure in London!
At 6:45, we were "played in" to the building for the Scottish Ceilidh by a Scot playing the Great Highland Bagpipes! We found our seats and began the 4-course meal which included Scotland's national dish - Haggis! We were a little slow to try them after we were told they were sheep innards. Our tour guide tried to comfort us by telling us it was made out of the same things hot dogs are, but we informed him that was not really comforting!
The Ceilidh lasted about 3 hours. It was basically the story of Scotland told through music and dance. We heard the violin, bagpipes and accordion along with singing and dancing! It was really amazing. I was afraid that it may have lost the students' attention, but when we boarded the bus afterwards, I asked them if they liked it, and they unanimously yelled "yes"! It was an amazing immersion in the Scottish culture.
We are now in our rooms ready for a good night's sleep! Tomorrow we will visit Edinburgh Castle, have some free time in Edinburgh and then take a train to London! We are having an amazing time. I hope you are getting great feedback from the kids!
Have a wonderful evening!
