Wordsworth bought Dove Cottage because it was in the country and more condusive to his Romantic way of writing. Ryder Hall also had very pretty gardens, but once again, I did not enjoy them because it was so cold and wet. And I was in a skirt and ruined my favorite shoes…
The next day we hiked the third highest mountain in Britain, Helvelyn. It was ridiculous. When we started I was col wearing a t shirt, sweatshirt and north face jacket. Within 5 minutes I had shed down to my t shirt because the walk was SO HARD! The entire way up was an intense incline.
The hike took us about an hour and a half to get up. When we got to the summit it was freezing! Apparently it had been snowing up there earlier that day…I was wearing leggings and shorts. Oops.
So our time at the summit was very short! Then we began the long climb down. It was like walking down very very long, rocky and uneven stairs. It took the same amount of time to get down as to get up. Whew! We felt very accomplished when we were done and we ate a very large dinner at Wetherspoon’s that night!
The next day we began our drive into Scotland! Scotland is my favorite country in the world. That could be an exaggeration, but I do love it. The people are so kind, the land is beautiful and the accents are awesome! Before our arrival in Glasgow, we stopped at Hadrian’s wall. Eh. It was alright, some more ruins and lots of sheep poo everywhere.
So we arrived in Glasgow. It was a pretty neat city with tons of shopping. Unfortunately my suitcase is already busting at the seams! I did manage to squeeze in a pair of adorable boots from Glasgow…Anywho, we spent the first afternoon there just walking around the city and getting our bearings. We ate at this place called campus that was trying to hard to be American. There were American flags and cowboy boots everywhere. And the walls were covered with pennants from American colleges. Crazy place!
The next morning we took a bus tour of Glasgow. I really enjoy those because I get a feel for the entire city, not just the areas that are close enough for me to get to by foot. Things I learned: a) St. Mungo lived here, as in St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries b) Glasgow used to be a very polluted city and they don’t clean their buildings now because it actually makes them grow a fungus on them… c) sitting on a bus is like a beautiful lullaby that puts me straight to sleep. We took a pitstop at the Transport Museum of Glasgow. Actually much more interesting than it sounds. They had the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets complete with a model Hedwig in the back!
Me and Alison are all over that stuff. We had the rest of the afternoon to walk around again. The next morning we took a tour of the City Council building and had a briefing on rebuilding Glasgow. Boring. After that we began the trek to….EDINBURGH!
Funny story, almost three years ago I came to the UK for my senior trip and we spent a few days in Edinburgh. When we pulled up to our lodgings I realized that we were staying in the same Travelodge that I stayed in three years ago! Crazy. Edinburgh is truly an awesome city. It is beautiful and there is so much you can do there. The first afternoon we went to St. Giles Cathedral. All these Cathedrals are really starting to run together for me.
Thursday morning we got an early start and tried to hit as many of Edinburgh’s fantastic sights as possible. First we went to Holyrood palace. This is the Queen’s residence in Scotland. It was really cool. Actually I had been there last time I was in Edinburgh but it’s still cool.
They don’t try to make the palace gaudy or anything, it is just presented as it is. We really appreciated that after all of England’s attempts to make everything in your face touristy. Mary Queen of Scots lived there actually along with many other famous monarchs. Best part of the palace—we got a free shortbread crown from the café.
Then we quickly hit the Museum of Childhood since it was free. Not that exciting really so it was a quick breezethrough.
We had more fun playing with all the toys in the gift shop. Then we met up with our group for a trip to the Scottish Parliament. Actually Scotland is far more independent than most people think. They don’t try as hard as Ireland to be independent either. The Scottish don’t seem to fight against England for their independence, they just declare that they are independent. So they have their own parliament among other things.
Then we went to Edinburgh Castle. This was the most ridiculous castle that I have ever seen. It was HUGE. I get easily tired of castles because typically they are all the same…this was definitely an exception. The only downside—five minutes into the tour my stomach decided that it did not like what I had for lunch that day. Too much info? Sorry.
This castle had a lot of stuff in it.—the national war memorial which was quite impressive, St. Margaret’s chapel the oldest building there, the national war museum and the Scottish crown jewels. Also a spectacular view of the city.
There was also a room where Mary Queen of Scots had her son Edward. Cool story about the Scottish jewels. They were locked up for years and actually the author Sir Walter Scott got permission from the reigning monarch to open up the room and bring them out again. Then in World War II they were hidden again in this very castle because of the impending German invasion. Only a handful of people were told one of whom being the Canadian Prime minister. So if all the Scottish people were killed the fate of the Scottish Crown jewels were in the hands of Canada. Hmmm.
There were so many statues of William Wallace, which is awesome! I was really kicking myself for not bringing Braveheart with me (what was I thinking?! I decide to bring Devil Wears Prada over Braveheart. Dumb). So me and Kelsey watched Gladiator instead. Same thing.
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