Day 36 of London: Abbey Road

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

Today was a school day, which means that we had classes this morning. We had Shakespeare and Women's Question and then in the hour while Pol. Sci. was being held, I did some homework. After that class got out, Sara, Hilary, Adreanne and I (Adreanne is the one in the picture posted later in this post) went to find Abbey Road to check out the studio of the Beatles!

Now, I don't know a lot about the Beatles specifically, but I know a lot of their music- I grew up on it. We took a picture walking in the crosswalk across Abbey Road, which is apparently on an album cover (I know- any die-hard Beatles fans out there are ashamed of me. Sorry!)

The wall outside the studio has been taken over by fans and people have written names and song lyrics and all sorts of things all over it. So, of course, I added my name and the date and took some pictures. It's too bad my mom and dad weren't there, because I think they'd think it was cool. Maybe not, but I think so. We went in a couple little shops with Beatles stuff and that was cool.

After Abbey Road, we went to the Tate Britain museum and saw the Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian paintings. Some of them were really interesting and I thought it was interesting that it talked about Queen Elizabeth I and how she didn't necessarily like people painting likenesses of her, but wanted more symbolic representations of herself, which meant she's sometimes wearing fancier jewelry or holding weird things that she wouldn't normally be, etc. Interesting.

After the Tate Britain, we hurried back to the Centre for dinner. Tonight we had pizza! It was the first time I've had pizza since I got here! It was so good! Mmmmm I like pizza.

After dinner, we had a lecture by Julian Bell. He works for an MP in England and is also the leader of the opposition for the Ealing City Council. He was interesting to listen to, especially because I took that Political Science 150 class that taught me all about the English Parliamentary System. I did think his remarks were a little scattered though, but it was cool. He was our introduction to government and such because tomorrow we're going on a tour of the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben, etc.)

Tonight I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when a bug flew into the sink. I didn't want to lean over into the sink before the bug was gone, so I filled a handful of water and tried to wash it down and when I looked again, it was gone. Victory! I leaned over and got a mouthful of water to swish-and-spit and looked for the bug corpse to verify my belief that it was dead. Didn't find it. Spit out my water and looked in the mirror to make sure all the toothpaste was gone, and there was the bug! On my forehead! EEWWWWW! This time I killed it- I know because I washed its body down the drain. Victory!


Alright well, I need to get to bed. After the Houses of Parliament, I think I'm going to come home and do homework and work because I have a ton.

Hope you all are enjoying summer and life wherever you are-
love,
mollie

Day 35 of London: Winston and Anne

Hello everyone!

So, first of all, today was a beautiful day! The weather was incredible! It was in the 70s or 80s, with a light wind, and blue blue skies. It was soooo beautiful!

We got up and ate breakfast and were on the bus at 9 am this morning to leave to go to Chartwell, which is where Churchill spent the years from the birth of his last daughter to when he was reinstated as First Lord of the Admiralty and moved back to London. Chartwell was in danger of being repossessed/sold a few times and the last time, friends of Churchill bought it for the National Trust who allowed the Churchills to live there until their deaths.

He was 76 when he became Prime Minister for the second time. He said he felt like he knew he was meant to do something great with his country since the time he was in grade school. The history of the house was really cool and I liked reading everything about him. I didn't know his mother was an American. And I didn't know he painted, which he actually did very well! He entered one of his first paintings into an amateur competition and won first prize! They have a lot of his paintings around Chartwell and some of them are really really good- I liked them a lot!

I also didn't know that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and I also didn't know that he gave his famous "iron curtain" speech after he was out of office (thus it would have no official political ramifications) while giving a speech at Westminster College in Missouri which I think was Truman's home state.

Anyway- he was a pretty fascinating person, so you should really read more about him.
Seriously. And the house was beautiful. It was big and spacious, but the rooms were very warm and inviting. There was a dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides and it was really pretty. And there was a balcony/patio with an amazing view of Kent and the countryside. It was sooo pretty! I seriously wanted to live there and sit out there and not move. I posted pictures of the view, but I'm not sure if it comes across in the picture- scenery usually doesn't.

I thought the house was really really cool. And the grounds were really pretty, as I said. There was one garden that had these humongous plants growing that looked something like cabbage leaves. They felt like leather though, and they were at the end of these huge stalks, taller than us. Someone in the group said she felt like a character on "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" and I have to admit, you really did. It was really strange. I took a picture of it, but again, I'm not sure if you get the full effect from the picture. The plants were seriously Humongous with a capital H.

After that, we got back on the bus and went to Hever Castle (about 30 minutes away). It was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, 2nd wife of Henry VIII. Henry VIII was not very nice. First was Catherine of Aragon, then Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. While you have time, after you've read about Winston Churchill, you should also read about the wives because I think they're pretty interesting too!

The castle was interesting moreso because the Astors bought it in the 19th century and remodeled a little bit to make it more homey, thus it looked like a really old 15th century castle from the outside, but on the inside mostly looked like a Victorian home with very fancy and ornate wood paneling and rugs and upholstered furniture and things. I bought a couple post cards to see the inside. I also bought my nephew Will something there- but I don't want to tell you what because I want it to be a surprise! But I think he'll really like it! Erin keeps sending me messages about all the cute things Will has been saying and how much he misses me- I miss him too! Which causes me to keep buying things for him- I need to stop. But I think I made my final purchase today and it's a good one! He's going to be so excited (hopefully) and I'm excited for that!

The castle had really extensive grounds and gardens with various fountains and benches and meadows and stuff. It also has a "legit" moat. In the moat, there was a mother duck with a bunch of ducklings trailing behind her, so of course I took a picture. Not only because they were so cute, but because she had at least 14 babies with her! That's a lot of babies!

It was really fun to go explore the gardens and such. They've tried to make it into a more kid-friendly attraction with jousting on the weekends and a hedge maze and a water maze. The hedge maze had a sign that I have posted a picture of- I thought it was just so English. Feeling a need to return to my childhood, I entered the hedge maze and made my way around which was really fun and made me feel like a little kid again. I finally made my way to the middle where there's a little pedestal you can stand on, but it is not tall enough to see over the hedges. And then I began to make my way out. And promptly got lost. Miserably so. The fun had worn off and now I was frustrated and just wanted out! I walked around in circles for what seemed like 1/2 an hour until I heard some of Dr. Benfell's children in there. I found my way to them and they ultimately got me out of the maze.

After the hedge maze, we went and found the water maze, which I have posted a picture of. It's just like concrete blocks that work their way in to a big mossy tower and then there's grass and water all around, creating the "walls" of the maze. If you're not careful and you go the wrong way, water sprays at you or something from the ground. You can only imagine the ecstasy of all the little kids in their swim diapers. I didn't go through, but I thought it was cool.

Then I went to the gift shop and then found some other people from the group and we plopped ourselves on a hillside and took naps with the sun and the breeze and the beautiful blue sky. Seriously- the weather was sooooo beautiful! It was a lovely day.

After the castle, we got on the bus and drove home. We got back to the centre at about 7 pm and then there was a mad rush to the kitchen where, if you happened to be within the first 10 people to get there (which I was) you got to eat left-overs from last night. Most everyone else went out. I was tired and didn't want to go out, or spend the money, so I was glad I got to eat at the centre.

After dinner, I sat with Adreanne at the table and we ended up talking for more than 2 hours. That's a long time. But we had a good chat and it was fun. We have resolved to sit on the next long bus ride together so we can talk when we don't have 8 billion other school things to be doing, like we did tonight.

Anyway- so that's been my busy day!
Tomorrow is just a regular school day, unfortunately!

until then,
mollie

Day 34 of London: Intro to Churchill

Bonjour ladies and gentlemen!

So today (which is really yesterday because I'm posting on Wednesday because the internet was down on Tuesday night). So today we had classes in the morning, then I went out for a jog through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It was kind of a rainy day, but that made for really good jogging weather!

After that, I came back and went to a review session for the Women's Question/Victorian Literature class. That took about an hour and we went over all the terms and essay questions and stuff that we need to know.

After that, I came up to my room and did some homework and then ended up falling asleep for 30 minutes before dinner. For some reason I woke up feeling exhausted! I seriously feel like I'm still recovering from Scotland! I went down to dinner and we had chicken parmesan (I hate spelling that word...) with noodles and breaded chicken and sauce and salad and bread. It was yummy!

After dinner, I came back upstairs and changed my clothes and grabbed my notebook and headed down to the classroom to watch the movie about Churchill called "The Gathering Storm" by HBO. It was really good! I really liked it! I've always known Churchill was a really famous British guy, and had a lot to do with WWII, but I didn't quite know the specifics, and now I do, and I have to say it was really amazing to learn about him! I can see why Britain loved him! ...and how frustrating it must have been for him to see WWII coming and have everyone ignore him, including Chamberlain, because they're hoping to preserve peace. I really liked this movie!

I tend to like history. I don't really know when it fell out of favor, but I suppose it did a little bit because I haven't taken any history classes in a while. But I used to read all of the historical fiction books- I can't remember the name of the series- each one was about a different girl and all the covers were the same except for the picture of the girl, and they had ribbon bookmarks in them, which I thought was cool. I have always loved the Titanic- and really like the movie for its historical replication of the ship and everything. I remember learning about it in 3rd grade- our teacher gave us the phone number for the hotline where you could listen to survivors tell their stories. I remember calling at least 3 times to listen to it over and over again because I thought it was sooo cool! (That was like... one of the most nerdy things I've ever admitted to doing...)

And this was no different- I liked the movie because it was supposed to be historically accurate as far as all records show and it just makes the whole thing come to life and I liked it a lot! (Did I mention I liked it?!)

So after the movie, we went to McDonalds for ice cream and came home and studied a bit before bed.

And that's where Tuesday ends. Someone took a picture at McDonald's that I could post here, but I don't have a copy of it yet, sorry!

-mollie

Day 33 of London: Same Old Same Old

Hello everyone!

Can you believe I'm saying "same old" about London?! I know, it's sad. Today and yesterday have been really really hot- a lot hotter than is characteristic for London summers, that's for sure. The heat, coupled with the humidity, has reminded me a lot of being home for the summer! So sticky!

Today was our laundry day, so I went to classes this morning and then started my laundry. I was going to go to the National Portrait Gallery, but no one wanted to wait for my stuff to get done in 30 minutes so I got left behind. I caught up on some Shakespeare homework and finally emailed in some work for Freshman Academy!

I sat at our big window in our room to do some work. Our neighborhood is quite quaint and I like it. The big window provides much opportunity for people-watching and I've gotten to know our neighbors pretty well. To the top left, across the street, there is a man who watches a lot of TV. I haven't seen anyone but him- but the window is always glowing with TV light from about 7-10 when it goes off. There is a woman across the way who always looks very hurried and paces around her front room, generally while on the phone. Maybe she's remodeling the flat or something because I can't see any furniture in the room. There's a middle-aged couple slightly to the left of Busy Phone Woman who are painting their front room so there is often a sheet hung up across the way. Up to the top right, there is an old man, who I haven't seen much, which is fine with me. The two times I have, he's been standing at his window, leaning out in his underwear and t-shirt, looking down on the street. People-watching, no doubt. Little does he know there's someone out there people-watching him. And then I wonder, which of these people, or is it another person entirely? or no one at all? that is people-watching me? Hmmmm...

After finishing my laundry with no unforeseen issues (which I was very proud of), and my homework (which I was also proud of), I went to dinner. We had Mexican food- some type of tortilla, bean, meat casserole with avacado, olive, cheese, and sour cream. We had rice and salad and it was really good! After dinner, I came back up to our bedroom and found it much too hot to stand. Try being on the second floor of a house like my home in CT. I thought that was hot in the summer. Then try going up four more flights of stairs- it's much hotter up here, as you can imagine! I can only pity the boys who live even a floor above us!

So I went downstairs to the sitting room to do some homework, which was quite pleasant because the sun was starting to go down and we have big french doors that open onto the street-ish, so a nice breeze was coming in. But then people started reading King Lear out loud for our Shakespeare class, so I relocated to the library, where it was also especially hot. After working for a while in there, I relocated again to the servery, which is where we eat our meals. I opened the windows and by this time the sun had gone down and it was much cooler.

I worked for another half-hour or so and then made my way up the stairs to resume my position perched on the bed. Some people tried to see Mama Mia tonight, but it was sold out, so they split and went to Chicago! and The Sound of Music. I would have liked to go, but I don't have $50 to spend on every show out there! I'm thinking I'll try to see the Phantom of the Opera and then I'll be done with shows. I do want to see another classical music concert though.

After everyone got home, I heard the report of how good the shows were. Apparently The Sound of Music is as favorite in the Centre. Anyway...

Tomorrow is Tuesday, which means more classes. After class, I think I might go to the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum- they are required visits for a couple of our classes. This week I also want to try to get to the British Library and Westminster Abbey. We'll see how it goes- it's hard to make plans because everyone is bouncing off in 8 billion different directions! Tomorrow night Dr. Holland is showing a video about Churchill before he became PM and that's supposed to be really interesting, though optional, and I think I'll go to that since we're going to Churchill's house on Wednesday.

Sorry no pictures again, but I think I'm making up for the picture overload from Scotland- I still have to get those last pictures up! I almost forgot!

Anyway- I hope you all are doing well wherever you are. I miss you all and hope that I'll have more exciting things to write about soon. As of a couple posts ago, my sister Erin suggested I get myself to Paris because time is running out- I responded that Paris (should I have gone) would have cost $200-400 for just one day! So I suppose that won't happen. Maybe I'll look into it a little bit more...

until again,
mollie

Day 32 of London: Crystal Palace

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today was a good day. We got up and went to church- we left late because people weren't ready. I could not find my Oyster (Tube pass) card, which was really distressing and inconvenient. We got to Victoria station in time to miss the 8:51 train. The next train was at 9:20, which we also missed because the ticket line (for some reason) was really really long. So we ended up on the 9:40 train and got to church after the sacrament. The meeting was about seminary, so they had three kids talk about their seminary experience, then they had the teacher talk. Then the bishop spoke and, awkwardly, spent 40 minutes (causing our meeting to go over-time) basically chastising the ward and suggesting that parents need to discipline their children and that those in authority will if they don't- but they're not trying to be mean, they're trying to do their duty.

After the Long sacrament meeting, Sarah and I went up to Primary. We sat down with the 8-11 yr olds and the teacher handed us the manual and said she had somewhere else to be. That was fun...

Luckily I brought white chocolate this time so they all got to munch while we talked.

Then we had singing time, during which the teacher had everyone stand up and march around the room singing "Called To Serve". That was pretty much the highlight of the day and made me smile. After that we sang a variety of other songs, and when I say "sang" I mean "yelled melodically". Children are good at that.

After primary, we took the train home. Instead of taking a nap as is my usual routine, I pulled everything out of my closet, drawer, and backpack trying to find my Oyster card, which I did end up finding! Hurrah!

I played my flute a bit in the classroom, then went back to my room to write a little bit and ended up asleep for about 10 minutes before it was time to go down for dinner. We had broccoli cheese soup with salad and bread. It was good! It is sooooo nice to have meals provided for us again!

After dinner, we had devotional at 7:30- nothing was planned, so they just decided anyone could talk about their favorite hymn and then we would sing it. It started really lame but turned out good and it was a good meeting. It was fun to just have a sing-along. It reminded me almost of Girls' Camp when we used to sit and sing before dinner. Awww Girls' Camp.

Anyway. So that was good. After that, Sara and Hilary came up to our room and we were just talking for about an hour about all the typical girl topics, and then somehow we got stuck on YouTube (which, as you know has happened before) and watched ridiculous videos for about an hour, which was hysterical. My favorite this time was one that Hilary was in for her Singles' Ward- a spoof about Visiting Teaching. I would link to it, but I'm too lazy right now.

Anyway- after our YouTube party, it was pretty late, so I went to bed. And that's when Monday began, so I'll write about that later tonight :)

I hope you all are doing well- I miss you all.

love,
mollie

Day 31 of London: Saturday is a Special Day

Hello everyone!

I'm still working on getting the pictures up for one of those Scotland posts. Hopefully that'll happen soon- at least I got the text up though. Saturday was lovely. I slept in until 9 and got up and dressed. I did some work and wrote on my blog as I'm sure you noticed. Then I went out for a run through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Ok, well let's not call it "running"- maybe "jogging". I can usually tell how long I've been out according to what song I hear on my iPod, but I recently downloaded the "new" (ok, like a year old. I've been avoiding it.) iTunes and it changed all of my playlists to be in alphabetical order, so I ended up being out a lot longer than expected. Oh well.

The weather was beautiful and it was really nice to just be outside. After that, I came home and went out to Tesco to get myself some peaches because I've been craving them; it was worth it because they were soooo good! After shopping, I came back to the Centre and read a little bit, wrote a little bit, and just generally hung around.

Ok- so not much happened today- but it was a good day!


-mollie

Day 30 of London: Get me off this bus!

Hello again!

After spending a wonderfully pleasant night in Ambleside, we woke up the next morning with plans to go to Beatrix Potter's house (Hilltop Farm) and then load the bus and stop at Cadbury World (amazing chocolate factory) on our way back to London.

We got up and ate breakfast and found out that Beatrix Potter's house is closed on Fridays, and Cadbury World requires advance booking plus 10 pounds per person. So sad! So the day was pretty much shot- the professors said we'd leave at 2 and until then we could just amble around wherever we wanted. For a while we all sat around the docks watching the swans with their three babies. The guy at the hostel said a little while ago the chicks were so small that the mom swan just swam around with them on her back. Cute!

We then made our way into town (after being seriously disappointed about not getting to see Beatrix Potter's house/farm where she wrote all her stories and created all her little animal characters...) and shopped around a little bit- the picture is of Sara with her new beanie babies- Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-duck. Then ate at a little burger place. The burger tasted a little weird and I ventured to guess that it might have been because the beef is a little more fresh out in the country side. Maybe I'm wrong. It was fine though. I took a picture of the UK Sprite can- why not?

After lunch, I used sheer will power to convince myself not to buy a big chocolate eclaire for 90 p. We passed by a ton of little chocolate/fudge/sweet shops in Ambelside. I wanted to eat everything. But instead I took pictures...

I got back on the bus and we headed for London. Luckily on the bus I got two seats to myself so I could mostly sleep, but the traffic was awful. It was supposed to take us about 5 hours to get home and ended up taking us close to 7. It was miserable! We stopped at a Welcome Centre and ate and got snacks, at which point my defenses were down against the sweets and I ended up buying candy for the ride. They have candy bars called Topic bars which are chocolate, nougat, hazelnut, and carmel and they're pretty good. I have noticed that English candy has a lot more hazelnut in it than American candy does, which makes me really happy because I love hazelnuts!

We got back to the centre and it was sooooo nice to be back! We all collapsed on our beds and just kept repeating how nice it was to be back in our own rooms. Traveling is exhausting! And having to move suitcases all the time, and have random bed times, and have no idea where you are or where to eat, etc is exhausting! We were so happy to return to our routine, though we might be less so when we start classes again on Monday!
I stayed up a little late last night trying to unpack and move stuff, and then slept in this morning.

And that's where Friday (and my adventure to The North) ends!

until Saturday night,
mollie

Day 29 of London: a.k.a. Day 2.5 of Scotland!

Hello again!

After the exhausting day on Wednesday, I was happy to get to sleep in on Thursday morning. I went down to breakfast at 8:15 and we had to get on the bus at 8:30. No, actually, the bus was leaving at 8:30 and we had to be on it at 8:15. So much for breakfast.

Before I cleared my plate, I did get to finish my bowl of Frosties (or Frosted Flakes in the US) and eat some haggis. If you didn't find out what haggis was before, now is your chance. It actually wasn't that bad. But someone aptly described it as "meat paste" and that should give you a pretty good idea of what it tasted like- with lots of pepper and seasoning too.

We packed up and got on the bus and made our way to Grasmere, back in England. Grasmere's Dove Cottage is where Wordsworth lived and he wrote a lot about it, including his famous poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud" about the beautiful daffodils. It was cool too. They had a big exhibit of a lot of his writing where you could read it and then see the scenery that inspired it. That was cool.

The house used to be a pub, so it had slate floors, which was not common for the time, and high ceilings with dark wood accents. The lady told us the story of why we have the phrase "burning you candle at both ends", etc. We saw the buttery, and the coal closet. The furniture in the house was period furniture, though they had some pieces that were original to the Wordsworth family. They had a painting of their dog Pepper, which was given to them by Sir Walter Scott because he bred dogs. Apparently the Wordsworth's really really loved the dog. They had a room upstairs with some of his original desks, etc. and then a room that was completely wall-papered with newspapers, which Dorothy did for added insulation. Wordsworth was honored with the title of Poet Laureate and refused, and was then told by Scott that the title should only go to the most talented poet in the land. After that, Wordsworth graciously accepted, but wrote nothing for the Crown. Not even one poem, as Poet Laureate.

They had some of Dorothy's journals and you could see how her writing influenced her brother- they were only a year apart and apparently very close. In fact William married one of Dorothy's best friends and named his first daughter Dora in tribute. Mary brought her younger unmarried sister with her when she married William so they all lived there together. William and Mary soon had three children and moved out after Mary found out she was expecting a fourth. That's a lot of people in a tiny house like that!

They had a room of the family's original belongings, including little sewing kits and "pace eggs" which were really pretty. They were hollowed out Easter Eggs that were painted really ornately and the children would each choose one and I believe there was a contest to see if they could roll them into each other and break the other's egg. They also had their original china and silver, and my favorite part: a little braid of William and Dorothy's hair together that William made when they were younger. He carried it around with him. Or another favorite, the wooden box of Dorothy's gray hair. When she died, her husband asked that all her hair be cut so he could keep it. And he did. In a wooden box that is now in their museum. Eewww.

Grasmere is apparently famous for its Ginger Bread, so we walked into town and got some. It was really good- a lot more gingery than most people are used to. We then tried to find a place to eat for lunch, but due to time constraints, we just grabbed scones and butter and jam. Ok, so my scone was delicious and probably one of the best things I've eaten since I've been here. So good!!!

After that, we drove and drove again until we came to Ambleside, also in the Lake District. It is on Lake Windermere and our hostel was right on the water. After checking in (with roommates Summer and Rachel this time) we changed and went out on the dock and everyone jumped in to swim! The water was FREEZING. I didn't have a bathing suit so I wore shorts and a t-shirt and once I was in, and could say I did it, I jumped out and wrapped up in my towel. We (Lizzy, Adreanne, and me) then decided to go out in a canoe and that was really fun!

After the canoe ride, we came back, changed our clothes and ate dinner at the hostel which was not yummy at all. Some people were then heading out to a park to play soccer. I went along this time, but just sat and read my book. It was a beautiful evening! The canoeing guy said it's pretty much always raining there, so we were really lucky! It was warm and breezy. I watched the sunset over the water and it was really pretty. I took a ton of pictures of the park and the waterfront because it was just so pretty, but I don't think I'll post too many of them on here.

After the park, we went back to the hostel and everyone was out by the water on the docks again talking and playing cards. I went in and bought hot cocoa from an Australian bar tender who seemed a little bit tipsy himself, or just really friendly, which I'm guessing is unlikely. He tried to convince me my hot cocoa would be a lot better with some whiskey in it and then continued to flirt with me for 10 minutes. It was kind of awkward.

After finally escaping Bartender Man I went outside and drank it on the dock and watched the sun set. It was a beautiful night! We slept with our windows open again and listened to the little lambs bleating on the hillside.

Time for Friday!

p.s.- happy pioneer day to the LDS world!

-mollie

Day 28 of London: a.k.a. Day 2 of Scotland!

Hello again!

I got up Wednesday morning at 5 and showered and got dressed. We were meeting Dr. Holland and Dave Shuler (the husband of our "host parents" at the Centre. They live in the flat next door and run the place. They also make our meals and go on our trips with us.) for a hike up Arthur's Seat. They had two groups sign up: the "slow" group that met at 6:15 and the fast group that met at 6:45. I went with the slow group. The hike was beautiful. Seriously. Walking up, we saw ruins of some old building on the hill, then saw rabbits and other animals. I almost got wiped out by a mountain biker coming down straight at me, who saw me and slid out of the way. He was a kid about 18 probably- no doubt trying to show off his masculinity. Too bad he crashed...
I really do feel bad for him. But I did think it was kind of funny that he was clearly trying to be all Mr. Tough Guy.

We got to the top and you could see everything. I mean everything. You could see Scotland miles to the North, then the Ocean on the east side, and Scotland on the West until you hit the river. It was beautiful. The first picture posted is of me at the top, as is the one here where I'm sitting. The one at the top was a little scary- there was a really sheer, rocky drop-off right over the side of the rock I'm standing on.

Just kidding, mom. There wasn't. I wouldn't have stood out there if there was. Anyway. A lot of the girls didn't want to get up that early, and neither did I, but I knew I would never get a chance to do it again. And it was soooooooo worth it! It was such a beautiful view! The sky was a little overcast, but you could still see everything and it was so cool to be standing and seeing so much of SCOTLAND!!! Dr. Holland gave a devotional at the top and talked about the church history behind the spot, which was cool.

After the hike, we went back down and came across a huge slug, which I took a picture of. We ate breakfast at the hostel before heading out to Edinburgh Castle which is at the top of the Royal Mile. The hostel's bathroom had a really strong hand dryer- it moved the skin- it was so weird I had to take a picture. The Castle was really cool! Some of the girls in the group were bored of it, but I thought it was cool- I mean, come on, it's a CASTLE! We took a guided tour and the woman told us about a variety of different things. They have a 1 o clock gun there that they used to fire every day at 1 pm to help sailor guys know what time it was. They didn't want to do it at noon like most people do because that was too expensive (to have it go off 12 times).

The Castle has been an active military host for many years and still is today. It has a Highlanders museum inside one of the buildings. It has a cathedral (that wasn't open) and a War Memorial that honors all the men and women (and animals) that have died in conflict for the Scottish. They said they added a name last week for a soldier killed in Afghanistan. Sad. They also had a Banqueting Hall where they had two guys doing a demonstration on warfare of the time. They had the Queen's Royal Apartments open to the public, showing the room where Mary Queen of Scots had James the VI (who later became James I of England when he was 1 yr old, uniting the two countries and creating the United Kingdom...) and that was pretty cool. We also saw Scotland's Crown Jewels which haven't been doing much for a while since they're under the rule of the Queen of England. When Oliver Cromwell destroyed the English Crown Jewels, the Scottish caught word that he was coming to destroy theirs and hid them for 10 years. Then in 1707 after the ceremonial union creating Great Britain, the jewels were locked away in Edinburgh Castle in a big chest and left alone and essentially forgotten. In the 1800s people started to wonder where they went and in 1818 a group (including Sir Walter Scott) went to find them and there they were, untouched, wrapped up in the same chest they were put in more than 100 years before. You can read more about it if you want. I thought it was a cool story.

After the crown jewels, we saw the prison exhibit, where they take you down to the dungeons and it's all set up for how it would have been for POWs, etc. that were housed there. They had a ton of wooden boxes and tools made out of animal bones that the prisoners made while there and those were pretty cool. At one point they even started manufacturing fake money (with machines and stamps they made from bones) and bribing/paying off their jailers to win their freedom/escape.

After the castle, we walked down the Royal Mile and saw some places we were assigned to see, including the Tartan Mill/Factory (pictured with the red poles everywhere), St. Gile's Cathedral, John Knox's house, the grave of Adam Smith, and Hollyrood House (the Queen's Palace in Scotland). We also saw the Scottish bag pipe player, which was so... Scottish!!

St. Gile's Cathedral was pretty, but not my favorite from the trip. They had a bell choir performing though, and that was cool to hear. And then, upon further investigation, I found out they were on tour from Illinois! How funny!

John Knox's house was interesting, but cost me $7 to visit, which made it less exciting. It was cool to read about the conflict between Mary Queen of Scots and Knox though. At John Knox's house they had a robe and stuff to pretend like you were him writing at the desk- of course I did!

The grave of Adam Smith was interesting too, but probably would have been more interesting if I was in the Political Science class. There was a British man there asking if we knew all about Smith since we were American. I said "He was the founder of modern economics" but that's about all I knew, and that proved to be about all he knew too. He did tell us this story about how Dickens was doing a reading at the little church there, came out into the graveyard drunk-ish and was stumbling around until he found the grave of Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie as a "meal man" which Dickens wrote down and discovered the next morning as Ebenezer Scrooge- mean man. You can read the whole story here if you want. I thought it was interesting. Unfortunately, the grave marker isn't there anymore.

After that, we made our way to a restaurant/cafe called Chocolate Soup. Their specialty, as might be expected, is chocolate soup, which is a thick-ish hot cocoa type thing with chocolate in it, drizzled across it, and sprinkled on top of it. I tried someone else's and it was amazing. So much chocolate! The popular dish was the brownie sundae, which was two really thick, dark brownies, with chocolate frosting and chocolate candies on top, sandwiched with vanilla ice cream and a hot fudge dipping sauce. When I got there, it was after about 20 others of us had eaten there, so they didn't have any more brownies. I got them to make it with a cupcake instead, which was the same thing, just less dense than the brownie, obviously. It was sooooooooooo good (and is pictured at the top of this post). Oh man. So much chocolate.

Then we made our way down to Hollyrood House (the picture was taken from the top of Arthur's Seat). The Palace was pretty cool and had a lot of ornate bedrooms and such that were cool to see. It is fun to imagine Kings and Queens walking the same floors and hallways. There is a decaying Abbey there as well, and the ruins were really pretty and interesting to look at. We walked around in the gardens for a little bit and then went out and hailed a cab (for the first time, so of course there's a picture!) to get to the old book shops on West Port street, which we were afraid would close before we could walk there.

The book stores were really cool! Everything was so old and relatively inexpensive! They had a shelf of old books with a sign that said "Not to be sold to anyone under the age of 18", on which I found Tennyson, Browning, and other seemingly harmless authors. I asked Steven, who asked the book keepers what the deal was with the sign. She said "Um, you caught us on an off day. But basically, it's anything even remotely lascivious. They tend to be books that the Scottish Parliament thinks will make the country go up in flames if young people read them. So just to be safe, we put them all over here." ... Ok. They also had a sign in the window saying "Due to government regulation, we are subject to close at any time. Sorry for the inconvenience." We wondered what all that was about.

I bought a two book set (had to buy both, which was kind of sad) of E. B. Browning poetry. I liked the ones we read in class, and the set was relatively inexpensive, and I thought it could be my Scotland souvenir. They were printed in 1884 and are very old and cool looking. I was very excited about it- and still am!

After the old books, I wanted to get back down to the Royal Mile to buy some things before the shops closed. So I abandoned my slow-moving group and tried to make my way back. After hurriedly, but aimlessly, walking around the city, I turned a corner and found myself at The Elephant House Cafe- the place where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. That was pretty cool. I took a picture. I quickly moved on, in hopes of making it to the Royal Mile. After another 30 minutes of thinking I wasn't lost, I turned a corner and found myself at The Elephant House Cafe. Again.

I finally found a bus map and realized I had been tracing a circle around about 5 city blocks, while where I wanted to be was only one block away. So sad! I got over there and bought what I was looking for and made my way back to the hostel, where people were meeting at 5:30 to go get Dr. Holland's favorite (and Scotland's best) Fish n Chips at L'Alba D'oro- 7 Henderson Row. It was 6 pm, so I met up with another group of people going somewhere close and ate with them. We went to a little pub called The Castle Arms and they gave us a really cheap menu because we were students, which was really nice! I had fish n chips because I had my heart set on it earlier. The other people in the group got Yorkshire Pudding, which is mashed potatoes, gravy, and sausage inside a bread dish thing- similar to a pot pie, but more like a german pancake looking (but not tasting) thing. Hard to describe, that's why there's pictures I guess!

After that I went back to the hostel and enjoyed reading my books and sitting in the room. Some people went out dancing, but it was already 9 pm and I was exhausted after getting up at 5!

And that's the end of Wednesday- time for Thursday!

-mollie

Day 27 of London: a.k.a Day 1 of (gorgeous) Scotland!

Hello again!

So I will pick up where I left off. On Tuesday morning, I woke up at about 7 am in the Castle and went and took a shower. Luckily my room was (... actually, all my hostel rooms were) right next to the bathroom. So I went out my door and into the bathroom, which was a door, a sink, and then two doors from there, one of which hid a toilet and the other a shower stall.

The shower in the Castle was quite an ordeal. It was so small- smaller than a phone booth, and you try showering in a phone booth! There was no water pressure, or water for that matter. I took the shower head and was holding it against my head, hoping to get my hair wet, which did happen after a few minutes. I'm not even sure the rest of my body got wet during that shower though. It took forever to just wash my hair- I might as well have tried showering standing in a light drizzle outside! And, of course the light in the bathroom was motion sensored (which is common in hostels) and so it went off while I was in the middle of this hair-washing fiasco. What was I supposed to do? Well... there was flailing of arms involved- which was not comfortable, given the phone booth-like accommodations. That's all I can say about that.

I was half scared because our floor in the hostel seemed to be me and Summer, 4 or so other girls from the group, and then 4 or so middle aged men who creeped us out (but actually, upon fire drilling, proved very courteous).

Anyway. I got all my things packed up and went down to the Great Hall to have breakfast. The tables were all set fancy and there was a buffet breakfast and when you were done, they reset your spot and someone else sat down. It was nice, and in a cool place. I had ham and eggs and hashbrowns. Yum!

We then got on the bus at 9 am and left for Housestead's Fort, or Hadrian's Wall. The bus ride from the castle to Hadrian's Wall was miserable. The roads were so small and windy and I didn't like it one bit! We got to the wall at about 10:30 and ran around to take pictures, some of which have been posted here. The one of all the stones is the remains of a heated room- there was a floor built over the stones and then hot water was pumped underneath it. Pretty cool, no?

It was a chilly, drizzly day so I didn't take too many pictures, but maybe more will show up as other people post theirs- and then I can steal them!

After Hadrian's Wall, we made our way to Abottsford in Melrose, SCOTLAND! Abottsford is the name of Sir Walter Scott's home. It is very castle-ee looking, which is the look he was going for, and it is absolutely gorgeous! (It is also the subject of the first picture posted in this entry.) The place is absolutely huge, unfortunately the tour only takes you through the ground floor. And of course, you can't take pictures in there either, but I did buy a post card or two. The first room you enter is a library. Somewhat small, maybe the size of my living room at home, two stories tall, with floor to ceiling book shelves on 3 sides, and windows on the 4th (one of the long) sides. There is a balcony between the first and second floor so that you can climb up a small spiral staircase and end up walking along the bookshelves of the upper level. It is beautiful! They had the chair where Scott wrote a lot of his works and then they brought us into a bigger library, which was probably two or three times the size of my family room at home. It had two stories of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves as well, with 3 bay windows with seats that looked out over the River Tweed, down a really huge green lawn and pasture. They had all sorts of things in there- the Scott family Bible, etc. Scott's library has more than 9,000 rare books in it, and it is pretty amazing! Scott's history in general was pretty cool and he was quite a popular guy in his time.

The next room you see is a big hall with armour all around the walls- Scott collected it, along with swords and shields. The room has a really tall ceiling with family crests and coats of arms lining the walls. It was cool. After the tour, you go out into the gardens, which are beautiful as well! They host weddings at the house in the summer time and it would definitely be a beautiful place for one! After the gardens, you can walk down the two large hills to the water and wade or skip rocks like we did. It was just a gorgeous day and the house was incredible. There wasn't a cloud in the sky- except for one- which I took a picture of. The weather was perfect- blue skies, sunny, warm, breezy. Seriously, it was a beautiful day and many people commented they could have stayed at Abbotsford all day.

Unfortunately we had to be off to Edinburgh to check in to our hostel at 5:00pm. We got checked in and the rooms were nicer this time- in the sense that they were newer. But they were definitely a lot smaller than the castle, with 4 beds instead of 2, and really smelly. And there was a toilet in our shower. We all thought this odd. There was a sink outside with a mirror, then a door that opened into a room with a toilet and a showerhead. Hmmmm. I always wanted to be able to do both at once! ... It was odd.

After checking in, we went out to the city (our hostel was right off The Royal Mile) and found a little pub to eat at. A couple of us (not me) got Sausage and Mash, which is just what it sounds like. Sara got the salmon, Hilary got the risotto, and I got the BBQ chicken, bacon, cheese, which was chicken, bacon and cheese in a little dish, then french fries and salad. It was really really yummy. I've said this before, but I don't know if it's because I'm starving or what, but the food has been really good on this trip!

Tuesday was Sara's birthday, so we sang to her when she came out of the castle for the fire alarm at 5 am- she didn't seem too excited about that. And we sang to her again on the bus.

After dinner, we decided to go play soccer at the park. The park was about 4 blocks away and took forever to get to, but we did finally find it. There was a huge playscape there that I wanted to play on, but I got roped into playing soccer, and then when soccer was over, no one would go on the playscape with me. Seriously so sad!

After soccer, we went back to the hostel and changed clothes and went out in search of the Edinburgh night life. We found a tavern doing karaoke. It was the first time I've ever been carded. England's drinking age is 18. After my proof of ID, we went and someone from our group convinced me to sign up to sing. A guy in the pub asked if any of us wanted to play pool and I got Lizzy to play with me, with him. (Picture of guy is shown here...) Except, he went to go sing, and then someone scratched, so the game was essentially over and we put all the balls away before he got back. That was exciting.

We had to be back at the hostel at midnight, and after being at the tavern for 2 hours and realizing none of us were going to get to sing, we walked back to the hostel at about 11:45. I stayed up for a while talking to roommates (who were Summer, Jacque Aquino, Katie Rencher) and then went to bed. Edinburgh is bordered on one side by a river and the other by the Atlantic Ocean, so there are sea gulls. Really loud obnoxious ones. That caw all night long. That was fun.

And that's the end of Tuesday. Time for Wednesday!