Travel Week Part 1: York and Scotland!

The Saturday before we all left for Scotland, we woke up early that morning to try to get Les Mis tickets. They didn't have any, so we decided to get Pygmalion tickets instead. After visiting the National Portrait Gallery which I absolutely LOVED- I love seeing what famous people in history looked like, so fun- we walked around all over the place, so by the time we got to the play, we were all kind of tired. We ended up getting front row seats to the play, because they were super cheap. Right when the play started I could see my friend Natalie falling asleep besides me. I felt like she wanted to sleep, so I didn't nudge her awake or anything. It was so funny though cause Rupert Everett was totally staring her down, haha! Even after she woke up, he was staring her down. Me and this kid Ramsey totally noticed and so after the play we brought it up. She said he was totally giving her a "you jerk" look the rest of the play after she woke up. I don't think it helped his ego to see someone asleep during his performance. It was a really good play though! I liked it's ending way more than the ending of My Fair Lady, which was based off of Pygmalion. Later that day I went to this Belgian Patisserie and got a waffle with white chocolate and caramel bits on top. Seriously, waffles are my new favorite dessert. They are so good here!

On the 4th of July we all packed up in a coach and headed to Scotland. One of the first things we did on the bus was sing the Star Spangled Banner. It was so fun! Our first stop on the way was a little town called York. We went to see a huge cathedral called the York Minster. They happened to be having a funeral that day, so we got in for free. I really liked this cathedral because it was a lot less gaudy than Westminster. At one point I just sat in a chair and took it all in. A bit after I sat down the funeral procession started to leave the church and the organ started to play. And man, that organ was AMAZING! The music was so powerful and loud! It was pretty great. I think the organ music was one of my favorite parts of York Minster. After that we went on a walk to a place called the Bromley House. It was a home that was turned into a little museum because it had survived since Medieval times. It was made up to look like it did back then. It was fun to see how the home was run, and what life was like for people of that time period. One of my favorite sections of the house, was an area that contained wardrobe items of characters from famous British history films. They had costumes that Colin Firth (Darcy) and Jennifer Ehle (Lizzy) wore in Pride and Prejudice, as well as costumes that Colin Firth (Bertie) and Helena Bonham Carter (his wife) wore in the King's Speech, plus many more.

After visiting Bromley House we walked around town and explored the Shambles (which used to be a really crummy part of York: that is why people say things like, "The economy is in shambles"). It was sooo neat! Walking around York was like being transported back to Medieval times. Unlike London, York had not been burned to the ground, so a lot of old stuff still exists there. The buildings were right next to each other and jutted out over your head. It was really fun to see buildings today that existed so long ago. We went into some cool candy shops, book shops, and pubs. It was really great!

After that we went back to the York Minster for "Evensong" which is a Catholic service where a choir sings. It was really really fun because I got to hear the organ again, and sit up near the choir. It was really neat to be sitting there listening to the beautiful choir, with lit candles all around me, in this really old and beautiful cathedral. It was pretty cool! They were a REALLY good choir too! And I got to experience a Catholic service, which is something I had never done before. After watching the "Evensong" performance we walked along an old Roman wall and then sketched (for our art class) in a park. York was sooo adorable! I absolutely loved it!

Tuesday morning we got back in the coach and headed off to Edinborough (when pronounced it kind of sounds like ed-in-bud-uh) in Scotland. After we got to our hostel and ditched our stuff, we headed off to hike Arthur's seat. Arthur's Seat is the tip of a mountain in Edinborough that is associated with the Arthurian legend, and gives you an awesome view of the city. As we were walking to the mountain we passed Hollyroodhouse which is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. She was actually having a garden party that night, so we got to see all these posh people walking in to the palace. The hike was really fun! It was so green! It is pretty amazing here, because there is grass everywhere, like everywhere. And it isn't crazy tall grass, but short trimmed grass, so everything looks so neat and pretty. It was really windy on top but it was so cool. We could see Hollyroodhouse and all the people at the garden party, Edinborough castle, and tons of other cool sites. After that we all met by this cool cathedral for a Ghost Tour. We had this awesome female Scottish tour guide that was really theatrical which made the tour a lot more fun. We went down into these catacombs under the city that used to be used by certain businesses, and were used for things like wine storage. It was awesome. After that we went to this little supermarket to get some snacks. We ended up striking up a conversation with the owner, a guy named Graham. After talking to him for a bit, we told him we were Mormon. He must have liked us, cause he pulled out a photo book and showed us tons of pictures of his family, and then he ended up giving us free sodas. He was a really cool dude.

On Wednesday we woke up early and headed off to Edinborough Castle. We got headsets, which had cool Scottish people narrating with bagpipe music going on in the background. That totally helped create the atmosphere. It was fun. The castle was pretty big, so I totally did not even see everything. I did really like seeing the huge canons that they used in war, the little dog cemetery (yes, British people love their dogs that much, St. Margaret's Chapel, the Royal jewels, the stone of destiny, the soldiers memorial, and the prisoner barracks. I especially loved seeing these old wooden prison doors that had graffiti on them. These prisoners would write their names, draw their ships, or write bad things about their captors. It was really neat. We even got pictures with this cool Scottish guardsman named Greg. He was super nice, and all the girls fell in love with him! They are silly. Right after the castle visit, we went to the National Gallery. I saw paintings by Raphael and Botticelli, and tons of other famous artists. I really enjoyed it! For lunch we randomly found this really cool cafe down this alley, and it had awesome cheap food. Everything comes small here portion wise, so we were all impressed with this place because it gave American sized portions, haha. I got a toastie (pretty much a grilled cheese) and chips (fries). After that we all walked down into these beautiful gardens and found a nice little table to sit and eat our lunches. We were sitting right under the cliffs that housed the castle on top, a cute little carousel, and an awesome children's play park (which was so much cooler than any playgrounds I have ever seen before).After that we got dessert at this place called "Chocolate Soup", and then visited the bathrooms at the Elephant House, which is where JK Rowling would go write Harry Potter! The bathroom was like a little shrine to Harry Potter. It had writing all over the walls and pictures of Harry Potter characters glued to the toilet seat. I loved it! Next on the agenda was a walk up to some Roman ruins, and an old cemetery. That was really fun! And last on our agenda for the night was to get some haggis! I actually tried haggis, I was so proud of myself. And it really wasn't bad at all. I ate it with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). The flavor was pretty good, it was just the texture that wasn't too fun.

Overall I really liked Scotland, but not as much as York. It had a different feel and atmosphere than both London and York, but I never could put my finger to what that was. One thing I noticed was that it seemed a little darker and dirtier than both London and York. I also noticed that it did not have as much of a melting pot of people as in London. All the people there were just Scottish, which is totally great! I heard accents so much, I totally had my Scottish accent down by the time I left! That was fun. It was pretty great seeing kilts and plaid tartans all around too. I learned on this trip that argyle is a specific Scottish clan's tartan, which I did not even know before. Love argyle!