Scotland Day 1: Edinburgh

Well, I'm back after a long break from blogging!  Sadly, there probably won't be too much for me to blog about this term, since I won't be traveling that much, and mostly researching which is boring to think about let alone write about!  :)

So, I went to Scotland from February 19-16, 2013, during my school's Reading week.  I went with a friend from my German class, Lisa.  We left on the train from King's Cross in London around 800 in the morning I think, and got into Edinburgh around 1-ish.

My bed was Little Miss Bossy

We checked into our hostel- Royal Mile Backpackers (Fully recommend them- it's pretty awesome!  The rooms were set out to different themes.  The only other one I remember was Gotham City.  Ours was Little Miss, and since I loved the books when I was little, I was super excited- not going to lie!  Breakfast was cheap and good, the beds were comfy and warm, and there's a fireplace.  All in all, not bad for ~£10 a night!), left our stuff in the room and set out for Edinburgh Castle!

Some pictures of the castle- description of day is after!)

View from the Castle wall

So, while it wasn't raining, it was a grey day, as you can tell from the pictures- yet still fairly clear!  It was foggy at first, but by the time we left, no fog!  The castle was literally 10min from our hostel, if that.  Our hostel was directly on the Royal Mile (High Street) so 10min one way was the Castle and about 15min the other way was Holyroodhouse Palace at the opposite end of the Mile.  Pretty decent location!

We spent about 3 hours at the castle, including a late lunch which was pretty decent.  This was my second time in Edinburgh, so my second visit to the castle, but it was still very interesting!  I went in to a couple of the little museums located inside that I hadn't been to before, they were all about war- mainly Scotland's role in various wars throughout history.  It costs about £14 to get in (Only seniors get the concession price, but as an English Heritage member I got 1/2 off!)

Another very cool part of the castle, is that they have the Scottish Crown Jewels- The Honours of Scotland- which are nothing like England's.  They consists of a giant sword, a scepter (I think) and the Stone of Scone! (That's the nickname, the real name is the Stone of Destiny).  No pictures allowed, but here is the website should you wish to know more about them! The Honours of Scotland .



After the castle, we went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience.  We paid for the 'attraction' and got a little ride in a cask to hear, and see, how whiskey was made from a dapper looking ghost.  The main part was the tasting experience and learning a little bit about whiskey.  I tried the lowland whiskey I think, whatever the one was that they suggested for beginning Scotch drinkers...well it tasted exactly like whiskey to me- no hints of whatever it was they said there would be....just whiskey and it was gross.   While there, we also saw the world's biggest collection of whiskey bottles!  This was actually pretty cool- everything from the cans of jack and coke, and normal whiskey bottles to bottles that look like nuns, and chess sets that are really flasks...crazy stuff but really interesting!  No idea how much it's worth- but it's a lot!

For dinner, I have found my ideal traveling partner, because she suggested the Hard Rock Cafe!  And those of you who know me well, know that I absolutely love the Hard Rock!!

After that we back to the hostel  to go to sleep to be well rested for our adventure to Lindisfarne (The Holy Island) the next day, and what an adventure it was!

My (3rd) visit to Bath 27 November 2012

I've been to Bath twice before- once with just my mom, and the second time was with my mom and my little brother.  The differences this time are: 1. I was by myself, and 2. I was not connected to any kind of tour like the last 2 times, so I had all the time I wanted.  Until things closed, at least.

So I got on my train to Bath, and it started to rain.  Of course.  However, by the time I reached my destination, about 1.5 hours, it was only cloudy.  After talking to the guy in the glass store at the end of my trip, I discovered I was actually very lucky as it had rained for the last week, and had just stopped on Tuesday (the day I was there).   Looking back, I could believe that because the river I saw while walking to the Fashion museum looked swollen and fast and cold.


It took me about 20-25 minutes to walk from the train station to the Fashion Museum...I had not counted on the amount of hills in Bath...   and wearing Wallabees was not the smartest idea I've had...again...  I was excited about the Fashion Museum because I love historical fashion!  And on the other 2 trips to Bath, I'd never been able to make it up to this museum, it's kind of out of the way.  I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw there!   A lot smaller than I was imagining, but packed full of cool things- at least to me, the average traveler is usually not as enthralled with historical clothes as I am!  It started with an exhibit on Sports fashion, which was semi-interesting....the historical clothes more so than the hideous current ski/tennis/etc... "fashion".  Then it went into the oldest clothes all the way to the present.

The Silver tissue Dress on the right

One of the coolest exhibits there is one that's not normally on display; I'm not sure how long it will be there, or how long it has been there.  It's a glove exhibit.  I know, I know, you're thinking...gloves?  wow...exciting...  but it really was!  Especially since the newest of those gloves is about 300 years old.  the oldest was from the early 1600s.  I think that's pretty damn cool!  Another really cool exhibit that's right at the beginning was one of dresses.  It has a special dress in the case- called the Silver Tissue Dress- from the 1600s, one of the most complete dresses from that era anywhere!  Again...pretty cool!


It ended with the most awful, hideous, and ugly fashion from the 20th-21st centuries that I have ever seen.


From there I walked back down to the Roman Baths, which is the main reason people go and have historically gone) to...Bath...     The Roman Baths have been there for about 2000 years, give or take.   It's a pretty cool experience to see a place where people socialized for so long!   While a lot of it is in ruins, or disappeared, broken, etc... there's a lot that is intact, including the main bath, and a few of the others- to an extent.

The top picture is of the main part of the Baths, the second is of a smaller hot bath, and the 3rd is the head of Minerva, who the Baths were dedicated to I believe.  Even though it was the 3rd time around, it was still pretty cool!


After that I went to Bath Abbey which I had never been in, because I think it was closed both times.  Either that or we didn't have enough time to go through it.  It's a gorgeous abbey!  Not in a way like the cathedrals around England and Europe, but it's very big and has some cool stained glass and other little interesting tidbits, including a really big organ- I forget how many pipes it has.

I concluded my visit to Bath by walking around the Christmas Market that is set up there until January something.   I bought a delicious meat pie and some Christmas presents!  I walked back to the train station, and got on my train and went back to London!  A pretty good way to spend a day I think!

Wingardium leviosa! Harry Potter Studio Tour- 28 November 2012

Well, the Harry Potter studio tour is pretty damn amazing!  (Pardon my French)   It's expensive to get it- £28.   But it is so worth it!  Its about a 15-20min train ride out of London to Watford Junction- easy, about 6-8 pounds.  Then you board a special purple Harry Potter double Decker bus that will take you to the studio- £2 round trip.  

You pull up to the studios, which look like normal ones you might see on the news or in a magazine or something, although these used to be aircraft hangars, so that's what they look like I guess...   You walk in and see the gift shop and so you start salivating at everything you can see as you walk past it to get in line to go into the studios.    

The tour is almost all self-guided except for the beginning 20-ish minutes or so.  You first go into a big room with about 50-60 or so other people and listen to one of the employees and watch a short film on the walls- the producers, etc... are talking about making Harry Potter.  You then go into a big auditorium and sit down and watch Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk about the sets, the experience, etc...  and then the screen goes up and you see a huge door that leads into the Great Hall! Yes, the Great Hall from the movie- the real one that they used....no magical ceiling though :(    That's the last bit of guided tour- an employee talking about the different props/clothing/etc... that are in the Great Hall-including details you don't see in the movie, like the seal inside the big fireplace that you don't see because there's always a fire going!  

After that you walk around the corner and it's like a Harry Potter dream!  So many props, parts of sets, buildings, wands, clothing, and on and on and on!  You even get to fly on a broomstick and in the Weasley's car!  In between Studio J and studio K, you can buy some butterbeer!  And see some outside sets, like #4 Privet Drive, the bridge, and the Potter's house, along with the Knight Bus and Hagrid's motorcycle.

Me trying butterbeer- surprisingly good!

The main model for outside shots of the castle!

The second half of the studio tour involved the creating of the various creatures, animals, or shows the pictures of the real animals used- like for Fang.  I think there were 8 or 9 different dogs used for Fang if not more?   It showed how the animatronic stuff worked,  Hedwig, the weird Voldemort thing in Book 7, etc... also how they did the dementors when it wasn't shot with CGI, how they did Gwap, Hagrid, and the ghosts!  

This was so much fun!!!  I highly recommend this to anyone who visits London, and if you visit before July 1- I will totally go again!

Thanksgiving 2012- London, England

Well Thanksgiving over here was very, very different than any I've had before- even the one I spent alone in Italy...  but this was better because I was not alone!  But it was also not traditional as we (two friends and myself) went to the Hard Rock Cafe...because when you can't have a traditional table-breaking under the amount of food, Thanksgiving, then a restaurant that serves American food is the next best thing!  We would have stayed at our hall, Lillian Penson (LPH) because they were having a Thanksgiving dinner....but the success rate of the food here is not so good, so we didn't want to chance totally ruining Thanksgiving.   I also gave myself a holiday from school because I have never had to go to school or work on Thanksgiving, and so I didn't want to this year :)

For starters we had:

Minus the jalapenos!  (Courtesy of: http://www.praguedining.com/files/user/27/Hard-Rock-Cafe-Food-Nachos-l.jpg)

And this was my meal.  Twisted Mac and Cheese with Chicken.  This is what I get at every single Hard Rock I have been to, all over the world, with very few exceptions.  It is delicious, and I love it- i don't care what anyone says! 

Twisted Mac and Cheese (Courtesy of: http://www.urbaneapts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mac-chz.jpg)

   It was a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with two friends!

Greenwich- the middle of the world (kind of)!

Well, on November 11th, Remembrance Day over here, Veteran's Day in American, instead of waking up early and spending hours standing with hundreds and hundreds of people to catch a glimpse of the Queen, and try and see the rows of Vets marching down the road, I decided to sleep in a little, and then go out to Greenwich for the day!  It's very easy to get to, and I can use my Oyster Card since it's in Zone 2 of the London public transportation system!  

So about 40ish minutes from Central London (it's still technically London, a district in a Royal Borough), is where you can find Cutty Sark, The Prime Meridian and the Maritime Museum, among other attractions that I did not see.

First I did Cutty Sark since it would take the least amount of time and was the closest to the DLR station.

Cutty Sark is pretty cool.  It's an old tea clipper, one of the last surviving ones, from the mid 1800s.  It was just reopened in April 2012 after about 6 years of conservation work- as well as repair work caused by a fire in 2007.

 It traveled all around the globe, to China, to Australia, and everywhere in between for various trades- tea and wool mainly.  She's pretty much been in dry dock sine the 1950s and a museum almost as long.

The Maritime Museum was also pretty cool- basically the history of water travel in Europe- but mainly focusing on Britain, obviously, although the vikings and older exhibit was closed for renovations and some new exhibit.  One of the highlights we seeing Admiral Nelson's uniform that he was shot , and died, in.  You can see the bullet hole in it, although the bloody waistcoat is covered by the coat.  Another really cool exhibit was the Ansel Adams photography exhibit, which I very much enjoyed, having spent a good chunk of my childhood on family trips around the Western United States. Gorgeous photography, and I'm pretty sure I bought out the  exhibition gift shop....

 Next stop was the Royal Observatory, up on a hill, that made me wish I'd been working out these last few months...  It's actually a very small place, King Charles II did not want to spend a lot of money on it..

Here is where the Prime Meridian is!  This is the line of longitude that has been used as a reference point for the past 150 years or so.  Basically 0 degrees longitude marks the middle of the world, on a map, when looking at one in terms of latitude and longitude. (the middle of the map vertically, not horizontally)

There are some pretty cool views of London from a lookout point, but the main thing people come to see here is the Prime Meridian.

These 3 pictures above show the telescopes that keep the Prime Meridian where it is, they keep it from changing.  It's 2 telescopes- one on either side of the room, with enormous an mechanism in the middle.  I have no idea how any of it works, but it looks pretty cool.

Walking back to the DLR station, I saw this gem of a car- I wish I had gotten a video because it was playing some pretty spectacular music.  I believe all of these decorations are stickers, and whoever this car belonged to, was selling Christmas Cards.

I loved Greenwich and would definitely visit again, and I recommend it to everyone who is going to, or wants to, visit London!