York Minister & Arriving in London

Today we departed from Edinburgh, Scotland, down to London, England. We took a quick stop in the quaint town of York, which is in the very north of England. Dr. H had us stop by the beautiful York Minister, a famous Church of England cathedral. We then had a quick lunch break and headed back on the bus for our long journey to London. When we got to Roehampton University, we had pizza and met all of the new students. We all finally showered after a long day of traveling and went to bed early.

Inverary Castle

Today we headed west to the Inverary Castle, an iconic Scottish castle in Argyll, Scotland. The castle is the ancestral home to the Duke of Argyll, the Chief of the Clan Campbell since the 17^th century.

The house is a mostly mid-18th-century neo-Gothic design. Both designers SirMatthew Digby Wyatt and Robert Adam worked on the castle. The interior includes various neoclassical rooms open to the public, created for the 5th Duke by Robert MyIne. The 13th Duke and his family live in private apartments occupying two floors and set between two of the castle's crenellated circular towers.

State Affairs/Dining Room

In 1975 a devastating fire struck Inveraray and for some time the 12th Duke and his family lived in the castle basement while restorations requiring a worldwide fundraising drive were carried out. The castle is surrounded by thousands of acres of beautiful botanical gardens.

When we got back later that night, we had a farewell dinner at Mums Comfort Food. Their food was amazing and we ate so much that we didn’t want to do anything for the rest of the night.

Deacon Brodie's Haggis

Today was our free day to tour Edinburgh on our own. The group of seven of us (Jill, Jillian, Claire, Abby, Ashley, Alexa, and myself) started off the day with some necessary grocery shopping at the local market right down the street. We came back and had the brilliant idea of going out into town to a popular restaurant, Deacon Brodie’s, to try some Haggis. Essentially, haggis is all the left-over parts of a sheep, such as their liver, lungs, stomach, etc. It is cooked inside of a sheep’s stomach, but ours was not served inside the stomach lining as the brain-like pictures on Google Images suggested it would be.

Like I said, the restaurant we went to was well known for a reason. Deacon Brodie, the Scottish locksmith and craftsman it was named after, was an extraordinary man of all trades and great character. He was well liked and respected by all in Edinburgh. But that all changed when nighttime fell. Every time Deacon Brodie would make a key for someone, he would make one copy for himself then use it to sneak into all his customer’s homes at night to steal their expensive items, like jewelry and silverware. No one in the town would have expected him of such a thing until he got caught red handed stealing from a prominent clerk in Edinburgh. Since theft was punishable by death, Deacon Brodie was hanged right outside what is the present day pub named after him, coincidentally off a chair that he crafted for someone in the town. Some say that Deacon Brodie’s double character inspired the famous book Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

Edinburgh Castle

A bit later, some of the girls and I stopped by Primark, an inexpensive department store. We all ate later that night in our kitchen, celebrating Memorial Day in the United States and enjoying having had the day and night to ourselves.

The Highlands: Glencoe & Loch Ness

Today we took a long but scenic trip through the Highlands to visit Glencoe and the Clansman Center at Ft. Agustus. The drive through the Highlands was amazing. The hills and mountains (and cows) were unlike any I have ever seen in the United States. Glencoe is an area of the Highlands known for its deep valleys that are ideal for hiking, skiing, horseback riding, fishing, and, oddly enough, filming movies. We actually passed the place where many scenes in the Harry Potter series, like the tri-wizard tournament, were filmed.

Hamish the Highland Cow eating potatoes.

On the way over we learned about the Clan Campbell, a clan in Scotland that terrorized its people. Although the Duke of Argyll is a Campbell himself, the clan is very much disliked throughout Scotland as a result of the massacre of Glencoe in 1692, during the era of the Glorious Revolution and Jacobitism. The massacre began simultaneously in three settlements along the glen - Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achacon - although the killing took place all over the glen as fleeing MacDonalds were pursued. Thirty-eight MacDonalds from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by the guests who had accepted their hospitality, on the grounds that the MacDonalds had not been prompt in pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange. Another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.

Memory of this massacre has been kept alive by continued ill feeling between MacDonalds and Campbells. Since the late 20th century the Clachaig Inn, a hotel and pub in Glencoe popular with climbers, has had a sign on its door saying "No Hawkers or Campbells".

Our trip through the Highlands would not have been complete without our final stop at Loch Ness. In Scottish Gaelic, “loch” simply means “lake.” Unfortunately, we did not see Nessie, the infamous monster of Loch Ness.

The Highlands, Scotland

Loch Ness

We made our way to the Clansman Center at Ft. Agustus, where we met an old man with few teeth, dressed in traditional Scottish regalia. We had an hour lecture about the life of Clanspeople in Scotland. I did not realize how prominent clans were in Scottish identity, and how they still exist fully functional today. The man actually showed us how to put on a kilt, and demonstrated on Jacob and Jill in our group. He also showed us literally every kind of weapon Scots used in battle. I did not realize how barbaric the Scottish were in battle until learning their tactics in war. Think “Braveheart!” 

Jacob and Jill in Scottish Clanspeople regalia, Loch Ness

Edinburgh Castle & Mary King's Close

Today we stayed in the city to take a tour of Edinburgh Castle. The castle was one of the oldest edifices in all of Edinburgh and sits imposingly on a cliff overlooking the entire city. I loved learning about the history or St. Mary’s Cathedral, the Military Prison, and Prisoners of War.

We had the middle of the day free to ourselves, so Claire and I went to a pub right next to our hostel to get a bite to eat, then we stopped by the grocery store for bread and food. We enjoyed relaxing mid-day, which is something we don’t get to do very often.

Around 5 PM, we headed up to the Edinburgh Cathedral to meet our group and take a tour of Mary King’s Close. The close is basically an underground city that used to be populated by thousands and thousands in Edinburgh before it was illegal to live underground. The close is supposedly haunted, so I felt a bit uneasy when chillingly cold air would brush by my legs. Our tour guide explained the class system underground; the lower classes lived in a decent size room, but had to share with up to 3 other families. It was anything but exquisite.

St. Andrews

In the morning, we departed on coach ride to Saint Andrews, Scotland. St. Andrews is a beautiful, remotely isolated town about 2 hours from Edinburgh known world-wide for its golf courses and St. Andrews University, which was founded in 1413 and is currently one of the top universities in the world. The university is known for its many famous writers and thinkers who have attended, and is perhaps most well known right now for being the university where William and Kate met while studying Art History for too long ago. The area is very picturesque and the people who reside and study at the university tend to be very wealthy. Interestingly, half of the golfers and half of the students at St. Andrews are from the United States.

We took a brief tour of the St. Andrews Castle. The castle overlooked the ocean and Andrea explained that the only good castle is a castle with a well inside because when castles are under attack, people my not be able to leave to get water for weeks. She also explained how enemies often tried to invade the castles by digging pathways underground beneath the castle to come up from below. The term “undermine” possibly originated from this technique, as the castle’s soldiers would dig tunnels underneath the enemies’ tunnels to undermine the tunnels, making them collapse completely.

The rest of the day we spent on our own exploring St. Andrews. Jill, Claire, Alexa, and I stopped at a noodle house to get lunch. We brought it out to a grassy area near the ruins of an old church to sit and eat. It was very sunny, so we spent a good part of the day relaxing in the sun and enjoying the surrounding scenery. We took one stop at a small village called Falkland on our way back to Edinburgh.

Arriving in Edinburgh

Today was devoted mostly to travelling. We left Belfast and departed for Edinburgh, Scotland, via ferry. We arrived, collected our bags, and had a four-hour drive into the city. When we got there, we met our Scotland tour guide, Andrea, and she took us on a walking tour of the city.

One of the first areas we visited in Edinburgh was the main square marker by an “x” where criminals were lynched. We kept walking up the hilly Edinburg streets until we got to the famous statue of Greyfriar’s Bobby. This was my favorite story. There was a lord by the name of Greyfriar who had a cute little Scottie dog named Bobby, who was very loyal to his master. When his master passed away, Bobby would wander the streets every day, and all the locals knew the dog and gave him water and food. However, Bobby always refused any kind of shelter. He would walk back the cemetery where Greyfriar was buried and sleep on his master’s grave every night for 14 years. When Bobby died all the people of Edinburgh were so upset that they actually buried him at the entrance of the cemetery and a memorial statue was later erected.

We visited a few churches and memorial sites around the area with Andrea. The girls and I went by a local market to get some food to cook in our kitchen so we could save a bit of money and be healthier on the trip.