Oxford and London 8/9/09
This day we left Bath and headed for Oxford. Dad went to the Natural history museum while mum and I went to one of the colleges. Inside we saw the great hall where the students eat every morning and lunch. It was filled heaps of portraits of all the famous people who had studies there, such as Henry IV and Elizabeth I.
When we left the hall we went out into the open grass, but before we got there, one of the guards (when I say guard I mean a person who is just keeping their eye on things like if people are lost and just checking no one breaks things, doesn’t touch things or take photos if they’re not allowed). He was wearing a great hat and he sort of took us again on a mini tour and showed us little things that other people don’t notice.
After that we went into the school chapel where one of the female saints was buried. We continued through and saw a little movie showing us how the whole place was designed by Cardinal Woolsey but the tower was actually Christopher Wren.
After we left the College we went for a quick walk around the town. We went into Radcliffe square and lots of other interesting buildings that I don’t know the names of. Anyway, I enjoyed our time in Oxford.
We were then back in the car and on our way to London! We dropped our car off at the Heathrow Airport and jumped on the tube to where we were going to stay. We had booked an apartment to stay in and when we arrived we realised in what a fantastic place we were in! We walked out of the tube station and found ourselves facing the London Tower! After a quick settle in we went for a walk in the beautiful night. It wasn’t cold or raining! Suddenly we were on Tower bridge over the Thames looking out to London Bridge and me going absolutely nuts!!! I was so excited and in such a good mood! I was so high!
We crossed Tower Bridge walked along the bank of the other side until we came to London Bridge, crossed that bridge and then walked back to our apartment. One of the best walks I’ve ever done!
9/16/09
Bath
Bath 2/9/09-7/9/09
The travel from Corris to Bath was huge and unbelievably dangerous. Even on the motor way, I was freaking out. It was raining and mum was uptight. It was windy and the spray of the water on the roads from cars was so misty we couldn’t see anything except the headlights of cars on the other side of the road!
Anyway, finally we got to the University of Bath where we were staying, like the Edinburgh uni they’re renting it all out.
For the first few days we didn’t do much, just homeworking and cruising. Though it was such nice weather on the 4th, we just had to get out there. We got up early and went to Stonehenge! We beat all the crowds and disappeared just as they were coming in. it was so cold but it was sunny so the photos make it look like a glorious day except when you see us in some of them shivering in our coats. Its believed to be a calendar, because when the sun shines in different gaps between the stones at different types of the year. Not much of it is in its original structure because, after people stopped using it and worshiping at it, people took the stones and used them for their own resources. But some of them are soooo huge that no one could move them, and the really big ones are actually a third underground so they wouldn’t move.
After we left Stonehenge we drove through a tiny town with a castle turret, a tower clock and lots of thatch-roofed houses. Of course mum had to stop and get photos. Dad was very interested in the way it was done and jumped up on a seat to look over someone’s house at the thatched. Now this was embarrassing as it was but when a woman came round the corner and yelled something at dad I felt even worse coz it was like he’d just been caught perving. Luckily the woman was very understanding and she actually took us back to her house (which was also thatched) to show us. We must have spent about 2 hours there. We talked with them for ages, they were really nice people. They were actually going to travel to Australia and do some bird watching. They were well travelled and they told us many of their great stories. What was even better was that we could actually swap some!
We then got back into the car and headed to Avebury. Avebury is like Stonehenge but scale it up 50 times. Avebury is a town that is actually situated right in the middle of this stone structure, a huge circle of stones all the way around with the pub in the very centre!
Just before we got to Avebury, dad saw a white horse. First I thought you know, “wow a white horse” in an extremely sarcastically but then I did a double take and realised it was one of the white horses cut into the hills. The grass is cut out and reveals white soil underneath.
***
The next day we took a bus into the city of Bath and were instantly greeted by a large group of dancers, you know the ones that wear big bells on their feet and jump around with sticks, the sort of English folk dance.
We then went to the number one attraction of Bath, the Baths. When the Romans invaded England, they found the only hot spring in England. From this they built a whole bath system because the Romans were quite hygienic unlike the English. We spent about 4 hours in here, we got an audio guide and waked through countless rooms. The best part of the place was a stone mural they’d found. The very centre piece was a circle with the engraving of a man with swirly hair and beard. Imagine, the man version of Medusa. On one of the side stones, there’s a girls foot standing on what obviously a globe. So the from this we know that the Romans knew the world was a sphere aged before Columbus even set sail. That was probably the highlight for me out of the whole thing, even though it was all absolutely brilliant!
Afterwards we took a bus tour, the same we took in Cardiff, Glasgow and heaps of other places. On this bus tour you can hop on and off where ever you like, so we did one tour, then got onto another which went right up to the university. It was so convenient!
***
The day after the next day (because the day before that I spent all day doing homework) we went to a small town called Lacock. Some of Harry Potter has been filmed here and also the BBC TV series Cranbourne. We went into a little church and then went into the famous Lacock Abbey. It was an Abbey where often when men left to fight in wars, their wives would stay there. One of the windows was taken in the first photograph which was also invented here by some scientist.
When we went into the cloisters I went wild because I realised this was where Harry Potter was filmed and I was walking in the exact footsteps of the characters!!! Only the first two movies were filmed here, but it’s the corridors where Harry follows the wall hearing the basilisk.
On our way we went through Devises where there was a museum dad wanted to see. Lots of it was good, I enjoyed “The most tasteless collection.” 3 cabinets were filled with things about Stonehenge. There was a whole pink crockery set, like the whole shebang, cups, saucers, plates all Barbie pink with a photo of Stonehenge on it. Also a little porcelain green shoe with a picture of Stonehenge on it…. ??? why would anyone ever create these things!?!
***
The next day was more homework. The only thing we did, was at 8 o’clock at night. We drove into town and met up with a walking tour. This tour was not at all historical and was just a complete night of entertaining. It started just seeing the guide, a fat man in a purple jacket.
The whole tour was jokes and magic tricks. The best one was the man chained up a toy rabbit, put it in a bag with two heavy disks then threw it in the river. After 10 seconds the bunny floated back up. Unchained and out of the bag!
The travel from Corris to Bath was huge and unbelievably dangerous. Even on the motor way, I was freaking out. It was raining and mum was uptight. It was windy and the spray of the water on the roads from cars was so misty we couldn’t see anything except the headlights of cars on the other side of the road!
Anyway, finally we got to the University of Bath where we were staying, like the Edinburgh uni they’re renting it all out.
For the first few days we didn’t do much, just homeworking and cruising. Though it was such nice weather on the 4th, we just had to get out there. We got up early and went to Stonehenge! We beat all the crowds and disappeared just as they were coming in. it was so cold but it was sunny so the photos make it look like a glorious day except when you see us in some of them shivering in our coats. Its believed to be a calendar, because when the sun shines in different gaps between the stones at different types of the year. Not much of it is in its original structure because, after people stopped using it and worshiping at it, people took the stones and used them for their own resources. But some of them are soooo huge that no one could move them, and the really big ones are actually a third underground so they wouldn’t move.
After we left Stonehenge we drove through a tiny town with a castle turret, a tower clock and lots of thatch-roofed houses. Of course mum had to stop and get photos. Dad was very interested in the way it was done and jumped up on a seat to look over someone’s house at the thatched. Now this was embarrassing as it was but when a woman came round the corner and yelled something at dad I felt even worse coz it was like he’d just been caught perving. Luckily the woman was very understanding and she actually took us back to her house (which was also thatched) to show us. We must have spent about 2 hours there. We talked with them for ages, they were really nice people. They were actually going to travel to Australia and do some bird watching. They were well travelled and they told us many of their great stories. What was even better was that we could actually swap some!
We then got back into the car and headed to Avebury. Avebury is like Stonehenge but scale it up 50 times. Avebury is a town that is actually situated right in the middle of this stone structure, a huge circle of stones all the way around with the pub in the very centre!
Just before we got to Avebury, dad saw a white horse. First I thought you know, “wow a white horse” in an extremely sarcastically but then I did a double take and realised it was one of the white horses cut into the hills. The grass is cut out and reveals white soil underneath.
***
The next day we took a bus into the city of Bath and were instantly greeted by a large group of dancers, you know the ones that wear big bells on their feet and jump around with sticks, the sort of English folk dance.
We then went to the number one attraction of Bath, the Baths. When the Romans invaded England, they found the only hot spring in England. From this they built a whole bath system because the Romans were quite hygienic unlike the English. We spent about 4 hours in here, we got an audio guide and waked through countless rooms. The best part of the place was a stone mural they’d found. The very centre piece was a circle with the engraving of a man with swirly hair and beard. Imagine, the man version of Medusa. On one of the side stones, there’s a girls foot standing on what obviously a globe. So the from this we know that the Romans knew the world was a sphere aged before Columbus even set sail. That was probably the highlight for me out of the whole thing, even though it was all absolutely brilliant!
Afterwards we took a bus tour, the same we took in Cardiff, Glasgow and heaps of other places. On this bus tour you can hop on and off where ever you like, so we did one tour, then got onto another which went right up to the university. It was so convenient!
***
The day after the next day (because the day before that I spent all day doing homework) we went to a small town called Lacock. Some of Harry Potter has been filmed here and also the BBC TV series Cranbourne. We went into a little church and then went into the famous Lacock Abbey. It was an Abbey where often when men left to fight in wars, their wives would stay there. One of the windows was taken in the first photograph which was also invented here by some scientist.
When we went into the cloisters I went wild because I realised this was where Harry Potter was filmed and I was walking in the exact footsteps of the characters!!! Only the first two movies were filmed here, but it’s the corridors where Harry follows the wall hearing the basilisk.
On our way we went through Devises where there was a museum dad wanted to see. Lots of it was good, I enjoyed “The most tasteless collection.” 3 cabinets were filled with things about Stonehenge. There was a whole pink crockery set, like the whole shebang, cups, saucers, plates all Barbie pink with a photo of Stonehenge on it. Also a little porcelain green shoe with a picture of Stonehenge on it…. ??? why would anyone ever create these things!?!
***
The next day was more homework. The only thing we did, was at 8 o’clock at night. We drove into town and met up with a walking tour. This tour was not at all historical and was just a complete night of entertaining. It started just seeing the guide, a fat man in a purple jacket.
The whole tour was jokes and magic tricks. The best one was the man chained up a toy rabbit, put it in a bag with two heavy disks then threw it in the river. After 10 seconds the bunny floated back up. Unchained and out of the bag!
Cardiff
Cardiff 29/8/09-31/8/09
We started the morning early and walked up to the Royal Mile again with our big packs on to the train station. We spent the whole day on the train until about 5 at night. At our second last stop 5 guys got on, one was obviously either drunk or very excited about the night. They were going to the “Gay Parade” or something and his racism and homophobia really showed.
When we arrived in Cardiff I was super excited. The whole place was alive with rainbows and people dressing up I crazy things. It was fantastic. We walked about a km and went into our hostel. We had 3 sets of bunks in our room but we weren’t sharing with anyone.
We then went down into the main street to find some food.
***
The next morning we went to a museum. Inside we saw humpback skeleton, stuffed stoats and badgers, a huge photo exhibition, and some Picasso pottery. My favourite was the Photo exhibition. All the photos were really shocking, things like a “pincushion man” with pins all over him, a giant in his house with his tiny parents below him, men 100% covered in tattoos and a naked person who was a man on the top half and a woman on the lower half… that one was a little disturbing…
***
The next day was the day I’d been waiting for forever! We went to the Doctor Who museum! I saw heaps of costumes and characters that we’d seen on T.V. I also did a kids quiz and one a poster too :). I wont go into more detail because I can understand it would be down right boring for so many of you!
We then went out to the Millennium centre. Its huge! It’s ambery coloured with gold writing on it. In English it says “In these stones horizons sing.” There was more writing but it was in Welsh so sorry, but I don’t speak fluent Welsh and I can’t tell you what it means.
We then went into the house of welsh Parliament. It’s very new because Welsh Parliament is very new. It used to all be English. There was this huge wooden tubey thing coming from the top of the ceiling which expanded its diameter at the bottom to cover the equivalent of “The Green Room”. It had a spectator area above it, looking down into a circle of desks and computers though no one was there.
We then made the plan to get on one of the red tour buses we’ve done before like in Rome and Glasgow. Mum and I waited an hour for the bus to arrive. By half an hour, dad gave up, walked home to play violin. I then went round the corner to see if any buses were coming and I realised there was a bus stop just out of view from where we were sitting. Apparently some sort of bad traffic made them miss that stop… anyway, we had a good time with on the bus (except for the young boy behind me who kept pulling my hair) and we got off at the castle. Mum and I watched a quick introduction movie about a girl drawing pictures, and then we went into the grounds. In front of us was a lawn of velvet green, the only disturbance being the large mound which the castle was built upon.
There out skirting wall was actually a tunnel which we walked through to the other side of the field. We went up about 250 steps to the top of the castle and we could see the whole of Cardiff. We could almost see the sea from the south view.
After the ruined castle we went into the extra buildings. The first room we saw had a similar ceiling to ones we had seen all through Morocco; little bumpy bits generally climbing their way up to the top and intricately decorated. The main hall had little coats of arms all over the ceiling, the windows were huge and the security man guarding the hall gave us a mini tour. From this room we could see a little room that had a staircase in it with beautiful carvings and gold.
We then went through many other rooms of paintings and furniture but the library was the best. It was filled with books (obviously) and the wooden shelves gave a sort of old feeling that I felt in the huge library at Trinity College in Dublin. The security guard in here gave us a good little tour, and even though we were not meant to take photos, he let us take a quick snap :) he also showed us ringtail possums and platypus carved into the shelves. Apparently the owner of the place (as in the old owner who is now long dead) had a pet wombat and he loved animals of all sorts.
The guard was so kind that he let us go into the little room we saw from the Main hall with the staircase in it. It was like a small staircase that let you travel easily from the hall to the library without having to go all the way around through every other room like the tourist route. This room was of course shut off because it meant that tourists would take that shortcut and miss the rest of the building. So he let us in to that room that no one else goes into and let us take photos!
Mum and I caught the very last tour bus which ended up taking us home. We walked the last little bit and then went and found some dinner.
We started the morning early and walked up to the Royal Mile again with our big packs on to the train station. We spent the whole day on the train until about 5 at night. At our second last stop 5 guys got on, one was obviously either drunk or very excited about the night. They were going to the “Gay Parade” or something and his racism and homophobia really showed.
When we arrived in Cardiff I was super excited. The whole place was alive with rainbows and people dressing up I crazy things. It was fantastic. We walked about a km and went into our hostel. We had 3 sets of bunks in our room but we weren’t sharing with anyone.
We then went down into the main street to find some food.
***
The next morning we went to a museum. Inside we saw humpback skeleton, stuffed stoats and badgers, a huge photo exhibition, and some Picasso pottery. My favourite was the Photo exhibition. All the photos were really shocking, things like a “pincushion man” with pins all over him, a giant in his house with his tiny parents below him, men 100% covered in tattoos and a naked person who was a man on the top half and a woman on the lower half… that one was a little disturbing…
***
The next day was the day I’d been waiting for forever! We went to the Doctor Who museum! I saw heaps of costumes and characters that we’d seen on T.V. I also did a kids quiz and one a poster too :). I wont go into more detail because I can understand it would be down right boring for so many of you!
We then went out to the Millennium centre. Its huge! It’s ambery coloured with gold writing on it. In English it says “In these stones horizons sing.” There was more writing but it was in Welsh so sorry, but I don’t speak fluent Welsh and I can’t tell you what it means.
We then went into the house of welsh Parliament. It’s very new because Welsh Parliament is very new. It used to all be English. There was this huge wooden tubey thing coming from the top of the ceiling which expanded its diameter at the bottom to cover the equivalent of “The Green Room”. It had a spectator area above it, looking down into a circle of desks and computers though no one was there.
We then made the plan to get on one of the red tour buses we’ve done before like in Rome and Glasgow. Mum and I waited an hour for the bus to arrive. By half an hour, dad gave up, walked home to play violin. I then went round the corner to see if any buses were coming and I realised there was a bus stop just out of view from where we were sitting. Apparently some sort of bad traffic made them miss that stop… anyway, we had a good time with on the bus (except for the young boy behind me who kept pulling my hair) and we got off at the castle. Mum and I watched a quick introduction movie about a girl drawing pictures, and then we went into the grounds. In front of us was a lawn of velvet green, the only disturbance being the large mound which the castle was built upon.
There out skirting wall was actually a tunnel which we walked through to the other side of the field. We went up about 250 steps to the top of the castle and we could see the whole of Cardiff. We could almost see the sea from the south view.
After the ruined castle we went into the extra buildings. The first room we saw had a similar ceiling to ones we had seen all through Morocco; little bumpy bits generally climbing their way up to the top and intricately decorated. The main hall had little coats of arms all over the ceiling, the windows were huge and the security man guarding the hall gave us a mini tour. From this room we could see a little room that had a staircase in it with beautiful carvings and gold.
We then went through many other rooms of paintings and furniture but the library was the best. It was filled with books (obviously) and the wooden shelves gave a sort of old feeling that I felt in the huge library at Trinity College in Dublin. The security guard in here gave us a good little tour, and even though we were not meant to take photos, he let us take a quick snap :) he also showed us ringtail possums and platypus carved into the shelves. Apparently the owner of the place (as in the old owner who is now long dead) had a pet wombat and he loved animals of all sorts.
The guard was so kind that he let us go into the little room we saw from the Main hall with the staircase in it. It was like a small staircase that let you travel easily from the hall to the library without having to go all the way around through every other room like the tourist route. This room was of course shut off because it meant that tourists would take that shortcut and miss the rest of the building. So he let us in to that room that no one else goes into and let us take photos!
Mum and I caught the very last tour bus which ended up taking us home. We walked the last little bit and then went and found some dinner.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh 28/8/09
After a sleep in and a check on dads head, we headed out to get some food as we hadn’t eaten since lunch the previous day. So after a quick walk past the Castle we went up into the Royal Mile. Mum and dad found it very difficult to book accommodation in Edinburgh because there was a huge festival on. So as we walked down the Royal Mile we were absolutely swamped with people giving us free handouts promoting shows and shops. The place was mad!
So we started the walking tour and began in a courtyard where four stories surrounded us. The guide asked us how many stories did we think were on the building, ad of course you’d say four, but there are actually eleven stories because the building is built on the side of a hill which means all the way down one side of the hill was also part of it down another 5 stories!
We then went to a place where all the announcements were made. The guide used me as an example pretending I had just been crowned queen of Scotland. When a coronation had occurred a man would run to the top of this thing, which is sort of like a hexagonal block with a spire at the top, taller than me, and he’d yell out something like hail the new queen of Scotland.
Also at this spot, when someone was captured they would nail the criminals ear to the stone block for 24 hours. People could then come and jeer at them, kicking them, throwing food and what ever else they liked. But if the prisoner was a coward they would rip their own ear through the nail releasing them selves. But this left painful scars, so everyone would know that you were a coward and couldn’t face your punishment for the rest of your life.
We then went around the corner to the cathedral where a statue of King Charles II. He looks quite odd though. The original sculptor made the statue too small for Charles’s liking, so he scaled him up a bit. But the sculptor forgot one important element. The statue is of him riding a horse and the sculptor forgot to actually scale the horse up too, so now King Charles II looks pretty silly as it looks like he’s riding a donkey.
Just to make it even worse for Charles, the sculptor designed him in roman clothing and not on a saddle. So now it looks like King Charles is off to a fancy dress party riding a donkey.
But then more disaster struck, and the gold crown began to dig into the slightly softer metal head of King Charles, and in Scotland it rains a lot. So King Charles II and his horse began filling up with water as the statue is hollow. This made the whole statue tip to one side and made it look like Charles II was going to a fancy dress party on a drunk donkey.
So King Charles II ordered something be done about this and someone came up with the idea; Why not put a hole lower so that the water leaks out. No matter how good this idea was, it was ruined by the placing of the hole. The hole was drilled right between the legs of the horse. So now it looks like King Charles II is off to a fancy dress party, riding a drunk donkey taking a leak.
So the public began to think this was very funny and they began to see their King as a joke, not a powerful leader. So King Charles decided to throw a party so that people would love him. He made the big hexagonal thing that where I was crowned queen earlier, was to flow with wine for 24 hours. So the public came in huge numbers with glasses, buckets and baths collecting as much wine as they possibly could. But often the consequence of drinking too much alcohol is a splitting headache in the morning. So when the entire city woke up with a massive hangover, they of course blamed their King.
We walked down the Royal Mile a little further and stopped outside one of the oldest hotels in Edinburgh. There were 3 stories, the lower floor for the servants, the second for the upper class, and the top for the second class. And you wonder why, why is it that the second class get the penthouse? Well its because if a fire starts from the kitchens, the upper class people can jump out and maybe survive, but if the second class people get trapped by the fire, they have a much lower chance of surviving a three story drop as apposed to two for the upper class
We then went down a small alleyway and stood outside a building. The building was new but rebuilt from an older building. On the outside you could see where the old steps stood poking out onto the outside wall. Here is where we got introduced to the old security system; a thing called a “Trip Step.” So at night, when the resident is sleeping at night, if a burglar comes in, they’ll be “tripped.” The flight of stairs is made from stone, big blocks sitting on top of each other just like any other staircase, but on a particular step it’s a bigger block than all the others, a higher one. So if a burglar comes in, they start up the staircase and trip on the big step, fall down the stairs with a big boom and crash, you wake up and know there’s a burglar in your house. When this happens, you go down stairs with a bat to see whether the fall broke the burglar’s neck or not, if it did, you chuck his body on the street for the morning collection. If not, beat the life out of him, then throw him on the street for the morning collection.
Next stop we learnt about two body snatchers called William and William. William and William started up their own business by working in the old peoples home where one of the Williams’ girlfriend worked. They would ask an old man out for a drink until he was so drunk that he would accept anymore alcohol given to him. So graciously the old man would accept the offer of a bottle of whiskey in one of the Williams’ house. Then one William kneed him in the chest pushing all the air from his lungs, while the other William smothered his face with a pillow until he died of suffocation. This was a good way of doing it, because the people at the hospital weren’t suspicious when an old man dies of nothing much because that happens all the time.
But eventually the Williams ran out of people in the old home and instead went to prostitution places to pick up people no one would miss. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong prostitute, because as the doctor saw the dead body, he knew something was up. He said “I was with this woman last week on important business matters and nothing was wrong with her then and I don’t see any reason why she should be dead now.” So the Williams got busted and that’s the end off that story.
We then went back into one of the main streets. Near here was a pub called Maggie Dickson’s Pub. It was named that for the infamous Maggie Dickson who was hung at the gallows just outside where the pub now stands.
Maggie Dickson was married but her husband had left her and that was bad for a woman in those days, for one to be unmarried, but also to be at that age and alone. So she left town. She stayed at an inn one night, and down at dinner one night, she looked across the room and saw the Inn keeper’s son. From that moment she fell heavily in love, and soon after, she fell heavily pregnant. This was even worse for Maggie as she was unmarried and pregnant. So she had her child in secret. And after the child was born, she took it down to the river and drowned it. She then buried it near the river. Suddenly she was caught and sentenced to the gallows. Why? Not because she became pregnant to someone other than a husband, not because she drowned and buried her own child, but because she hid the fact she was pregnant, kept it secret, and that was a punishment worth death.
So she was taken to the gallows and hung until dead. After the daily hangings a man came and picked up the coffins to take them to a graveyard or something. But as he was driving he heard knocking coming from the back of his cart. He opened up Maggie Dickson’s coffin and there she was, very much alive. So he quickly nailed it shut, turned around and drove back to Edinburgh where she was to be re-hung. So for the second time, Maggie Dickson walked to the gallows. But someone in the crowd yelled “wait! Maggie Dickson has already been hung for her punishment. What’s she being punished for now?” so Maggie Dickson was set free for already serving her punishment of death.
But things got even better for Maggie. Her wedding vows stated “til death do us part” and now Maggie Dickson was officially dead, she went back to the Inn to marry the Inn keeper’s son. Afterwards when she was at Maggie Dickson’s Pub, she would duck her head out of the door and yell to the victims “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It happened to me and I’m great!”
Our next stop was at the along a main street where we could see the back of “The elephant house” where J.K Rowling got most of her inspiration for the Harry Potter books. The building has an awful grey colour to it. Probably because it hadn’t been cleaned, but also the in the mortar is ash. And eventually, if you burn all the trees and wood, it’s gonna run out. So there was need for ash and fast. So they began burning witches. If you were accused as a witch you would go through trials to see whether you really were or not. First you were tied up and thrown into the river. If you floated, it means that heaven rejected you and you were a witch. If you sank you were innocent but it didn’t matter much because you’d have drowned by the time they realised you were innocent.
The next trial was of torture. They torture you so painfully trying to make you admit you’re a witch. If you crack and admit it you’re a witch, you were burnt at the stake. If you didn’t crack and admit it, it must mean you were a witch anyway and burnt at the stake.
We then went up to the Greyfriars graveyard. Here we saw a cage covering a grave to stop body snatchers. We then learnt about they kept criminals here in a field of small shelters without proper walls and Scottish winters are cold. At night, the guards would make everyone lie face down and if they moved, the guards would shoot wildly at them. if this happened, it often meant the death of all the people surrounding you. So to save all the others around the they stayed still all night. In winter, when there was snow on the ground, their breath often melted the snow and, not wanting to be responsible for their friends deaths, many often drowned in the melted snow.
We then went to the grave of a security man. I’m not sure what he did but he was kind of famous and he roamed around the streets. So, to accompany him in his walks, he bought himself a dog. But not a huge bulldog that you’d think for some sort of security man, instead he bought himself “a fluffy version of Paris Hilton’s dog” as described by the guide. So anyway, when this guy died the dog actually sat by his master’s grave for 8 years!!! And his grave is through the gates when you walk in the front gates. Here people have put sticks and toys for him to play with… which makes no sense seeing he’s dead, but meh.
There’s a little statue of him on the main street facing his master. But one morning, people woke up to the dog facing the other way, away from the graveyard. They quickly turned it back around but just the same, a few days later, people woke up to the dog facing the other way. Apparently what was happening was the pub that is situated in front of the statue was turning it around so when tourists take photos of the statues they would have the pub in the back ground giving free advertisements. Now it faces away from his master and the pub and we have a photo with the pub in the background.
Our final destination was the park, where we heard the story of a big limestone stone. Every Scottish King has been crowned on that stone. But of course, when the English conquered they took it for themselves. So one night, 4 men decided to go and get it back.
They drove down to England and went into the abbey (I think that’s where it was kept, but I’m not sure) and somehow got in there at night. So they tried to pick it up but they realised it was unbelievably heavy so they carried it about 10 metres before suddenly BOOM. They had dropped it on the stone floor and in the process a small part had actually split off. So one of the men takes off his jacket and lay it on the ground. They rolled the big bit on top and dragged it from there but first 3 of the men took the little piece into one of the two cars. Suddenly they were already driving off and the last man was stuck by himself. So he ran around the corner to get the other car until he realised the keys were in his jacket pocket. Dam! So he ran back, searched for his keys in his jacket, and couldn’t find them. not knowing what else to do he continue dragging the rock, until CRUNCH, he’d stepped on his keys. He quickly picked them up, ran outside, around the corner, got the car, found some great feat of strength in himself and picked the whole thing up and put it in his car and drove away.
The next morning when the English government realised that it had gone, they knew that it could have only been taken by someone from Scotland so they made a checkpoint for every single person that crossed the border into Scotland. But of course our man was smart and instead of driving north he drove south and buried it in a field somewhere. Then he drove north, passed the checkpoint and went to a Scottish rock scientist. He told him “look I’ve hidden our Scottish stone in a field in England what should I do?” and he said something like “You idiot! Go and get it now, the soil will slowly dissolve it because the limestone’s acidic!” so he drives back down to get the stone until he realises a caravan is parked on top of it. So he asks the man n the caravan if he can move is caravan and the man is so taken by the story he grabs a shovel and helps. Somehow he gets through the checkpoint and takes the stone up to the north and placed it in a church with a rug over it to disguise it but when the priest cam in in the morning and discovered he had the stone in his church he calls the authorities who take it back to England. Yay… that was like in 1970 or something and Scotland didn’t get its stone back until about 1998!
So that was the stories and things I learnt during the day in Edinburgh. When I write 5 pages on one day it means I reeeeeally enjoyed it!
After a sleep in and a check on dads head, we headed out to get some food as we hadn’t eaten since lunch the previous day. So after a quick walk past the Castle we went up into the Royal Mile. Mum and dad found it very difficult to book accommodation in Edinburgh because there was a huge festival on. So as we walked down the Royal Mile we were absolutely swamped with people giving us free handouts promoting shows and shops. The place was mad!
So we started the walking tour and began in a courtyard where four stories surrounded us. The guide asked us how many stories did we think were on the building, ad of course you’d say four, but there are actually eleven stories because the building is built on the side of a hill which means all the way down one side of the hill was also part of it down another 5 stories!
We then went to a place where all the announcements were made. The guide used me as an example pretending I had just been crowned queen of Scotland. When a coronation had occurred a man would run to the top of this thing, which is sort of like a hexagonal block with a spire at the top, taller than me, and he’d yell out something like hail the new queen of Scotland.
Also at this spot, when someone was captured they would nail the criminals ear to the stone block for 24 hours. People could then come and jeer at them, kicking them, throwing food and what ever else they liked. But if the prisoner was a coward they would rip their own ear through the nail releasing them selves. But this left painful scars, so everyone would know that you were a coward and couldn’t face your punishment for the rest of your life.
We then went around the corner to the cathedral where a statue of King Charles II. He looks quite odd though. The original sculptor made the statue too small for Charles’s liking, so he scaled him up a bit. But the sculptor forgot one important element. The statue is of him riding a horse and the sculptor forgot to actually scale the horse up too, so now King Charles II looks pretty silly as it looks like he’s riding a donkey.
Just to make it even worse for Charles, the sculptor designed him in roman clothing and not on a saddle. So now it looks like King Charles is off to a fancy dress party riding a donkey.
But then more disaster struck, and the gold crown began to dig into the slightly softer metal head of King Charles, and in Scotland it rains a lot. So King Charles II and his horse began filling up with water as the statue is hollow. This made the whole statue tip to one side and made it look like Charles II was going to a fancy dress party on a drunk donkey.
So King Charles II ordered something be done about this and someone came up with the idea; Why not put a hole lower so that the water leaks out. No matter how good this idea was, it was ruined by the placing of the hole. The hole was drilled right between the legs of the horse. So now it looks like King Charles II is off to a fancy dress party, riding a drunk donkey taking a leak.
So the public began to think this was very funny and they began to see their King as a joke, not a powerful leader. So King Charles decided to throw a party so that people would love him. He made the big hexagonal thing that where I was crowned queen earlier, was to flow with wine for 24 hours. So the public came in huge numbers with glasses, buckets and baths collecting as much wine as they possibly could. But often the consequence of drinking too much alcohol is a splitting headache in the morning. So when the entire city woke up with a massive hangover, they of course blamed their King.
We walked down the Royal Mile a little further and stopped outside one of the oldest hotels in Edinburgh. There were 3 stories, the lower floor for the servants, the second for the upper class, and the top for the second class. And you wonder why, why is it that the second class get the penthouse? Well its because if a fire starts from the kitchens, the upper class people can jump out and maybe survive, but if the second class people get trapped by the fire, they have a much lower chance of surviving a three story drop as apposed to two for the upper class
We then went down a small alleyway and stood outside a building. The building was new but rebuilt from an older building. On the outside you could see where the old steps stood poking out onto the outside wall. Here is where we got introduced to the old security system; a thing called a “Trip Step.” So at night, when the resident is sleeping at night, if a burglar comes in, they’ll be “tripped.” The flight of stairs is made from stone, big blocks sitting on top of each other just like any other staircase, but on a particular step it’s a bigger block than all the others, a higher one. So if a burglar comes in, they start up the staircase and trip on the big step, fall down the stairs with a big boom and crash, you wake up and know there’s a burglar in your house. When this happens, you go down stairs with a bat to see whether the fall broke the burglar’s neck or not, if it did, you chuck his body on the street for the morning collection. If not, beat the life out of him, then throw him on the street for the morning collection.
Next stop we learnt about two body snatchers called William and William. William and William started up their own business by working in the old peoples home where one of the Williams’ girlfriend worked. They would ask an old man out for a drink until he was so drunk that he would accept anymore alcohol given to him. So graciously the old man would accept the offer of a bottle of whiskey in one of the Williams’ house. Then one William kneed him in the chest pushing all the air from his lungs, while the other William smothered his face with a pillow until he died of suffocation. This was a good way of doing it, because the people at the hospital weren’t suspicious when an old man dies of nothing much because that happens all the time.
But eventually the Williams ran out of people in the old home and instead went to prostitution places to pick up people no one would miss. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong prostitute, because as the doctor saw the dead body, he knew something was up. He said “I was with this woman last week on important business matters and nothing was wrong with her then and I don’t see any reason why she should be dead now.” So the Williams got busted and that’s the end off that story.
We then went back into one of the main streets. Near here was a pub called Maggie Dickson’s Pub. It was named that for the infamous Maggie Dickson who was hung at the gallows just outside where the pub now stands.
Maggie Dickson was married but her husband had left her and that was bad for a woman in those days, for one to be unmarried, but also to be at that age and alone. So she left town. She stayed at an inn one night, and down at dinner one night, she looked across the room and saw the Inn keeper’s son. From that moment she fell heavily in love, and soon after, she fell heavily pregnant. This was even worse for Maggie as she was unmarried and pregnant. So she had her child in secret. And after the child was born, she took it down to the river and drowned it. She then buried it near the river. Suddenly she was caught and sentenced to the gallows. Why? Not because she became pregnant to someone other than a husband, not because she drowned and buried her own child, but because she hid the fact she was pregnant, kept it secret, and that was a punishment worth death.
So she was taken to the gallows and hung until dead. After the daily hangings a man came and picked up the coffins to take them to a graveyard or something. But as he was driving he heard knocking coming from the back of his cart. He opened up Maggie Dickson’s coffin and there she was, very much alive. So he quickly nailed it shut, turned around and drove back to Edinburgh where she was to be re-hung. So for the second time, Maggie Dickson walked to the gallows. But someone in the crowd yelled “wait! Maggie Dickson has already been hung for her punishment. What’s she being punished for now?” so Maggie Dickson was set free for already serving her punishment of death.
But things got even better for Maggie. Her wedding vows stated “til death do us part” and now Maggie Dickson was officially dead, she went back to the Inn to marry the Inn keeper’s son. Afterwards when she was at Maggie Dickson’s Pub, she would duck her head out of the door and yell to the victims “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It happened to me and I’m great!”
Our next stop was at the along a main street where we could see the back of “The elephant house” where J.K Rowling got most of her inspiration for the Harry Potter books. The building has an awful grey colour to it. Probably because it hadn’t been cleaned, but also the in the mortar is ash. And eventually, if you burn all the trees and wood, it’s gonna run out. So there was need for ash and fast. So they began burning witches. If you were accused as a witch you would go through trials to see whether you really were or not. First you were tied up and thrown into the river. If you floated, it means that heaven rejected you and you were a witch. If you sank you were innocent but it didn’t matter much because you’d have drowned by the time they realised you were innocent.
The next trial was of torture. They torture you so painfully trying to make you admit you’re a witch. If you crack and admit it you’re a witch, you were burnt at the stake. If you didn’t crack and admit it, it must mean you were a witch anyway and burnt at the stake.
We then went up to the Greyfriars graveyard. Here we saw a cage covering a grave to stop body snatchers. We then learnt about they kept criminals here in a field of small shelters without proper walls and Scottish winters are cold. At night, the guards would make everyone lie face down and if they moved, the guards would shoot wildly at them. if this happened, it often meant the death of all the people surrounding you. So to save all the others around the they stayed still all night. In winter, when there was snow on the ground, their breath often melted the snow and, not wanting to be responsible for their friends deaths, many often drowned in the melted snow.
We then went to the grave of a security man. I’m not sure what he did but he was kind of famous and he roamed around the streets. So, to accompany him in his walks, he bought himself a dog. But not a huge bulldog that you’d think for some sort of security man, instead he bought himself “a fluffy version of Paris Hilton’s dog” as described by the guide. So anyway, when this guy died the dog actually sat by his master’s grave for 8 years!!! And his grave is through the gates when you walk in the front gates. Here people have put sticks and toys for him to play with… which makes no sense seeing he’s dead, but meh.
There’s a little statue of him on the main street facing his master. But one morning, people woke up to the dog facing the other way, away from the graveyard. They quickly turned it back around but just the same, a few days later, people woke up to the dog facing the other way. Apparently what was happening was the pub that is situated in front of the statue was turning it around so when tourists take photos of the statues they would have the pub in the back ground giving free advertisements. Now it faces away from his master and the pub and we have a photo with the pub in the background.
Our final destination was the park, where we heard the story of a big limestone stone. Every Scottish King has been crowned on that stone. But of course, when the English conquered they took it for themselves. So one night, 4 men decided to go and get it back.
They drove down to England and went into the abbey (I think that’s where it was kept, but I’m not sure) and somehow got in there at night. So they tried to pick it up but they realised it was unbelievably heavy so they carried it about 10 metres before suddenly BOOM. They had dropped it on the stone floor and in the process a small part had actually split off. So one of the men takes off his jacket and lay it on the ground. They rolled the big bit on top and dragged it from there but first 3 of the men took the little piece into one of the two cars. Suddenly they were already driving off and the last man was stuck by himself. So he ran around the corner to get the other car until he realised the keys were in his jacket pocket. Dam! So he ran back, searched for his keys in his jacket, and couldn’t find them. not knowing what else to do he continue dragging the rock, until CRUNCH, he’d stepped on his keys. He quickly picked them up, ran outside, around the corner, got the car, found some great feat of strength in himself and picked the whole thing up and put it in his car and drove away.
The next morning when the English government realised that it had gone, they knew that it could have only been taken by someone from Scotland so they made a checkpoint for every single person that crossed the border into Scotland. But of course our man was smart and instead of driving north he drove south and buried it in a field somewhere. Then he drove north, passed the checkpoint and went to a Scottish rock scientist. He told him “look I’ve hidden our Scottish stone in a field in England what should I do?” and he said something like “You idiot! Go and get it now, the soil will slowly dissolve it because the limestone’s acidic!” so he drives back down to get the stone until he realises a caravan is parked on top of it. So he asks the man n the caravan if he can move is caravan and the man is so taken by the story he grabs a shovel and helps. Somehow he gets through the checkpoint and takes the stone up to the north and placed it in a church with a rug over it to disguise it but when the priest cam in in the morning and discovered he had the stone in his church he calls the authorities who take it back to England. Yay… that was like in 1970 or something and Scotland didn’t get its stone back until about 1998!
So that was the stories and things I learnt during the day in Edinburgh. When I write 5 pages on one day it means I reeeeeally enjoyed it!
9/9/09
Scottish Tour
Scottish Tour 24/8/09-28/8/09:
The first morning of the tour was strenuous. We had to walk a few km with our packs up hills and dad taking us around in wrong directions. We arrived at the Glasgow hostel (not the one we were staying at) we sat there for over and hour. It was sunny but icy and I spent the hour reading my book.
The idea of this was to be picked up by a bus. We were going on a tour around Scotland for a couple of days. When the bus finally arrived we jumped aboard and headed for Oban. Along the way we were listening to many songs that I never want to hear again. Old songs about Glasgow and different places depending on where we were. Hamish, our driver/guide, had all his cassette tapes in a box at his feet that he had all set up ready for the next destination.
Our first stop was a small one; we stopped at Dumbarton where we had a great view of the harbour right next to a castle but there wasn’t enough time to go in. On this stop we introduced ourselves to Genevra, a woman from Sydney. And we also met the others on the bus. Linda and Suzi were two sisters from Florida who got oon at the same spot we did, Ros, a woman from West London, Jared, a Scottish man, and a family of four, Sara, Francois, and their two daughters Marian and Margot. Sara is Italian, and Francois is French but from African origin. They all live in Italy but Francois cannot speak Italian, so at home they speak French. Sara speaks Italian, French, English and German, and Marian and Margot were bi-lingual with French and Italian. Wow!
Our next stop was for lunch at Loch Lomond. Lunch was served on an old stationary boat, which was really nice because it was sunny and we got to look out over the whole Loch. A Loch is like a huge lake, for those who weren’t sure :P
We often went through teeny tiny towns that mum loved. Many of the houses had thatched roofing and small streets.
We drove up into the mountains and had a beautiful view over a large valley in the sun.
We then went to the town Inverarry where Inverarry castle stood. The castle was one of the main estates where the Campbell Family lived. The Campbells were one of the richest families in the 1600s and everyone hated them.
In the castle, there was a room completely filled with weapons. Heaps and heaps of guns organised into two circles radiating from a centre shields. Many daggers and swords in glass cabinets something called a “flesh hook” which was… well im sure you can imagine. *shudder*
Some of the other rooms were filled with portraits and very fine furniture. One small room was filled with Chinese Pottery. Personally I didn’t like it. I can’t understand the importance of the art on your plate that will soon be covered in food.
Upstairs was a bedroom with a four poster bed. The material around the top and under he bed clothes was of course the blue and green tartan of the Campbell clan. It looked very odd with the curtain rods also draped in the same tartan :P
After we left the castle we went back into the town Inverarry and then headed for a small castle ruin. It was a small walk to the castle and it was right on the shore of a small lake. Dad and I arrived first at the castle and I felt that feeling of when I was little and we arrived at a hotel. I always wanted to be the first to find every room. I was running up all the flights of stairs and made it to the first turret before anyone else had got to the castle. I absolutely loved it! This is when we first got properly introduced to Sara and her family. Sara and Francois both have a sight disability so mum often helped her around and we then became very good friends.
On our way to Oban we saw a flock of Red deer! They were grazing in a paddock and apparently, in the 1600s people wiped most of them out and hardly any of them run wild anymore. Later we passed a paddock of Highland Cattle. The Highland Cattle are the ones that have huge horns and a great hairstyle-the one with their fringe so long it covers their eyes and you wonder how they can see. In fact its quite similar to the current fashionable fringe!
We were then taken to a magnificent view of Oban. We were on top of a huge hill and overlooked out onto the harbour that Oban was based on. To the right, we could see the town, and near the horizon was a grey stone circular thing that was similar to the Colosseum. In fact, it was commissioned by someone rich who wanted to have their own colosseum but the money ran out half way so it only looks like the colosseum from the outside because there is no, and never was, an inside.
We then went for a small drive down to Oban castle but because it was late we didn’t go inside. Near the castle was a huge rock that we passed that was apparently special to the people who owned the castle and it seemed to have its own mini-garden growing on the top.
Mum, Dad and I then went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant and then headed back to the hostel for bed.
***
The next morning we went to Ben Nevis. On the way we passed a bridge and underneath there is some weird tides or something. I don’t really know what that’s about but we got photos of some random swirling water so I guessed it might be important to put in here. *shrugs* At Ben Nevis there’s a huge lake which I’m guessing is a Loch but I have no idea what the name of it is. Somewhere in the middle of the lake there is a tiny Island where there’s a castle ruin still standing on it!
We then arrived at Glencoe. We went through the thatched roofed town which again, mum loved, and then went to a small lake which was situated in front of a gorgeous mountain, but it was just beginning to rain at this point so the beauty was slightly diminished, just like most of the stuff we’ve seen because I don’t think we’ve had a day since Dublin that we’d had a day without rain. D=
We then went higher into the mountains and came to the three sisters; three HUGE mountainous peaks in line with each other, all covered with green and purple, the purple being heather. Around this area was where some of “The Prisoner of Azkaban” was shot, the third Harry Potter movie. Also Monty Python and the Holy Grail and also some bits of Braveheart too.
We stopped at a little waterfall and we think this is where “The bridge of Death” was shot from Monty Python. The waterfalls were beautiful and the heather really does brighten it all up even when its raining.
We then stopped again in Ben Nevis, had lunch and then headed to the Infamous Loch Ness. There heaps and heaps of Lochs in the area and many of them have sea monster myths and so do many around the whole world but none have quite made it to the fame that The Loch Ness monster has made.
Just as we arrived at the Loch, some swans and signets came out and swam by us, then a gorgeous rainbow, very low in the sky, came onto the horizon on the water filled valley.
At Loch Ness, something no one knows about it, is that it has castle ruins on its shore. This was really incredible, because we were in Scotland, at Loch Ness, with castle ruins in front of us, beautiful greenery around, a rainbow on the left and it was sunny!!! We must have been so lucky, because I can imagine how many thousand tourists have come to Loch Ness just to be drenched as if they’d been swimming in the Loch itself.
We then came to another water falls hgher into the mountain while listening to kids singing about Lochy Lochy Lochy Loch Ness monster. At that point I was happy to get out and have a peaceful walk, and what a place to have it! These waterfalls were something special. It’s hard to explain what a set of waterfalls look like so I’ll just assure you it was really beautiful :)
We then passed the Loch again but from a completely different spot. I think we were at the other end of it by this time. At this spot there were islands in the middle. At the end of this drive we went for a quick walk that took us up to a great look out. To our right was the Loch and all the green Islands in the middle. Above it was an amazing array of light splintering through the clouds casting spotlights on the water and islands. To the left was a stretch of heather leading to the other side of the Loch.
We then went to the “Million Dollar View.” Someone important said it to be that, I think it was Elizabeth I. Anyway, again we were high above looking out over another Loch and again, we were so lucky because we had sun casting over it. Personally I think it wasn’t a million dollar view. Absolutely gorgeous, yes, but how can you pick on view out of the so many beautiful ones we had seen only in the past 2 days!
The best part of this day, was our arrival at the hostel. Usually, if that’s the best part, it means it’s been an average day and I’m looking forward to a bed, but tonight was different. This hostel was previously a castle. We walked inside and we were gob smacked to see marble statues lining the main hall! And the banister up the stairway with such intricate carving. The Dining room where we had dinner was filled with portraits and the roof had small flowers painted on each corner of the squares that were made up from wood lining.
Upstairs there was a huge hall where bay windows let in light on to the newly placed ping-pong table. To the right was a large room with more priceless views out the window, it was so light and filled with fireplaces and couches so anyone can come in and relax.
***
This morning was not exactly how we planned. In fact the whole day was quite wobbly. It started with Genevra, Ros, Jared and Francois going to the whiskey distillery. Sara, Marian, Margot, Mum and I went for a small walk through the heather that Sara really loved, up to a small lookout.
We then packed our stuff up and got in the bus on the way to the Whiskey distillery to pick the others up. Unfortunately, Hamish accidentally took a wrong turn and we drove in the wrong direction for about 20 minutes. Then, just as we passed the turn off where we should have gone left, the gearbox blew up. Well not actually but it stopped working and we had broken down. I then got out the computer and started blogging.
After a few hours here we finally got going again into another bus with the others and we went to Dunrobin Castle. Inside we saw heaps of rooms some with Lion skins, some with Tiger skins and another with Cheetah skin rugs on the ground. We also saw some funny costumes of the people who used to live here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the hats, they had like red straw mops on top of their helmets. Bahahaha gosh it was funny to imagine.
It was quite strange going through all the corridors because the carpet that was spread out over most of the castle stairways was more tartan. It honestly looks very odd. Outside we could see the garden which was in the shape of a huge circle, cut into blocks with a small fountain in the middle.
The woman who lived here’s name was Duchess Eileen which mum found interesting! She was, I think, the second wife of the Duke which meant his children didn’t like her very much. So when the Duke died, the children said, look, you can have your very own castle way over there while if you get out of this one. I’m sure it was put a bit more polite than that, but that was generally the gist of it. The castle that she got was the one we stayed in the previous night.
We then all went back into the bus and went to a large lake. There was a huge sinking here, there was a market or something and all the people wanted to get from one side to the other with all their stuff. The boat was really crowded and an unexpected tidal wave came, upturned the boat and 99 people drowned. I know it sounds odd to have a tidal wave on a lake, but a similar thing happened to us at the Red Sea when we were in Egypt. We were sitting outside and suddenly these waves just start picking up out of nothing in the middle of the sea and that was the tide!
We then went back to the castle hostel we stayed in last night. Margot and I went exploring and we found out a whole other part of the castle that we didn’t get to find out about the night before, so I’m kind of glad we broke down. We looked outside when we were moving all of our stuff back in, and saw the most amazing sunset. The sky was pink and purple with grey clouds over a reflecting lake and a surrounding forest.
***
Today was going to be a big day, we had to fit all the driving of yesterday and the driving we were meant t do today in one day. So our first stop was short but interesting. It was at a small cemetery where they were cutting the grass. There was one particular gravestone that was important. It had a Celtic cross on one side, but the opposite side it had relief engravings of men riding horses wearing what looked like roman helmets.
We then went passed another huge lake. Its unbelievable how much water Scotland has, but I guess it’s no wonder because it is so often that it rains, probably about 360 days a year they get a least a little rain! Anyway, in the middle of this lake, were seals! I could barley see them but we had binoculars so we could see some movement. There was a lone one sitting on the tiniest of islands, dancing to a slightly larger island where three seals were parked.
We then came to Inverness, a small town with a castle like lots of other places. We didn’t go into the castle but instead had a look around town. We went into a few shops, bought some essentials from the supermarket and headed back to the bus.
We then came to a small town where we had lunch and took lots of photos of everyone at a small bridge made by a rich man called Telford. Everywhere we went were all these bridges built by Telford. Anyway, it was really high but a flood pulled the top off it. It must have been a VERY high flood because the left over bridge was high but it must have had more on top of it! See Scotland gets way too much rain, why can’t Australia have any?
We then came to a mountain peak where a large Funicular was! We went right up the top and it was so steep! Usually it’s a ski run but, in the summer, when there’s no snow they turn it into an awareness area where they ask people to respect the animals that live here and their habitat. There was a very interesting exhibition bit at the beginning telling about the bog, the animals, the history and how climate change is affecting the area.
We then went into the shop and, as a gift, Sara and her family bought me the cutest Highland Cow stuffed toy ever! :D
We then came back down the Fenicular and went for a drive to a place where Marian and I had a great Hot chocolate. The building we were in was very interesting. It was like a cylinder and the toilets were on the lower floor and the upstairs you could look out to an almost 360 degree view of the forest around. On some days I’m sure it would be very beautiful, but as usual, it was raining…
We then came to a small town where we dropped Jared off (because he lived near here) and Genevra too.
Next stop was Glasgow again where we said goodbye to Linda and Suzi and then to Edinborough. We got off here and we said goodbye to Ros, Sara, Francois, Marian and Margot. As we were getting our things out of the back, Hamish accidentally slammed the door into Dad’s head. We were running late because the reception at where we were staying shuts at 10 and it was like 5 to. So dad was powering up the hill pack in hand, clutching his head, bleeding everywhere, me panicking, Hamish feeling awful, the girls getting worried and being told to get back in the bus and mum trying to say goodbye and keep everyone together.
That night wasn’t good. We were staying in Edinborough University because all the students were away, being summer holidays. Mum and dad quickly left to the hospital for stitches and left me alone. What I realised when they were gone that, seeing I had all the keys, it was impossible for them to get in because reception was closed, let alone find the rooms where we were staying in which was unbelievably complicated, especially being on floor -1. so I sat up til 1 am reading in the foyer with many people looking at me curiously as I was almost asleep.
Anyway, it wasn’t a pleasant night, but dad was fine it just felt terrible at the time ‘coz blood freaks me out. *sighs*…
The first morning of the tour was strenuous. We had to walk a few km with our packs up hills and dad taking us around in wrong directions. We arrived at the Glasgow hostel (not the one we were staying at) we sat there for over and hour. It was sunny but icy and I spent the hour reading my book.
The idea of this was to be picked up by a bus. We were going on a tour around Scotland for a couple of days. When the bus finally arrived we jumped aboard and headed for Oban. Along the way we were listening to many songs that I never want to hear again. Old songs about Glasgow and different places depending on where we were. Hamish, our driver/guide, had all his cassette tapes in a box at his feet that he had all set up ready for the next destination.
Our first stop was a small one; we stopped at Dumbarton where we had a great view of the harbour right next to a castle but there wasn’t enough time to go in. On this stop we introduced ourselves to Genevra, a woman from Sydney. And we also met the others on the bus. Linda and Suzi were two sisters from Florida who got oon at the same spot we did, Ros, a woman from West London, Jared, a Scottish man, and a family of four, Sara, Francois, and their two daughters Marian and Margot. Sara is Italian, and Francois is French but from African origin. They all live in Italy but Francois cannot speak Italian, so at home they speak French. Sara speaks Italian, French, English and German, and Marian and Margot were bi-lingual with French and Italian. Wow!
Our next stop was for lunch at Loch Lomond. Lunch was served on an old stationary boat, which was really nice because it was sunny and we got to look out over the whole Loch. A Loch is like a huge lake, for those who weren’t sure :P
We often went through teeny tiny towns that mum loved. Many of the houses had thatched roofing and small streets.
We drove up into the mountains and had a beautiful view over a large valley in the sun.
We then went to the town Inverarry where Inverarry castle stood. The castle was one of the main estates where the Campbell Family lived. The Campbells were one of the richest families in the 1600s and everyone hated them.
In the castle, there was a room completely filled with weapons. Heaps and heaps of guns organised into two circles radiating from a centre shields. Many daggers and swords in glass cabinets something called a “flesh hook” which was… well im sure you can imagine. *shudder*
Some of the other rooms were filled with portraits and very fine furniture. One small room was filled with Chinese Pottery. Personally I didn’t like it. I can’t understand the importance of the art on your plate that will soon be covered in food.
Upstairs was a bedroom with a four poster bed. The material around the top and under he bed clothes was of course the blue and green tartan of the Campbell clan. It looked very odd with the curtain rods also draped in the same tartan :P
After we left the castle we went back into the town Inverarry and then headed for a small castle ruin. It was a small walk to the castle and it was right on the shore of a small lake. Dad and I arrived first at the castle and I felt that feeling of when I was little and we arrived at a hotel. I always wanted to be the first to find every room. I was running up all the flights of stairs and made it to the first turret before anyone else had got to the castle. I absolutely loved it! This is when we first got properly introduced to Sara and her family. Sara and Francois both have a sight disability so mum often helped her around and we then became very good friends.
On our way to Oban we saw a flock of Red deer! They were grazing in a paddock and apparently, in the 1600s people wiped most of them out and hardly any of them run wild anymore. Later we passed a paddock of Highland Cattle. The Highland Cattle are the ones that have huge horns and a great hairstyle-the one with their fringe so long it covers their eyes and you wonder how they can see. In fact its quite similar to the current fashionable fringe!
We were then taken to a magnificent view of Oban. We were on top of a huge hill and overlooked out onto the harbour that Oban was based on. To the right, we could see the town, and near the horizon was a grey stone circular thing that was similar to the Colosseum. In fact, it was commissioned by someone rich who wanted to have their own colosseum but the money ran out half way so it only looks like the colosseum from the outside because there is no, and never was, an inside.
We then went for a small drive down to Oban castle but because it was late we didn’t go inside. Near the castle was a huge rock that we passed that was apparently special to the people who owned the castle and it seemed to have its own mini-garden growing on the top.
Mum, Dad and I then went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant and then headed back to the hostel for bed.
***
The next morning we went to Ben Nevis. On the way we passed a bridge and underneath there is some weird tides or something. I don’t really know what that’s about but we got photos of some random swirling water so I guessed it might be important to put in here. *shrugs* At Ben Nevis there’s a huge lake which I’m guessing is a Loch but I have no idea what the name of it is. Somewhere in the middle of the lake there is a tiny Island where there’s a castle ruin still standing on it!
We then arrived at Glencoe. We went through the thatched roofed town which again, mum loved, and then went to a small lake which was situated in front of a gorgeous mountain, but it was just beginning to rain at this point so the beauty was slightly diminished, just like most of the stuff we’ve seen because I don’t think we’ve had a day since Dublin that we’d had a day without rain. D=
We then went higher into the mountains and came to the three sisters; three HUGE mountainous peaks in line with each other, all covered with green and purple, the purple being heather. Around this area was where some of “The Prisoner of Azkaban” was shot, the third Harry Potter movie. Also Monty Python and the Holy Grail and also some bits of Braveheart too.
We stopped at a little waterfall and we think this is where “The bridge of Death” was shot from Monty Python. The waterfalls were beautiful and the heather really does brighten it all up even when its raining.
We then stopped again in Ben Nevis, had lunch and then headed to the Infamous Loch Ness. There heaps and heaps of Lochs in the area and many of them have sea monster myths and so do many around the whole world but none have quite made it to the fame that The Loch Ness monster has made.
Just as we arrived at the Loch, some swans and signets came out and swam by us, then a gorgeous rainbow, very low in the sky, came onto the horizon on the water filled valley.
At Loch Ness, something no one knows about it, is that it has castle ruins on its shore. This was really incredible, because we were in Scotland, at Loch Ness, with castle ruins in front of us, beautiful greenery around, a rainbow on the left and it was sunny!!! We must have been so lucky, because I can imagine how many thousand tourists have come to Loch Ness just to be drenched as if they’d been swimming in the Loch itself.
We then came to another water falls hgher into the mountain while listening to kids singing about Lochy Lochy Lochy Loch Ness monster. At that point I was happy to get out and have a peaceful walk, and what a place to have it! These waterfalls were something special. It’s hard to explain what a set of waterfalls look like so I’ll just assure you it was really beautiful :)
We then passed the Loch again but from a completely different spot. I think we were at the other end of it by this time. At this spot there were islands in the middle. At the end of this drive we went for a quick walk that took us up to a great look out. To our right was the Loch and all the green Islands in the middle. Above it was an amazing array of light splintering through the clouds casting spotlights on the water and islands. To the left was a stretch of heather leading to the other side of the Loch.
We then went to the “Million Dollar View.” Someone important said it to be that, I think it was Elizabeth I. Anyway, again we were high above looking out over another Loch and again, we were so lucky because we had sun casting over it. Personally I think it wasn’t a million dollar view. Absolutely gorgeous, yes, but how can you pick on view out of the so many beautiful ones we had seen only in the past 2 days!
The best part of this day, was our arrival at the hostel. Usually, if that’s the best part, it means it’s been an average day and I’m looking forward to a bed, but tonight was different. This hostel was previously a castle. We walked inside and we were gob smacked to see marble statues lining the main hall! And the banister up the stairway with such intricate carving. The Dining room where we had dinner was filled with portraits and the roof had small flowers painted on each corner of the squares that were made up from wood lining.
Upstairs there was a huge hall where bay windows let in light on to the newly placed ping-pong table. To the right was a large room with more priceless views out the window, it was so light and filled with fireplaces and couches so anyone can come in and relax.
***
This morning was not exactly how we planned. In fact the whole day was quite wobbly. It started with Genevra, Ros, Jared and Francois going to the whiskey distillery. Sara, Marian, Margot, Mum and I went for a small walk through the heather that Sara really loved, up to a small lookout.
We then packed our stuff up and got in the bus on the way to the Whiskey distillery to pick the others up. Unfortunately, Hamish accidentally took a wrong turn and we drove in the wrong direction for about 20 minutes. Then, just as we passed the turn off where we should have gone left, the gearbox blew up. Well not actually but it stopped working and we had broken down. I then got out the computer and started blogging.
After a few hours here we finally got going again into another bus with the others and we went to Dunrobin Castle. Inside we saw heaps of rooms some with Lion skins, some with Tiger skins and another with Cheetah skin rugs on the ground. We also saw some funny costumes of the people who used to live here. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the hats, they had like red straw mops on top of their helmets. Bahahaha gosh it was funny to imagine.
It was quite strange going through all the corridors because the carpet that was spread out over most of the castle stairways was more tartan. It honestly looks very odd. Outside we could see the garden which was in the shape of a huge circle, cut into blocks with a small fountain in the middle.
The woman who lived here’s name was Duchess Eileen which mum found interesting! She was, I think, the second wife of the Duke which meant his children didn’t like her very much. So when the Duke died, the children said, look, you can have your very own castle way over there while if you get out of this one. I’m sure it was put a bit more polite than that, but that was generally the gist of it. The castle that she got was the one we stayed in the previous night.
We then all went back into the bus and went to a large lake. There was a huge sinking here, there was a market or something and all the people wanted to get from one side to the other with all their stuff. The boat was really crowded and an unexpected tidal wave came, upturned the boat and 99 people drowned. I know it sounds odd to have a tidal wave on a lake, but a similar thing happened to us at the Red Sea when we were in Egypt. We were sitting outside and suddenly these waves just start picking up out of nothing in the middle of the sea and that was the tide!
We then went back to the castle hostel we stayed in last night. Margot and I went exploring and we found out a whole other part of the castle that we didn’t get to find out about the night before, so I’m kind of glad we broke down. We looked outside when we were moving all of our stuff back in, and saw the most amazing sunset. The sky was pink and purple with grey clouds over a reflecting lake and a surrounding forest.
***
Today was going to be a big day, we had to fit all the driving of yesterday and the driving we were meant t do today in one day. So our first stop was short but interesting. It was at a small cemetery where they were cutting the grass. There was one particular gravestone that was important. It had a Celtic cross on one side, but the opposite side it had relief engravings of men riding horses wearing what looked like roman helmets.
We then went passed another huge lake. Its unbelievable how much water Scotland has, but I guess it’s no wonder because it is so often that it rains, probably about 360 days a year they get a least a little rain! Anyway, in the middle of this lake, were seals! I could barley see them but we had binoculars so we could see some movement. There was a lone one sitting on the tiniest of islands, dancing to a slightly larger island where three seals were parked.
We then came to Inverness, a small town with a castle like lots of other places. We didn’t go into the castle but instead had a look around town. We went into a few shops, bought some essentials from the supermarket and headed back to the bus.
We then came to a small town where we had lunch and took lots of photos of everyone at a small bridge made by a rich man called Telford. Everywhere we went were all these bridges built by Telford. Anyway, it was really high but a flood pulled the top off it. It must have been a VERY high flood because the left over bridge was high but it must have had more on top of it! See Scotland gets way too much rain, why can’t Australia have any?
We then came to a mountain peak where a large Funicular was! We went right up the top and it was so steep! Usually it’s a ski run but, in the summer, when there’s no snow they turn it into an awareness area where they ask people to respect the animals that live here and their habitat. There was a very interesting exhibition bit at the beginning telling about the bog, the animals, the history and how climate change is affecting the area.
We then went into the shop and, as a gift, Sara and her family bought me the cutest Highland Cow stuffed toy ever! :D
We then came back down the Fenicular and went for a drive to a place where Marian and I had a great Hot chocolate. The building we were in was very interesting. It was like a cylinder and the toilets were on the lower floor and the upstairs you could look out to an almost 360 degree view of the forest around. On some days I’m sure it would be very beautiful, but as usual, it was raining…
We then came to a small town where we dropped Jared off (because he lived near here) and Genevra too.
Next stop was Glasgow again where we said goodbye to Linda and Suzi and then to Edinborough. We got off here and we said goodbye to Ros, Sara, Francois, Marian and Margot. As we were getting our things out of the back, Hamish accidentally slammed the door into Dad’s head. We were running late because the reception at where we were staying shuts at 10 and it was like 5 to. So dad was powering up the hill pack in hand, clutching his head, bleeding everywhere, me panicking, Hamish feeling awful, the girls getting worried and being told to get back in the bus and mum trying to say goodbye and keep everyone together.
That night wasn’t good. We were staying in Edinborough University because all the students were away, being summer holidays. Mum and dad quickly left to the hospital for stitches and left me alone. What I realised when they were gone that, seeing I had all the keys, it was impossible for them to get in because reception was closed, let alone find the rooms where we were staying in which was unbelievably complicated, especially being on floor -1. so I sat up til 1 am reading in the foyer with many people looking at me curiously as I was almost asleep.
Anyway, it wasn’t a pleasant night, but dad was fine it just felt terrible at the time ‘coz blood freaks me out. *sighs*…
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