everything's better with bagpipes

Last weekend our programme took us on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Besides the 12 hour drive each way, the trip was fabulous! Scotland is beautiful. Edinburgh isn't so beautiful, in fact it's kind of dark, but I still loved it.

On the way there, we stopped at Hadrian's Wall and Birdoswald Fort. It was pouring rain and so the stop was pretty short. The wall and fort were neat but mostly I was just in awe because I was in Scotland and everything is so green and beautiful there.



Brandi and I sitting on Hadrian's Wall.

After we arrived in Edinburgh the only thing we could think about was food. We ended up walking to the Royal Mile (which was much further than most of us wanted to go being so hungry) and eating at the Clam Shell. We had the UK classic, fish and chips, for dinner (I know, it's amazing, I ate fish) and a fried Mars bar for dessert. Delicious.

Actually this picture is from the next night. Yes, I got fried Mars bars two nights in a row. And yes, we went to the same little fried food place three days in a row. We were regulars.

In the Clam Shell with Brandi and Alex.

Once we were all full and in much better moods, we started to explore the Royal Mile. We finally decided on finding a pub to go to and listen to some Scottish music. We stumbled across the Scotsman's Lounge, ordered some blackcurrant lemonades, and enjoyed some music by the rising duo, Rantum Scantum. With so many LDS kids ordering the only non-alcoholic drink we knew, they quickly ran out of blackcurrant. I think the bartender thought we were crazy but he enjoyed asking us all for ID even though we weren't buying anything alcoholic.

Enjoying our drinks... a brilliant mixture of Sprite ("lemonade") and blackcurrant flavoring.

Rantum Scantum. I have their CDs. I know you are jealous.

The lovely bartender. Brandi was very brave... I don't think this guy has ever showered in his life.

The next morning we hiked the Trossachs (the Scottish Highlands "in miniature" according to our packet). It was an incredible hike and we had perfect weather. The trail was muddy but luckily it didn't rain on us. The entire hike was fantastic and the view from the top was beautiful. It was definitely worth the two hour drive to get to it.

Brandi and I hiking up.



At the top.

We returned from the hike exhausted and muddy. Once we cleaned up we headed to the "Empire Day" celebration the programme put on. "Empire Day" is the English name for the Fourth of July (Interesting name choice... their empire shrunk that day, true, but I didn't realize that was something to celebrate). We celebrated by eating dinner (cold rice, cold noodles, cold chicken, and mushrooms... not your classic 4th of July meal) and learning some Scottish dancing. It was pretty fun especially considering more than half of the people dancing were drinking which made it even more difficult for them but more entertaining for the rest of us.

At the dance drinking, once again, blackcurrant lemonade.

After a bit of dancing we left and returned (after eating a fried Mars bar) to the Scotsman's Lounge and listened to some more Rantum Scantum. Even though we didn't see any fireworks it was an excellent 4th of July.

Dani, Brandi, and I in front of our favorite pub.

Sunday morning we went to the Elephant House, the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first chapter of Harry Potter on napkins.

I'm a pretty big Harry Potter fan. This was basically a dream come true.

I levitated Brandi as she took a picture of me. The place is pretty magical.

This is what JK Rowling saw while she was writing. The more I'm in Europe the more I realize that she just described what's already here and added wands and spells... the landscape and school and everything is just the way things are here... even for the muggles.

Getting napkins just like JK Rowling.

Writing the next Harry Potter.

Later that day, we went to church and wandered Edinburgh. That evening, some of us went on a tour of Mary King's Close, what used to be the second busiest street in Edinburgh but has since been buried by a new building. So now it's an underground street, completely hidden from sunlight and the rest of the city. It was really cool to walk around and hear all of the stories about life there: the plague, a lack of a sewage system (though we did see a sewage pipe from the 1700s--the highlight of the tour), the poverty people suffered, the medical system, etc. Plus our tour guide was hysterical. We liked him so much we got a picture with him after.


Wearing the masks that doctors used to wear when they went to treat people who had the plague.

Since we were in Scotland of course we listened to some bagpipes. We saw this guy twice; he was pretty impressive.


That night we hiked Arthur's Seat. (Interesting fact: Orson Pratt dedicated Scotland for missionary work on Arthur's Seat). The view was wonderful--you can see the entire city of Edinburgh from there.

Daniel, Brandi, and I


The next morning we left Edinburgh. It was sad to leave Scotland but I was excited to come back home to Cambridge. But on our way home we made one more stop at Fountains Abbey. It was one of the coolest places I've ever been. We had a great time exploring and taking pictures for two hours and we only saw about a fifth of what is there.


Fountains Abbey: One of my favorite places in the world.

Dani and I at the Abbey.

Statues.


Evan didn't fit as well.

Pillars.




We were all pretty tired on the bus ride home.

Now we're back at Cambridge. I finally have everything figured out with research and classes. I'm going to take a fluid dynamics course with a supervisor that is taught to math students here and do research for a group who works on atmospheric chemistry and applied mathematics. I'm really excited about both of these opportunities--somehow it all just came together for me. And then in about 3 weeks I'll start a course called The British and Their Sports: Class, Gender, and Identity. It's going to be pretty fantastic.