Lakes and Edinburgh

[Tuesday] We had talked the day before about what we were going to do. Jayne had talked to her mother, and she had thought it would be fun to go to the Lake District. Although most of the way across the country, at this point, it's not that far of a drive. And Elizabeth, Jayne's mother, was really looking forward to it. So on Tuesday, we got ready and picked her up. Then all four of us, three with our first names Elizabeth, headed off.

It was a beautiful day. We drove down the same road we had gone for Hadrian's Wall, and actually saw the same place we had been the night before. Mrs. B was full of interesting facts and stories, something that rather bugged Jayne, but I found amusing because many of the facts had been shared already by her daughter. Like mother, like daughter. (I can see the look on Jayne's face when I say that.) But I learned a good bit.

I took a bunch of pictures out the window as we drove. It was gorgeous. The sun sparkling down on the lakes and the snow covered mountains... lovely! Mrs. B kept saying how she wished we could see it in the spring or summer, when everything was green or in bloom, but later she said it was good we came when we did, because there were fewer people and we could see the lakes better, without all the trees blocking our view.

We had lunch at a little inn along the way. Manda and I both had soup and sandwiches, and felt it was perfect for the day. (We had skipped breakfast and were starving.) Then we were off to W-----. Wordsworth's daffodils and Potter's Peter Rabbit both come from here. We stopped in the town and walked around. Jayne walked down this muddy hill and her mother went to join her. On her way, she started sort of sliding. Jayne tried to catch her, but it was too late, and she hit the ground. She was alright, and most of the mud wiped off, but we all laughed a lot.

There were a bunch of swans and Amanda wanted to make friends, but was a bit timid. The Asian tourists weren't so much, touching and getting pictures, so I decided to touch one as well, and although it took a bit, I managed it! After walking around for a while, we got back in the car to go over the hills, but there was a road closure, so instead, we called it a day and headed back. I got to watch the sun set over the hills as we made our way back. We both fell asleep on the way, and were thankful to Jayne for driving.

We had pizza that night for dinner and heard a bunch of stories from Sanet and Eugene as well as looked at wedding pictures, before gathering our things for our last fabulous night in Newcastle.

[Wednesday] We made French Toast for breakfast and then headed out to catch the train to Edinburgh, Scotland. The train was pretty straight forward and didn't take too long. We headed out and found our hostel without too much problem, seeing as it was located right on the Royal Mile. After checking in and dropping some things off, we took off to wander around until Jade got there that night.

We walked back down the Royal Mile for a while before heading towards the middle bit of town. We walked to the park in the middle and decided we wanted to sit in the sun. We hadn't gotten too much sun on our trip, so this was a nice change. We ate our sandwiches and discussed the pigeons (and their toe-less-ness). There were flowers just coming into bloom, and we decided if we ever when back, we would come in late February to early March, when things are still cheap but Spring is starting to take over.

We knew there were a number of museums around and the one we wanted to go to most was also the closest. So we went in and were surprised to see some sort of famous things. In reading the plaques, we found that many of the objects had ties to other things in other museums we had been to on this trip. Trial paintings or smaller scale ones were hanging here while the latter ones were in the British Museum or the like. One brass statue had a larger marble twin that I remember seeing in the Louvre. It was really cool to see, and we stayed until they closed, once again missing the Impressionists.

Following that, we went to our hostel to look for a store to get something for dinner. On the way, we heard some music and followed the sound only to find a man playing the bagpipes! It was really neat. He was really good and I really enjoy that music. When we got back from the store, Jade was there! Yay! Jade was our third roommate when we all met in Oxford, three years previously. This was the first time we had all gotten together since then, so that was really neat. After dinner, Jade, who had been to Edinburgh recently (she's going to school in Aberdeen) took us on our own private Ghost Tour.

Edinburgh is famous for being haunted, and between people being killed and the plague, it's not surprising. She did a great job of recounting all the terrible stories. We were regaled with tales of people jumping off bridges, haunted graveyards and children being locked away. It was creepy, but a lot of fun, to be wandering around in the dark, amongst the tombstones and grave markers. We also climbed a hill to get a good view of the city at night before heading back inside to warm up.

The next day, we awoke to find snow on the ground and still falling. Such a change from yesterday! Not deterred, we headed out, making our way up the hill to the castle, the big event of the day. However, when we got there, they said it was closed because of the snow, but it might open up later. I was disappointed, because lots of people had told me about it.

Instead, we walked back down, checking out some of the stores along the way. There were some really cute kilts, one I would really have liked to have worn. Kilts, tartan, and thistles were everywhere. We made our way to World's End and St. Giles Cathedral. World's End was the tavern that used to be part of the Edinburgh Wall. Apparently, back in the day, towns would sometimes have a tax to enter a city. Well, Edinburgh charged its tax on the way out, when people had no money from gambling or staying in the city, and were forced to stay in the city. However, there was also a law about not being out after curfew, so lots of people hid in all kinds of sketchy places. Then we went back to check, and thankfully, the Castle was open!

Inside we went. We saw the prisons, and read all about the people who were housed there, especially the poor American P.O.W.s who weren't recognized as such and so were more poorly treated. They were called "pirates." We also read about the different punishments for different things. Anything over 500 lashes would pretty much result in death, though as many as 2000 lashes could be given.

We got to see the dog cemetery and hear about the history of Scotland and the royalty there. There was also a memorial to WWI and WWII. I went to take a picture, and was quickly yelled at. Oops. So then, when we left, I stood on the far side of the "No Pictures" sign, outside, and took a picture of the building. The same lady came out and yelled at me again, saying I couldn't take pictures of any of it. Oops. I felt really bad. But I wasn't trying to be a terrible person.

That night we took the train to Glasgow. Amanda has third cousins living there and they housed us for the night before we had to catch a plane to Ireland early the next morning. The Clarks were super friendly. They served us homemade soup, and made us sandwiches for the next day. I would love to come back and visit them again.