Well I decided not to go to Snowdonia National Park this weekend. I ran out of time to plan the trip and it is supposed to rain all weekend so it seemed like a better idea to stay home for a weekend! I have been feeling like I could be getting a bit sick so it will be good to catch up on sleep and rest for the weekend. It is Saint David’s day this weekend so I might go to some of the festivities but will try to keep it low key.
Tonight we went to watch the Wales vs. France rugby match. Rugby is definitely my new favorite sport! It is so intense to watch. Compared to American football it is one of the most brutal things ever! Wales lost even with their last second attempt that they should have made so it was a sad game! There are more games tomorrow so I think we will watch those as well. It should be a relaxing weekend so it would be a good time if you have any fun questions about my travels you’ve been wanting to ask. Go ahead and shoot them to my email account! Love you all!!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
This weekend I made the long journey to Edinburgh. We took a night train to the city. We started at 7 pm with a trip to Cardiff. The fist train was delayed so we took the one 10 minutes later to Cardiff and still made our second train even though it was only a 14 minute layover. Next we caught a train to Crew. There we had an hour layover but it seemed like nothing. From Crew we took a train to Sterling. Here we met three boys from America that were studying abroad in Edinburgh. They were trying to stay in Sterling for the night but had gotten kicked out of their hotel because they had 12 people staying there. After a few hours sleep in a bus station they realized they were just around the corner from the train station. They came and jumped on the train with us to Edinburgh and told us their story.
We made it to Edinburgh at 7 am. We went to our hostel in hopes to check in and drop our bags there for the day. They didn’t have lockers for us to put them in for the day but we were able to leave them there for a while.
We met up with Rachel and Rick our other two travel buddies and got some free breakfast at their hostile. After breakfast we headed up to Edinburgh castle for a few hours. We got there right as it opened which was lucky because it got really busy later. The castle was huge and up on this very steep rock formation. It was the perfect location for a castle. There was no way that someone would make up that steep of a slope to try to take over the castle. It was a very interesting tour through the castle and it took a very long time. Basically the castle was a collection of small museums. Each little building inside the castle walls had something different in it. Also each little museum had its own gift shop. It took us a few hours to make it through the whole thing, but it was definitely worth it. We got to try on some traditional Scottish dress as well as see the crown jewels and see the dungeons that old soldiers were held in. It was a very interesting trip through the castle. When we got to the top we even got a free sample of a Scottish whisky called Broadar. It is made with honey and is the smoothest whisky I have ever had. I wanted to buy a bottle after that, but it was way too expensive for my budget! Also the farther you got to the top the better the view was. I also saw many people in kilts on this venture of the trip. I wanted to take pictures of them, but felt kind of awkward doing so.
After the castle we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to our hostile because we could finally get back into our hostile. We went and put our bags in our room and then did a bit of shopping before heading to the National Museum of Scotland. It was 7 floors of Scottish history. We started on the very bottom floor and looked at modern art pieces that we the housing for old necklaces and jewelry. It was a very unique combination. It was probably one of the most original museum exhibits I have seen yet. We did get kind of bored with the museum after about 4 floors. We ended up skipping to the 7th floor observatory and taking a ton of pictures of the castle and the city from that vantage point. After that we toured the couple more floors and then headed off to the botanical gardens.
We got to the botanical gardens at about 3:30 before we realized that they would close at 4. We walked around taking a few pictures of the flowers that were there. And my favorite part, which was the squirrel that was photogenic. He walked right up to us and seemed to be posing for the camera to take pictures of him! It was great!
After we got kicked out of the botanical gardens we realized that we probably had time to make it to the Scottish mint and see where they had 1 million pounds. It was a very small museum so we went through it pretty quickly before it closed at 5. We got a few great pictures and then headed off to a couple more stores for the night.
Next we needed some food, since I had a PB and J for lunch. I decided to try some traditional Scottish dishes. For my main course I had Haggis, neeps and tatties. It is a traditional Scottish dish that is made of the very last parts of meat from a sheep so mostly the heart, lungs and liver. It is minced and then put back in the stomach of the sheep with seasonings and cooked. The neeps and tatties that it is served with are rutabagas and potatoes. I was glad that I didn’t know what it was before I ate it but glad I had tried it. For desert I had cranachan. It was basically a raspberry cool whip with small chocolate covered ice cream balls on top. It was difficult to eat with the frozen balls on top but it was very very good. It was a nice light desert. Nothing like the heavy cakes and things we have in the states.
After supper we had time for a break before heading off for our ghost tour for the night. We had a great tour guide and really enjoyed our tour. It was not quite what I had expected. We were thinking it would be ghostly tails, but was instead the tails of many brutal deaths and horror stories of the past in Edinburgh. We learned about the building of the South street bridge and how it collapsed before it was done killing a man. They decided after that they needed a great ceremony to celebrate the opening of the bridge, so they invited the oldest women in Edinburgh to be the first person to walk across the bridge. She was ecstatic and very honored. However, two days before the ceremony was to take place she died. They decided it was too far into the ceremony planning to cancel anything so she was still the first person to cross the bridge as they rolled her coffin over the bridge. Many people think the bridge is cursed for this reason. Another fact about the bridge is that is it still the most likely place to commit suicide in Edinburgh. This is a big problem because it is a major hub of transportation in Edinburgh. This means that they have to close down the bridge connecting northern and southern Edinburgh and also close down the train station below. It is a law in Scotland that you cannot use force to pull someone down if they are trying to take their life; all you can do is try to talk them down. So after someone has been up there for a few hours some people are still trying to get them to not jump off the bridge while others are yelling at them to jump because they are trying to get to their final destination.
The next stop on our ghost tour was a cemetery as we headed up to Calton hill. This cemetery was so packed that they buried people at 6 feet, 4 feet, and 2 feet. Which worked until the rainy weather made the bodies start to surface as you walked to see your relative’s grave. They eventually dug up all the bodies at 2 feet and some of the bodies at 4 feet to move them to so you no longer had to worry about coming face to face with your relatives! This site was also one of the many known for body snatching. There was a very elite college of medicine in Edinburgh, but the government only allotted one body per year for research. To be an elite medical school hundreds of bodies need to be studied throughout the year, so the head of the college started dealing in the black market getting bodies for research. There was also a loop hole in the law at that time saying that your body was not your possession after you died. Everything you had on was but your physical body wasn’t, so there was nothing the police could do to prevent this as long as the snatchers left all the belongings. This was all fine until two men decided to not dig up bodies but kill them themselves. After about 35 people went missing (they don’t know if these two men killed them all) then they outlawed body snatching and the college was allotted more bodies per year to work on.
Next we walked up to Calton hill and learned about the many different Pagan festivals and beliefs that are still a part of Scottish life. We learned about the different evil fairies that would come to the earth to kill random people. We also learned about the witch burnings. We learned that if you were suspected of being a witch, which happened for three reasons: you had red hair(kind of ironic because that is about 25% of the population), if you had a birthmark, of if you had a third nipple, then you would have your thumbs tied to your knees and get thrown into a lake. If you sank, congrats! You are not a witch and will go to heaven. If you survived you were tortured for days on end and then given a chance to admit to being a witch or denying being a witch. If you admitted to it you were strangled and then your body was burned. If you denied it then you were burned to death. And to top everything off your family was forced to pay for the wood that was used to burn your body! AWFUL!!
Finally we headed back toward town and learned about a brutal death suffered by a lover of the queen. Her husband found out about the affair and one night when they were together came in with a group of men and dragged the man from the room. Of course his wife followed but she was heavily pregnant and couldn’t do anything about it. These men stabbed the man about 30 times. The blood stain is actually still on the floor in the palace. He was believed to haunt a church right next to the royal mile.
After hearing all these tails we got a free pint. We had it with a couple American people in the Navy that were stationed in Germany and were taking their 3 days off to do some traveling to Edinburgh. Then it was off to bed for the night!
Sunday morning we went to church at St. Giles cathedral. It was an interesting service and there was only about 10 people there. It was a bit uncomfortable for us because of that.
After church we went to Holyrood Palace. It had many of the same things we had already seen in the castles and palaces we have been to so it was a bit of a disappointment. When we were finished there we had two missions before we left. One was to find a souvenir with a thistle on it for Rick, and the other was to find a deep fried Mars bar to eat. This was also a thing that is traditional to Edinburgh (although probably not original!). We wandered for about a half hour before finding a chip shop that was open at that time in the day. This bar was one of the most fattening and delicious things I have ever eaten! It was chewy on the outside due to all the batter but the inside was melty and delicious!
Rachel, Rick and Alyse left after this because they had a test on Monday. I didn’t have anything until 2 pm so I decided to stay a bit longer. I went to a couple art galleries that I had seen the day before and then killed some time until there was a free walking tour at 1.
One of the first stops on our tour was to learn about more brutal things that happened in Edinburgh. If you stole anything from the market and were caught you were sentenced to 12 of 24 hours of having your ear nailed to a monument in the town center. You had to stand there while the Scottish passers by threw vegetables at you or came and kicked you in the knees. You had two options really. You could stay there for your allotted time or you could leave, ripping off the top of your ear. This marked you as a thief for your entire life. You were unable to get a job, and were never trusted in the market again!
We headed to St. Giles cemetery after that and learned that the bodies there were buried similar to the cemetery from the night before. They removed all the bodies from this area and relocated them because too many were surfacing.
The next stop was to learn about the authors of Edinburgh. We were told that Edinburgh was home to the largest monument ever erected for an author. It was erected to the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This story was kind of funny. Mr. Hyde was a well known and wealthy man in Edinburgh. He helped build many things including markets, jails, and the gallows. He, however, got into gambling a bit too much and lost all his money, but he also happened to be a locksmith for all his rich friends. So when he made them a spare key, he made one for himself also. He would break into their homes at night and rob them blind. The town decided to start a committee to catch this person and at the head of the committee they decided they needed someone who knew a lot about locks. The logical choice was Mr. Hyde. Needless today he was not caught and actually put together a band of robbers to help him steal things. Eventually his gang was caught and ratted him out. He had already fled at this point, but was tracked down, had a trial and was sentenced to death. He was hung in the gallows that he himself helped to build!
After this story we headed down to Cowgate street and the old markets. Then it was off to another cemetery where we learned of a guardsman of the cemetery and his dog Bobbie. They became and inseparable duo. However, John, the guard, died much sooner than Bobbie. Bobbie was determined to stay by his master’s side. He sat at the grave of John for 14 years. The people of Edinburgh came to love Bobbie. Disney even made a movie about him and his statue is one of the most photographed in the world!
On our way back to the center of town we walked by the café that J. K. Rowling got inspired in and wrote all of the Harry potter novels. At the time she could not afford to heat her flat so she would go to this café in the morning and buy a cup of coffee then sit there writing all day. Now she doesn’t have the problem of not having enough money!
We walked back to a garden that was down by the train station. Here we saw the oldest flower clock in the world. It is still a functioning clock! While in the garden we also learned about the Scottish stone of destiny. We had seen it in the castle the day before but weren’t really sure what it was. This stone was symbolic to the Scottish and was stolen about 350 years ago by the British. They asked for it back many times and got refused every time. In the 1950’s some college students decided they were going to go to London and try to steal the stone back. They watched the guards in Westminister Abbey for a couple days and then on Christmas morning at about 4 am they made their move. They didn’t however realize how heavy the stone was. It is about 300 pounds. They were working on crab walking it out of the building when they dropped the stone and broke it. Two of the students took the smaller two sections that had broken off the stone and left the other two students to figure out the rest. They ended up putting the stone on one of their coats and dragging it from the Abbey. They finally got it to the car and then realized that the keys to the car were in the coat they had just drug it out of the abbey on. They were about to give up and run when one of them stepped on the keys! They loaded the stone into the car as quickly as possible but the guard was right behind them and it didn’t take long for him to realize the stone was missing.
For the first time in 300 years the border between Scotland and England was closed. The students were not dumb though. They did not head back to Scotland. Instead they took the stone and buried it in a field in Kent before heading home for Christmas. They went back a few weeks later to retrieve the stone and return it to Scotland only to find a Gypsy caravan parked over the field where it was buried. They couldn’t convince the caravan to move until they told them that they had stolen the stone. Then they gypsies decided they hated the English too so they helped the student dig up the stone and load it in their car.
The stone made a tour around Scotland to bars and pubs before the student decided they need to share it with the rest of Scotland. So they put it in a church overnight to be discovered. It was back in London 24 hours after it was discovered! Needless to say in 1993 the stone was finally returned to Scotland and is on permanent display in the castle.
After this 3 and a half hour tour I decided it was time to venture home! I went to the train station and they told me I had missed all my connections and that I would have to wait for a train in the morning to Swansea. I didn’t believe that guy so I went and talked to someone else. This man put me on a train to Glasgow. There I had to go from one station to the other and then wait for 5 hours for a night train to London. I left for London at 11 pm and got there at about 6:30 am. It allowed for some great sleeping time although it’s difficult to sleep on a train. I got to London and had to go on the underground to a different station. I caught the 7:15 train to Cardiff from there. When I got to Cardiff I had a 20 minute wait and was then on a train to Swansea! Finally!
I made it back to my flat at noon and got ready for my class at 2. Yesterday I was on campus from 2 pm to about 8 pm with classes and a group project! That was brutal after the long weekend! Luckily today a couple of my classes were cancelled so I have some time to try to catch up. I am heading to the gym as soon as I get this done and then coming back for lunch before my group project evaluation at 2. Hooray for busy-ness!
We made it to Edinburgh at 7 am. We went to our hostel in hopes to check in and drop our bags there for the day. They didn’t have lockers for us to put them in for the day but we were able to leave them there for a while.
We met up with Rachel and Rick our other two travel buddies and got some free breakfast at their hostile. After breakfast we headed up to Edinburgh castle for a few hours. We got there right as it opened which was lucky because it got really busy later. The castle was huge and up on this very steep rock formation. It was the perfect location for a castle. There was no way that someone would make up that steep of a slope to try to take over the castle. It was a very interesting tour through the castle and it took a very long time. Basically the castle was a collection of small museums. Each little building inside the castle walls had something different in it. Also each little museum had its own gift shop. It took us a few hours to make it through the whole thing, but it was definitely worth it. We got to try on some traditional Scottish dress as well as see the crown jewels and see the dungeons that old soldiers were held in. It was a very interesting trip through the castle. When we got to the top we even got a free sample of a Scottish whisky called Broadar. It is made with honey and is the smoothest whisky I have ever had. I wanted to buy a bottle after that, but it was way too expensive for my budget! Also the farther you got to the top the better the view was. I also saw many people in kilts on this venture of the trip. I wanted to take pictures of them, but felt kind of awkward doing so.
After the castle we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to our hostile because we could finally get back into our hostile. We went and put our bags in our room and then did a bit of shopping before heading to the National Museum of Scotland. It was 7 floors of Scottish history. We started on the very bottom floor and looked at modern art pieces that we the housing for old necklaces and jewelry. It was a very unique combination. It was probably one of the most original museum exhibits I have seen yet. We did get kind of bored with the museum after about 4 floors. We ended up skipping to the 7th floor observatory and taking a ton of pictures of the castle and the city from that vantage point. After that we toured the couple more floors and then headed off to the botanical gardens.
We got to the botanical gardens at about 3:30 before we realized that they would close at 4. We walked around taking a few pictures of the flowers that were there. And my favorite part, which was the squirrel that was photogenic. He walked right up to us and seemed to be posing for the camera to take pictures of him! It was great!
After we got kicked out of the botanical gardens we realized that we probably had time to make it to the Scottish mint and see where they had 1 million pounds. It was a very small museum so we went through it pretty quickly before it closed at 5. We got a few great pictures and then headed off to a couple more stores for the night.
Next we needed some food, since I had a PB and J for lunch. I decided to try some traditional Scottish dishes. For my main course I had Haggis, neeps and tatties. It is a traditional Scottish dish that is made of the very last parts of meat from a sheep so mostly the heart, lungs and liver. It is minced and then put back in the stomach of the sheep with seasonings and cooked. The neeps and tatties that it is served with are rutabagas and potatoes. I was glad that I didn’t know what it was before I ate it but glad I had tried it. For desert I had cranachan. It was basically a raspberry cool whip with small chocolate covered ice cream balls on top. It was difficult to eat with the frozen balls on top but it was very very good. It was a nice light desert. Nothing like the heavy cakes and things we have in the states.
After supper we had time for a break before heading off for our ghost tour for the night. We had a great tour guide and really enjoyed our tour. It was not quite what I had expected. We were thinking it would be ghostly tails, but was instead the tails of many brutal deaths and horror stories of the past in Edinburgh. We learned about the building of the South street bridge and how it collapsed before it was done killing a man. They decided after that they needed a great ceremony to celebrate the opening of the bridge, so they invited the oldest women in Edinburgh to be the first person to walk across the bridge. She was ecstatic and very honored. However, two days before the ceremony was to take place she died. They decided it was too far into the ceremony planning to cancel anything so she was still the first person to cross the bridge as they rolled her coffin over the bridge. Many people think the bridge is cursed for this reason. Another fact about the bridge is that is it still the most likely place to commit suicide in Edinburgh. This is a big problem because it is a major hub of transportation in Edinburgh. This means that they have to close down the bridge connecting northern and southern Edinburgh and also close down the train station below. It is a law in Scotland that you cannot use force to pull someone down if they are trying to take their life; all you can do is try to talk them down. So after someone has been up there for a few hours some people are still trying to get them to not jump off the bridge while others are yelling at them to jump because they are trying to get to their final destination.
The next stop on our ghost tour was a cemetery as we headed up to Calton hill. This cemetery was so packed that they buried people at 6 feet, 4 feet, and 2 feet. Which worked until the rainy weather made the bodies start to surface as you walked to see your relative’s grave. They eventually dug up all the bodies at 2 feet and some of the bodies at 4 feet to move them to so you no longer had to worry about coming face to face with your relatives! This site was also one of the many known for body snatching. There was a very elite college of medicine in Edinburgh, but the government only allotted one body per year for research. To be an elite medical school hundreds of bodies need to be studied throughout the year, so the head of the college started dealing in the black market getting bodies for research. There was also a loop hole in the law at that time saying that your body was not your possession after you died. Everything you had on was but your physical body wasn’t, so there was nothing the police could do to prevent this as long as the snatchers left all the belongings. This was all fine until two men decided to not dig up bodies but kill them themselves. After about 35 people went missing (they don’t know if these two men killed them all) then they outlawed body snatching and the college was allotted more bodies per year to work on.
Next we walked up to Calton hill and learned about the many different Pagan festivals and beliefs that are still a part of Scottish life. We learned about the different evil fairies that would come to the earth to kill random people. We also learned about the witch burnings. We learned that if you were suspected of being a witch, which happened for three reasons: you had red hair(kind of ironic because that is about 25% of the population), if you had a birthmark, of if you had a third nipple, then you would have your thumbs tied to your knees and get thrown into a lake. If you sank, congrats! You are not a witch and will go to heaven. If you survived you were tortured for days on end and then given a chance to admit to being a witch or denying being a witch. If you admitted to it you were strangled and then your body was burned. If you denied it then you were burned to death. And to top everything off your family was forced to pay for the wood that was used to burn your body! AWFUL!!
Finally we headed back toward town and learned about a brutal death suffered by a lover of the queen. Her husband found out about the affair and one night when they were together came in with a group of men and dragged the man from the room. Of course his wife followed but she was heavily pregnant and couldn’t do anything about it. These men stabbed the man about 30 times. The blood stain is actually still on the floor in the palace. He was believed to haunt a church right next to the royal mile.
After hearing all these tails we got a free pint. We had it with a couple American people in the Navy that were stationed in Germany and were taking their 3 days off to do some traveling to Edinburgh. Then it was off to bed for the night!
Sunday morning we went to church at St. Giles cathedral. It was an interesting service and there was only about 10 people there. It was a bit uncomfortable for us because of that.
After church we went to Holyrood Palace. It had many of the same things we had already seen in the castles and palaces we have been to so it was a bit of a disappointment. When we were finished there we had two missions before we left. One was to find a souvenir with a thistle on it for Rick, and the other was to find a deep fried Mars bar to eat. This was also a thing that is traditional to Edinburgh (although probably not original!). We wandered for about a half hour before finding a chip shop that was open at that time in the day. This bar was one of the most fattening and delicious things I have ever eaten! It was chewy on the outside due to all the batter but the inside was melty and delicious!
Rachel, Rick and Alyse left after this because they had a test on Monday. I didn’t have anything until 2 pm so I decided to stay a bit longer. I went to a couple art galleries that I had seen the day before and then killed some time until there was a free walking tour at 1.
One of the first stops on our tour was to learn about more brutal things that happened in Edinburgh. If you stole anything from the market and were caught you were sentenced to 12 of 24 hours of having your ear nailed to a monument in the town center. You had to stand there while the Scottish passers by threw vegetables at you or came and kicked you in the knees. You had two options really. You could stay there for your allotted time or you could leave, ripping off the top of your ear. This marked you as a thief for your entire life. You were unable to get a job, and were never trusted in the market again!
We headed to St. Giles cemetery after that and learned that the bodies there were buried similar to the cemetery from the night before. They removed all the bodies from this area and relocated them because too many were surfacing.
The next stop was to learn about the authors of Edinburgh. We were told that Edinburgh was home to the largest monument ever erected for an author. It was erected to the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This story was kind of funny. Mr. Hyde was a well known and wealthy man in Edinburgh. He helped build many things including markets, jails, and the gallows. He, however, got into gambling a bit too much and lost all his money, but he also happened to be a locksmith for all his rich friends. So when he made them a spare key, he made one for himself also. He would break into their homes at night and rob them blind. The town decided to start a committee to catch this person and at the head of the committee they decided they needed someone who knew a lot about locks. The logical choice was Mr. Hyde. Needless today he was not caught and actually put together a band of robbers to help him steal things. Eventually his gang was caught and ratted him out. He had already fled at this point, but was tracked down, had a trial and was sentenced to death. He was hung in the gallows that he himself helped to build!
After this story we headed down to Cowgate street and the old markets. Then it was off to another cemetery where we learned of a guardsman of the cemetery and his dog Bobbie. They became and inseparable duo. However, John, the guard, died much sooner than Bobbie. Bobbie was determined to stay by his master’s side. He sat at the grave of John for 14 years. The people of Edinburgh came to love Bobbie. Disney even made a movie about him and his statue is one of the most photographed in the world!
On our way back to the center of town we walked by the café that J. K. Rowling got inspired in and wrote all of the Harry potter novels. At the time she could not afford to heat her flat so she would go to this café in the morning and buy a cup of coffee then sit there writing all day. Now she doesn’t have the problem of not having enough money!
We walked back to a garden that was down by the train station. Here we saw the oldest flower clock in the world. It is still a functioning clock! While in the garden we also learned about the Scottish stone of destiny. We had seen it in the castle the day before but weren’t really sure what it was. This stone was symbolic to the Scottish and was stolen about 350 years ago by the British. They asked for it back many times and got refused every time. In the 1950’s some college students decided they were going to go to London and try to steal the stone back. They watched the guards in Westminister Abbey for a couple days and then on Christmas morning at about 4 am they made their move. They didn’t however realize how heavy the stone was. It is about 300 pounds. They were working on crab walking it out of the building when they dropped the stone and broke it. Two of the students took the smaller two sections that had broken off the stone and left the other two students to figure out the rest. They ended up putting the stone on one of their coats and dragging it from the Abbey. They finally got it to the car and then realized that the keys to the car were in the coat they had just drug it out of the abbey on. They were about to give up and run when one of them stepped on the keys! They loaded the stone into the car as quickly as possible but the guard was right behind them and it didn’t take long for him to realize the stone was missing.
For the first time in 300 years the border between Scotland and England was closed. The students were not dumb though. They did not head back to Scotland. Instead they took the stone and buried it in a field in Kent before heading home for Christmas. They went back a few weeks later to retrieve the stone and return it to Scotland only to find a Gypsy caravan parked over the field where it was buried. They couldn’t convince the caravan to move until they told them that they had stolen the stone. Then they gypsies decided they hated the English too so they helped the student dig up the stone and load it in their car.
The stone made a tour around Scotland to bars and pubs before the student decided they need to share it with the rest of Scotland. So they put it in a church overnight to be discovered. It was back in London 24 hours after it was discovered! Needless to say in 1993 the stone was finally returned to Scotland and is on permanent display in the castle.
After this 3 and a half hour tour I decided it was time to venture home! I went to the train station and they told me I had missed all my connections and that I would have to wait for a train in the morning to Swansea. I didn’t believe that guy so I went and talked to someone else. This man put me on a train to Glasgow. There I had to go from one station to the other and then wait for 5 hours for a night train to London. I left for London at 11 pm and got there at about 6:30 am. It allowed for some great sleeping time although it’s difficult to sleep on a train. I got to London and had to go on the underground to a different station. I caught the 7:15 train to Cardiff from there. When I got to Cardiff I had a 20 minute wait and was then on a train to Swansea! Finally!
I made it back to my flat at noon and got ready for my class at 2. Yesterday I was on campus from 2 pm to about 8 pm with classes and a group project! That was brutal after the long weekend! Luckily today a couple of my classes were cancelled so I have some time to try to catch up. I am heading to the gym as soon as I get this done and then coming back for lunch before my group project evaluation at 2. Hooray for busy-ness!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Here are pictures from this weekend! I don't know if I will have time to update my blog before class so check back later today!
-The oldest flower clock in the world
-The Elephant House Café where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter
-One of the most photographed statues in the world
-Our very enthusiastic tour guide
-The ruins of Holyrood Abbey
-A view of Holyrood Palace
-The Scottish Parliament
-Hagis, neeps and tatties
-One million pounds
-The larges monument ever erected to an author in the world
-My friend Mr. Squirrel at the Botanical Gardens
-Snowdrops at the Botanical Gardens
-Modern art displaying old world jewelry at the Scottish National Museum
-The store called Thistle Do Nicely… I liked the name!
-Me modeling traditional Scottish soldier dress (minus the jeans and north face fleece!)
-A view of the city from the castle
-A view of the castle side slope that would be impossible to climb
-A view of the Edinburgh Castle
-The Royal Mile was right outside our door
-The front of our hostel
-The oldest flower clock in the world
-The Elephant House Café where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter
-One of the most photographed statues in the world
-Our very enthusiastic tour guide
-The ruins of Holyrood Abbey
-A view of Holyrood Palace
-The Scottish Parliament
-Hagis, neeps and tatties
-One million pounds
-The larges monument ever erected to an author in the world
-My friend Mr. Squirrel at the Botanical Gardens
-Snowdrops at the Botanical Gardens
-Modern art displaying old world jewelry at the Scottish National Museum
-The store called Thistle Do Nicely… I liked the name!
-Me modeling traditional Scottish soldier dress (minus the jeans and north face fleece!)
-A view of the city from the castle
-A view of the castle side slope that would be impossible to climb
-A view of the Edinburgh Castle
-The Royal Mile was right outside our door
-The front of our hostel
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
It has been a beautiful past couple days. We have had sunny weather with temperatures above 50. I have been walking around without a coat for the first time since I have been here! I have walked to campus everyday this week because its so beautiful. Yesterday I walked to Tesco (the grocery store) from campus after class. It was a great little walk along the beach. I think after class today I will take another walk along the beach.
I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately though. Monday night I just couldn’t fall asleep. I usually have no problem with that so I’m not sure what was up that night. Last night I was in bed by 10 but then around 12 my flat mates came home and were really loud. That kept me up until 3 am so I am not a happy camper this morning! Oh well, a walk on the beach later should make it better! I will bring my camera and get some pictures hopefully later.
I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately though. Monday night I just couldn’t fall asleep. I usually have no problem with that so I’m not sure what was up that night. Last night I was in bed by 10 but then around 12 my flat mates came home and were really loud. That kept me up until 3 am so I am not a happy camper this morning! Oh well, a walk on the beach later should make it better! I will bring my camera and get some pictures hopefully later.
Monday, February 16, 2009
This weekend I went to Amsterdam. We left as a group from the university at 5:30 on Thursday night. It was a rough bus ride including an hour long trip on a ferry but we rolled into Amsterdam around 9:00 am Amsterdam time. We got to sightseeing right away! We went and got tickets and a time slot for the Van Gogh museum first. We also bought our canal tour tickets at the same time. We headed to the Van Gogh museum first off because there was a new exhibit opening there this weekend and we wanted to make sure to get that in. It was a really cool special exhibit not only featuring Van Gogh but also many other artists. We got free prerecorded tours with the exhibit so it was fun learning about all the different paintings and such. After we got through the special exhibit we headed through the permanent collection of Van Gogh pieces. They were amazing! He did so much work considering how many years he painted!
After Van Gogh we went to grab something to eat. We ate at this little café called Pompa. I had a salmon ciabatta. It was interesting. Nothing like some raw fish on bread.. no lettuce or anything!
When we were done eating we went on out Canal tour. It was really fun to just sit in a boat in the canal and take in the city. It was beautiful! I took so many pictures during the trip. Megan and I also went to the back of the boat so we got to be outside for part of the trip. We got little bits of information about the city from this tour as well. We learned that when they drain the canals they find over 26,000 bikes a year! Craziness!
We hit up a few shops after the canal tour and then headed to the red light district to check things out. It was an interesting walk through the red light district seeing all the sex toy shops and such. We had a bite to eat there and then attempted to take the tram home. The driver was not very helpful and we ended up getting off at the wrong stop and walking a long way home. We were going to take a 30 minute power nap and then go out but the nap turned into our sleep for the night. Apparently we didn’t get as much sleep on the bus as we had thought!
Saturday morning we got up and had free breakfast at our hostile and then headed directly to the Anne Frank house. Oh and since it was Valentine’s day one of the guys that was staying in our room with us (Luke from Wyoming) got Rachel and I each a rose! He said that every girl should get a flower on Valentine ’s Day! CUTE!! Anyway we headed to Anne Frank which was really moving and really interesting. We got to see where the family stayed hidden and learn all about their story. I cannot imagine not being able to go outside for months on end and living in those cramped quarters! They were very determined to save themselves from the German invasion.
After Anne Frank we went to China town to get some food and try to find some cheap souvenirs. We didn’t find any cheap souvenirs but we did find some good cheap food! When we had some food in our system we walked to the flower market. There weren’t many fresh flowers there at this time of the year but they were selling lots of bulbs. It was a very beautiful little street! I bought some tulip bulbs to make mom’s garden a little more Dutch! Hehe
After the flower market we headed to the Heineken brewery for a tour. We got to walk through the entire process of making beer. We also got to sample different things along the way. We got to try barley and hops and a new beer. The new beer was still warm and tasted like cereal without the cereal chunks in it. Not the best thing I have had in my life! We also got to take a “ride” through the life of beer. They put you in a room and played a video and you move around as the beer is mixed of more ingredients are added and such. Kind of a funny little thing to do but it was cool to see the process from start to finish on the inside! We also got two fresh beers as part of the tour.
After the Brewery tour we went back to the hostile and got ready for a night out. We met up with some people I knew from London and went to a great little pub for a few drinks. We were going to go to a club but decided it was too expensive to go in (it was about 15 euros which is somewhere around $23). So we headed back for a good nights sleep.
Before we left on Sunday morning we headed to the Rijksmuseum to see a few typical Dutch artworks. We got to see one of the largest oil painted canvases in the world, which was a Rembrandt piece. There were numerous other Rembrandt pieces and other things like doll houses, Dutch pottery, and etched glass and gold. We hit up a coffee shop on the way back to catch the bus and then jumped on for another great bus adventure. It seemed to go a lot faster on the way back even though I think I slept less. We got back to our rooms about 1:30 this morning, so I took the morning to sleep in a bit and do some laundry. Now I have to head off to my first class for the day! Fun fun!
After Van Gogh we went to grab something to eat. We ate at this little café called Pompa. I had a salmon ciabatta. It was interesting. Nothing like some raw fish on bread.. no lettuce or anything!
When we were done eating we went on out Canal tour. It was really fun to just sit in a boat in the canal and take in the city. It was beautiful! I took so many pictures during the trip. Megan and I also went to the back of the boat so we got to be outside for part of the trip. We got little bits of information about the city from this tour as well. We learned that when they drain the canals they find over 26,000 bikes a year! Craziness!
We hit up a few shops after the canal tour and then headed to the red light district to check things out. It was an interesting walk through the red light district seeing all the sex toy shops and such. We had a bite to eat there and then attempted to take the tram home. The driver was not very helpful and we ended up getting off at the wrong stop and walking a long way home. We were going to take a 30 minute power nap and then go out but the nap turned into our sleep for the night. Apparently we didn’t get as much sleep on the bus as we had thought!
Saturday morning we got up and had free breakfast at our hostile and then headed directly to the Anne Frank house. Oh and since it was Valentine’s day one of the guys that was staying in our room with us (Luke from Wyoming) got Rachel and I each a rose! He said that every girl should get a flower on Valentine ’s Day! CUTE!! Anyway we headed to Anne Frank which was really moving and really interesting. We got to see where the family stayed hidden and learn all about their story. I cannot imagine not being able to go outside for months on end and living in those cramped quarters! They were very determined to save themselves from the German invasion.
After Anne Frank we went to China town to get some food and try to find some cheap souvenirs. We didn’t find any cheap souvenirs but we did find some good cheap food! When we had some food in our system we walked to the flower market. There weren’t many fresh flowers there at this time of the year but they were selling lots of bulbs. It was a very beautiful little street! I bought some tulip bulbs to make mom’s garden a little more Dutch! Hehe
After the flower market we headed to the Heineken brewery for a tour. We got to walk through the entire process of making beer. We also got to sample different things along the way. We got to try barley and hops and a new beer. The new beer was still warm and tasted like cereal without the cereal chunks in it. Not the best thing I have had in my life! We also got to take a “ride” through the life of beer. They put you in a room and played a video and you move around as the beer is mixed of more ingredients are added and such. Kind of a funny little thing to do but it was cool to see the process from start to finish on the inside! We also got two fresh beers as part of the tour.
After the Brewery tour we went back to the hostile and got ready for a night out. We met up with some people I knew from London and went to a great little pub for a few drinks. We were going to go to a club but decided it was too expensive to go in (it was about 15 euros which is somewhere around $23). So we headed back for a good nights sleep.
Before we left on Sunday morning we headed to the Rijksmuseum to see a few typical Dutch artworks. We got to see one of the largest oil painted canvases in the world, which was a Rembrandt piece. There were numerous other Rembrandt pieces and other things like doll houses, Dutch pottery, and etched glass and gold. We hit up a coffee shop on the way back to catch the bus and then jumped on for another great bus adventure. It seemed to go a lot faster on the way back even though I think I slept less. We got back to our rooms about 1:30 this morning, so I took the morning to sleep in a bit and do some laundry. Now I have to head off to my first class for the day! Fun fun!
-The street in Amsterdam
-The outside of the Rijksmuseum
-Fake pouring a beer at the Heineken Brewery
-The flower market
-The inside of the Anne Frank house
-Towing sign in Dutch
-Lots of wooden shoes
-Cows on the ceiling!!
-On the back of the boat in the Canal with Megan
-A few views from the canal
-Megan and I in a shoe
-I AMsterdam!
-Part of our hostel
-The ferry we came over on!
-The toys Rachel and I got in our chocolate eggs!
-The outside of the Rijksmuseum
-Fake pouring a beer at the Heineken Brewery
-The flower market
-The inside of the Anne Frank house
-Towing sign in Dutch
-Lots of wooden shoes
-Cows on the ceiling!!
-On the back of the boat in the Canal with Megan
-A few views from the canal
-Megan and I in a shoe
-I AMsterdam!
-Part of our hostel
-The ferry we came over on!
-The toys Rachel and I got in our chocolate eggs!
Monday, February 9, 2009
This weekend I went to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, to visit a couple friends I met while I was in London. They are doing an internship in Cardiff until the end of May instead of doing the study abroad thing. I took a couple girls from Tennessee with me for the weekend. Friday night we met up with some of their co-workers and other interns for a night out and about. We went to a couple local pubs and then called it an early night.
Saturday we went shopping crazy! We headed out around 10 and shopped the whole day. Which in turn means I spent too much money but it was all on things I can use while I’m here so it’s ok. After shopping we met up with some of the other interns from Ohio and watched a couple rugby matches. That is one of the most brutal sports I have ever watched in my life! It is so much fun to watch though! It’s pretty similar to football if I had to compare it to something, but they don’t wear any pads. They pretty much just chase after whoever has the ball and take them out! Once that person is on the ground his teammates run into whoever is on top of them until the ball miraculously pops out from behind their feet. I really want to learn how to play and more about the rules so I can understand why they are attacking each other when they do!
After the rugby match we met up with my flat mate who lives in Cardiff and had gone home for the weekend. She showed us around town a little bit and then we headed home for the night.
Sunday we slept in and then went for a swim. My friends have a pool and a hot tub in their apartment complex! So unfair… So we went for a dip and sat in the bubbly warmness for a while. We stayed for the next round of rugby because Wales was playing Scotland and it was a big game! After watching some Welshman yelling at the TV and watching Wales win we headed home for the weekend. It was a bit tiring but it was a great weekend!
Saturday we went shopping crazy! We headed out around 10 and shopped the whole day. Which in turn means I spent too much money but it was all on things I can use while I’m here so it’s ok. After shopping we met up with some of the other interns from Ohio and watched a couple rugby matches. That is one of the most brutal sports I have ever watched in my life! It is so much fun to watch though! It’s pretty similar to football if I had to compare it to something, but they don’t wear any pads. They pretty much just chase after whoever has the ball and take them out! Once that person is on the ground his teammates run into whoever is on top of them until the ball miraculously pops out from behind their feet. I really want to learn how to play and more about the rules so I can understand why they are attacking each other when they do!
After the rugby match we met up with my flat mate who lives in Cardiff and had gone home for the weekend. She showed us around town a little bit and then we headed home for the night.
Sunday we slept in and then went for a swim. My friends have a pool and a hot tub in their apartment complex! So unfair… So we went for a dip and sat in the bubbly warmness for a while. We stayed for the next round of rugby because Wales was playing Scotland and it was a big game! After watching some Welshman yelling at the TV and watching Wales win we headed home for the weekend. It was a bit tiring but it was a great weekend!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
It snowed here again today! This time they didn’t cancel classes though. Rachel and I went and did our gym induction yesterday so now I can go work out! Yay!! Other than that it has been a pretty slow week. I might go to Cardiff this weekend to see my friends and take Megan (my flattie from Tennessee) with me. I’ve started to plan my spring break which is really exciting! Right now I think these are the places I’m going to hit: Prague, Vienna, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Venice, Florence, Rome, Paris, Marseilles, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Heidelberg, and possibly Brussels. Mom and Mel are going to meet me in Paris and then go to Marseilles, Barcelona and Madrid with me. I think its going to be a ton of fun!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Just thought I would send out my address here again since it is on some page about 40 posts ago! It takes about 2 weeks for things to get here. Mark packages with Used Items from Home so I don't get taxed on them. Here is the address:
Wendy Kleve
American Studies Exchange Office
Department of American Studies
University of Wales, Swansea,
Singleton Park, Swansea.
SA2 8PP, Wales, UK
Wendy Kleve
American Studies Exchange Office
Department of American Studies
University of Wales, Swansea,
Singleton Park, Swansea.
SA2 8PP, Wales, UK
Is this Iowa? I think I brought some of Iowa with me! They weren’t joking when they said it was going to snow! It’s not at ton of snow but it definitely is the most they have gotten here for a long time! Everyone is really excited and wants to go sledding, make snowmen, and have snowball fights.
We went out last night and went sledding on cookie sheets down the hill and had a massive snowball fight. It was a lot of fun because the Iowa and Wyoming kids completely wooped up on the Welsh kids. They weren’t very good at running around in the snow, although I ran down to the bottom of the hill and ran through some mud and lost my shoe in it for a bit! That is something that doesn’t necessarily happen in Iowa snow ball fights! Once everyone was worn out we went in and warmed up with some tea. It was about 3 before any of us got to bed.
I woke up this morning to more snow but hadn’t gotten an email about school being closed so I walked up to the bus stop. I stood there for 15 minutes (the bus is supposed to come every 10). I figured it wasn’t coming because there were no tracks, but thought I would give it the benefit of the doubt. After getting a couple snowballs thrown at me by random people I decided to go back to my room where it was nice and warm. Right now I’m trying to be productive, but will likely need a nap later today! I will likely get dragged out into the snow again later today. Should be entertaining!
We went out last night and went sledding on cookie sheets down the hill and had a massive snowball fight. It was a lot of fun because the Iowa and Wyoming kids completely wooped up on the Welsh kids. They weren’t very good at running around in the snow, although I ran down to the bottom of the hill and ran through some mud and lost my shoe in it for a bit! That is something that doesn’t necessarily happen in Iowa snow ball fights! Once everyone was worn out we went in and warmed up with some tea. It was about 3 before any of us got to bed.
I woke up this morning to more snow but hadn’t gotten an email about school being closed so I walked up to the bus stop. I stood there for 15 minutes (the bus is supposed to come every 10). I figured it wasn’t coming because there were no tracks, but thought I would give it the benefit of the doubt. After getting a couple snowballs thrown at me by random people I decided to go back to my room where it was nice and warm. Right now I’m trying to be productive, but will likely need a nap later today! I will likely get dragged out into the snow again later today. Should be entertaining!
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