Edinburgh

This past weekend, our entire group had the opportunity to go to Edinburgh, Scotland! It is only a 4 hour train ride away and still in the United Kingdom, but Scotland has a unique culture of its own. When we first arrived it was raining, cold, and windy (which is very typical Scottish weather). Luckily our first event was to take a bus tour around the city, so we were able to see the sites without braving the elements. We then checked into our hotel and headed out to explore. The first stop was the National Museum. We were able to see the history of Scotland, from prehistoric times up to today. It was very neat to get a glimpse into this country's past and have some back story as we saw the rest of the city (and we didn't have to be out in the rain). Scotland has been through a lot. You can almost feel the heaviness of the past in the buildings and streets. In addition, many of the buildings have black on the stones from all the soot that poured from the city during the industrial revolution. There is a great view from the top of the Museum and it was my first chance to really see Edinburgh. However, there would be several views of the city to come that would put this to shame!

St. Giles Cathedral

We also went to St. Giles Cathedral and saw the beautiful interior just before it closed. No matter how many churches and cathedrals I see, they can still take my breath away. For all you Harry Potter fans: we had dessert at The Elephant House, also known as "the birthplace of Harry Potter". For those that don't know, this was the restaurant where J.K.Rowling first wrote down ideas for the book on a napkin. It's a very quaint place with great hot chocolate and desserts. :) I'm sure their food is great as well. Since we had been up since 5am, we decided to call it a night early and get the very much needed sleep to make it through the weekend.

Saturday began with a fantastic hotel breakfast and then setting out for a tour of the Edinburgh Castle. The castle is located on top of a large hill made of volcanic rock. It is pretty remarkable to see this gigantic building with walls and fortresses jutting up out of the side of the volcanic rock. I'm still not sure how they were ever able to build it there. The castle has a long history of Kings and wars. We were able to see the crown jewels as well as the coronation stone that is used every time a new King or Queen is crowned in England. The castle was used during the World Wars and there were several exhibits about the military and prisoners of war (where we actually walked through the cells where they would stay). It is a picture of Scottish endurance and also has a great view of the city and the river running through it.

We spent most of the day on my favorite part of the weekend: hiking to the top of Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano in the middle of Edinburgh. This massive formation looms over the city and there is nothing even close to compete with it's height. The picture does not come close to doing it justice. Those are people on the bottom right side, to help give you some perspective. We spent about 2 and 1/2 hours hiking up and down and enjoying the fantastic view. I had to look down at my feet for the steeper and trickier parts on the trail, but then i would look up and we would be higher, with a view that takes your breath away (literally too, with all the wind!). Not only could i see the vast city with winding streets, thousands of houses, and the spires of churches and monuments, but i could also see out in the Scottish countryside with rolling hills and grass as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately on our short 3 day trip we did not get to see all of the great landscapes that Scotland is so well known for (the Highlands, the Lochs, small villages etc.) but i felt like i got a taste of what those places would look like and i have a appetite to see more! Maybe one day i will be back and see all of those amazing things. But until then, the views from the top of Arthur's Seat will have to be enough. And man, was it phenomenal!! Oh and i forgot to mention that we had perfect weather that day. It was gross, rainy, and cold the other two days, but we were so blessed to have a break with clear skies and sun for our day of hiking!

The view from Arthur's Seat...

I don't know how people can stand on the top of a volcano and look out over the countryside and say that there is no God. Every blade of grass screams His praise. Every black stone declares His majesty and power.

After a long day of rigorous physical activity, we took a relaxing break for dinner before we went on a ghost tour! Apparently Edinburgh is one of the most haunted places in Britain. Our guide took us around to different parts of the city and told us horrific tales of torture and killings that took place on the very spots we were standing. It wasn't the scary type thing you would expect from a haunted house at Halloween, but it was so interesting to hear these true stories about people who lived and died there. We heard about the longest hanging in recorded history (8 hours) and stood in the very alley that was barricaded during The Plaque and dead bodies literally piled up in the thousands because there were not enough people to bury them all...we then went down in the vaults underneath the city. These were once used for merchant store rooms, but because of the dampness they had to move out all of their merchandise. The space was then used for illegal drinking taverns, brothels, and cults. Secret dealings in the dark of the vaults. Who knows what all happened down there. It was pretty spooky with only candlelight to see by and so many dark openings around you. Our guide told us some great ghost stories (both true and not) and got a good jump out of us at one point. We stood in the room that is supposedly THE most haunted place in Britain (according to Physics and mediums etc, if you believe that sort of thing) and some people refuse to go in. But don't worry, nothing happened. Although, people have reported strange things happening to them on the tour. I'm pretty sure most of it is psychological, but still interesting none the less!

Our last day in Edinburgh was mostly spent going into shops (for souvenirs, but also just to enjoy the local scene). We met a great older man who ran an antiquarian book and drawings shop and talked to him for a good 30 minutes. We also met a guy in one of the kilt shops who recommended a fudge shop down the road and of course, how can you turn down home made fudge?! yep, it was delicious. We ate a great local cafe and sat for a couple of hours enjoying the warmth, tea, and music. We did go to the National Gallery that morning and i thoroughly enjoyed slowly walking through the quiet halls and taking in all the great paintings. My favorites were the few Monet paintings they had on the top floor. It was also good to see a lot of Scottish paintings and see the unique characteristics of their art and artists.

Our train left at 3pm, but our adventure was far from over! Due to some complications, our reserved seats were not honored and we had to just find seats wherever we could for the hour train ride to New Castle, where we would catch our train home. However, there was engineering work being done at one of the stations along the way and we missed our connecting train! So we got onto the next train to London, but found out that because we had missed our train, our reserved seats were again not honored and other people had the reserved seats. So all 27 Samford people piled off the train just before it left and stood on the platform and watched the train pull out. We probably looked like a pitiful crew. Needless to say, our professors and house manager were not pleased with how we were treated and after a talk with the station manager, we had first class seats on the next train to London! The ride back was great fun, with large seats, complimentary tea and snacks, and leg room! It was great to have first class seats, but we did not get home until midnight. Our 4 hour journey took us 9 hours to complete.... a very enjoyable and full weekend all in all, but there is still some sleep to catch up on! And here i am, thrown into the next week with classes etc. Most of my time is not my own (in the sense that is already so planned out!) so i do the best with the free time i am given and hope that everything can get done! I'm off to British Heritage and Culture class now and we are seeing the play War Horse tonight and it is supposed to be a fantastic show.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for safety for our group! I don't know if you've heard, but they have uncovered a terrorist plot that is meant to attack major cities in Europe. All we can do is keep our eyes open and be aware. They are only issuing an alert, not a warning, which means we need to be careful but we can still travel at this point. I am just praying that nothing will happen, now that the plot has been uncovered. British security is very experienced with terrorist threats and I'm sure they can handle this.