Royal Wedding

.... I know, I know, it was months ago but we're trying to catch up.

Originally Travis and I couldn't decide if we wanted to go into London for this huge event. It seemed it wouldn't have been worth it unless you were really dedicated to getting there 4am and spending hours waiting to probably not see anything. I am glad we did end up going even if we were sort of a failure. Part of the reason we decided in the end to go was because we also didn't have a TV to watch it all on either. Another reason was my aunt Holly had a friend, Kristen, visiting her family in London and to see the wedding. None of her family wanted to make the commitment to spend the day in crowds and she didn't want to head in there alone so we told her we would meet her. Our brilliant idea was if everyone is heading into town in the wee hours, we thought if we show up at the end of the ceremony (11am-ish) then maybe it will have thinned out by then. This wasn't exactly how it ended up. Kristen was ok with this idea but luckily for her on the day called and said she was going to be heading in early because she was too excited and we agreed to meet later in Trafalgar Square (sorta along the path between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace). We were right in that getting into London wasn't too busy but by the time we got to Trafalgar Square they had closed it off not allowing anyone else inside. Luckily Kristen was already in there and we told her to stay until we found out if there was anywhere else better to meet. We walked along a road that runs parallel to the main event street, The Mall (runs straight out of the front of Buckingham Palace) to see if there was anywhere could cut over near The Mall. This street was really crowded with people as well and we ended up walking all the way past Green Park and into Hyde Park. Hyde Park had large screens to watch. By the time we got there the wedding was over but we did see when they went onto the Buckingham Palace balcony and the planes fly overhead. At the end we did get to pass through Green Park and by Buckingham to see things starting to clear out. The atmosphere for the day was really great. Everyone was in good spirits and it was an event for English pride. Even though we failed in meeting with Kristen we had a great time and hope she did as well!

 The Mall.. Buckingham Palace is in the background

 biggest flag I have ever seen on the palace

 screens in Hyde Park

 crowds on street where you couldn't even see anything happening

The police have pride too :)

Easter Roadtrip Up North

Oxford

We decided to rent a car for a weekend to drive north seeing more of England and Scotland. Friday morning we went and picked up our little Toyota. Luckily it came with a GPS so we were easily able to enter in the address or even just a town we wanted to go to. I think this really made the difference from the last time we rented a car when we first got here. All we had then was a road map and streets aren’t very well labeled here so we would miss our turn quite a bit. We first just put in the address of our first hotel in Ambelside in an area called the Lake District to see what we would pass along the way. We noticed that Oxford wasn’t far out of the way so decided to stop there for a visit.

We pretty easily found where the University was located in Oxford. We wondered around seeing the very old looking buildings of the University some of which were designed by Wren (also designed St. Paul’s Cathedral). We went into the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral and then found an exhibit on the making of the St. James Bible. It had many old versions of the Bible including some that had typos and the actual original St. James Bible. We only spent about an hour here before getting back to driving north. When leaving Oxford getting back on the main highway was the only point in our road trip that we had any real traffic which was surprising and a relief since we had a long way to go.

Perfect street name for the town of Oxford

As we were driving we were passing so many pretty green or yellow flower stone wall lined fields. Many had lots of sheep. Once we got into the Cumbria/Lake District area there were more hills and fields filled with sheep and since we were off the big highway we decided to stop by one. We wanted to see how close we could get to some sheep and starting walking around in a field. A car started to come down from the house towards us, being from Texas, the land of no trespassing signs we thought this person is going to come tell us to get off their property. Instead she pulled up and just asked if we had found a dead lamb since that had happened a few times lately. She was so nice that she even asked if we wanted to go up and see the lambs they were taking care of themselves. Apparently a lot of her sheep had triplets but the mothers can only really feed two so the owners would take the third one to be hand fed. There were also a few that had been sick and needed to be cared for. Her daughter came over and showed us how to feed them and I got to try it! They were a really nice family and when we were done we walked back down to the gate and went on to Ambelside.

Travis's little buddy

Me feeding a lamb!

Lake District

It took us a while to find our hostel but we were able to before it got dark. It was right on the water of Lake Windermere. After checking in we went for a walk to a nearby park where we also found some Roman ruins of a fort. We had some late night Chinese for dinner before calling it a day.

Roman ruins in Ambelside

Lake Windemere

Saturday we were going to spend most of the day in the Lake District. Our hostel had maps of walks you could take so picked one that went up some tall hills and over to another town. The weather kept changing from being quite warm and sunny to cooler and overcast. It was a great but tough walk with amazing views. For most of it we didn’t even come across any other people. We did veer off the map some but that ended up letting us find some caves at the bottom of the hills. We did finally make it to the little town of Grasmere where we ate lunch and had some famous delicious gingerbread from a really old shop, Sarah Nelson’s. We then decided instead of walking back we’d take the bus which ended up being perfect timing since it then started to rain. Once back to our car we then were on the road again now heading to Edinburgh, Scotland. We got to our hostel in Edinburgh just before dark and after checking in, into the largest hostel room we have ever had with 18 beds, we went to find some dinner. By then since it was late not much was open but a little Italian food place.

climbing Lake District hills

At the top!

local wildlife :)

back down the mountain

best gingerbread ever

Our little car

Sunday we got up early because we only had one day in Edinburgh. We walked down Prince Street to the center of Edinburgh near the castle and Royal Mile road. We passed by St. Johns and St. Cuthberts churches before walking through the West Prince Street Gardens at the foot of the Edinburgh Castle. The garden was in full bloom. The Castle Rock was a volcano 350 million years ago. Building the castle on this rock began because it was such a good defensive position, starting in 1125. Where the gardens were located was once a loch that was starting to be drained in 1760. On the edge of the gardens is a huge tower called the Scott Monument made of stone that has become very black because of smog. We finally made it up to the Royal Mile, this is the road that goes from the top of the hill at Edinburgh Castle all the way down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. We decided to first head down the hill to the Palace. At the bottom is also the Scottish Parliament, probably one of the strangest looking buildings. It is also very modern looking which doesn’t fit in with the old city. As we were standing and looking at it an old Scottish man waiting for the bus started to talk to us. He was very nice and pointed out nearby the Scottish Veterans Residence buildings. He talked about how he was a veteran as well. When we went around to the front of the Parliament building things just got weirder… they have what looks like bamboo in front of the windows. Across the street was the Palace of Holyroodhouse and after spending a few minutes looking at that we headed over to the Calton Hill to get some views of the Royal Mile and Castle. There was an old cemetery nearby that had an Obelisk and a monument with an Abraham Lincoln statue in memory of the Scottish-American soldiers. The view over to the Castle hill was great. It’s a bit strange looking to because there are bridges from one hill to another where you feel like below them should be water but instead is a huge train station. This is probably where there would have been the loch as well. On Calton Hill there were also views out to the rest of Edinburgh. There was also some architecture that looked Greek inspired. There was apparently going to be some kind of pagan festival because there were groups of people practicing dances and dressed strangely. We had gotten tickets for an underground tour so had to get back to the Royal Mile.

Edinburgh Castle

Scott Monument

The Royal Mile

Scottish Parliament

view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill

Our guide was a man dressed in a top hat and black cape and our tour started in front of Tron Kirk. This church is unused today. In 1785 when Edinburgh built South Bridge they needed to tear down the east side of the church and to make it even they also tour down the west side. In 1824 it was struck by lightning and caught on fire so there isn’t much left of the church today. Tron Kirk was also used as a place for punishment of criminals for example a merchant was found guilty of bad business and was nailed by the ear to the door.  We walked over to a nearby alley to start the underground part of the tour. When going down this alley we went downhill we actually had to walk up some stairs to get into the underground vaults. I know that doesn’t make any sense. We went into the instruments of torture museum; many of these were used on women being interrogated who were suspected of being witches. Our guide explained that the idea of an underground city is a myth because although there are many underground parts they are not all connected to each other. The main entrance into the vaults was behind what once was a student flat in the 1970’s who had no idea that the vaults were behind their walls. The corridor we went into used to be called Nedrees Alley and was a street. Some of these streets could be closed at the ends to keep people out. Our guide said that north of where we were was Prince Street now but used to be Nora Loch so the city couldn’t expand at the time in that direction. There was also a city wall that stopped outward expansion so the only way to build was up. Parts of the city got up to 15 stories in the 1500 and 1600’s. It was a very crowded city until the 18^th Century and then the Loch was

 drained. When the South Bridge was completed in the 1700’s the first person to cross was a dead woman because the city council gave the right to cross to the oldest person and by the time they had finished she had died. Her coffin was carried over. Along South Bridge were luxury shops and the vault rooms we saw were built into the bridge and used as storage for the shops. The problem with these faults was they would often flood so the shops stopped using them. The poorest homeless people moved into them to stay warm because the rooms stayed a constant temperature. They did feel similar to being in a cave. However the rooms stayed very dark, crowded, and unsanitary. One of these vaults was currently being used as a witch’s temple for an Edinburgh coven. It was a really strange look room with a statue of a naked woman, benches in a circle, pentagons, and even jars of I guess herbs or something. In fact it looked like it had to be set up because it seemed too much of what you would expect. Since it is actually owned by a coven it was gated and locked so you can’t go inside. We went on to another room with a circle of large stones in the middle. This room was the first choice of the witch coven but they left because they felt there was an evil spirit in the room so trapped it in the stone circle and moved rooms. Our guide asked if anyone wanted to step into the circle and although I am not very superstitious there was no way I was going in there and neither did anyone else. The 16^th and 17^th Centuries are when most of the witch hunts across Europe occurred. It was very easy for women to be accused and found guilty of being witches. The 16^th Century in Scotland was especially bad for witch hunts because King James VI was on a ship that got caught in a storm and he suspected witchcraft so started the witch hunts. He actually wrote a book called “Demonology” that was a manual for witch hunting. People suspected of being witches were thrown into the Loch or tortured and once they confessed they were burned at the stake. 300 women in Edinburgh were burned. We were also told the history of the plague in Edinburgh. There was an outbreak of the plague in 1499 that lasted for 15 years but the worst outbreak was in 1645 for one year but one third of the population died. When the outbreak started the city went into lockdown when you had to report any illness and they would check people coming into the city. Our guide talked about plague doctors which were the same as the ones in London that I had learned when doing my Grim Reaper tour last summer. Since lots of people thought the plague was airborne the doctors would wear all leather and a long tube beak filled with good smelling things to block out the plague. There is a myth that plague victims were left in vaults and bricked into them alive to try and stop the plague spreading. However there has been no evidence found that this ever happened.  At the end of our tour we got some free whiskey and a delicious shortbread cookie.

witchy spices

underground Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle- National War Memorial Museum


We walked all the way up the Royal Mile Road to Edinburgh Castle. We went on one of the tours given by guards in the castle. From the start of the tour we were facing out toward the bay. We missed the very beginning but he was talking about the Kingdom of Fife and is where the Kings have been crowned. The 1861 canon fires everyday at 1pm except religious days so wasn’t going off that day because it was Easter. It goes off at 1pm because of the tidal estuary and the best time to sail. Hospital Square is now a military history museum. The Governor’s House is still a private house. In 1794 a barracks to hold 600-700 soldiers was built and is now the headquarters for the Scottish military. The Royal Scots had the first mounted regimen in 1653. We then passed under the Foog’s Gate to St. Margaret’s Chapel. It was built in 1124 and is the smallest chapel we’ve ever seen. On display on the grass were hawks and owls which I believe all live in the Castle. Our last stop was in the Crown Square. To the West is the Queen Anne building where officers have stayed and the vaults of the old prisons. The North side was rebuilt in 1927 is National War Memorial Museum. All the names of those who died in WWI are listed in one part of the building and another all those who died since 1945. The South side of the square has a banquet hall built in 1583 to commemorate the marriage of James and Margaret Tudor. Inside the banquet hall is a hidden listening post where James would have someone sitting and listening to the events in the room. The East side is an old royal palace built in the 14th Century that holds the Scottish crown jewels. Charles I in 1663 was the last to stay in the palace. The Scottish crown jewels were only used four times in coronations the last being Mary Queen of Scots at only 9 months old. Her son King James VI and I was the one who stopped the use of the Scottish crown jewels. Also used in coronations is a piece of sandstone that was originally the seat for coronations for 4 centuries. Edward I took the stone to Westminster to be used in the coronations at Westminster Abbey for over 700 years. It is set underneath the Edward I coronation chair. The stone was only given back to Scotland in 1997.




After our tour we went through these building in the Crown Square. In the palace are the crown jewels and symbols of Kingship, the crown, sword, and scepter. The Papacy didn’t give permission for Christian rites of coronation and anointment until 1329. The scepter and sword came to Scotland as papal gifts to King James IV who ruled from 1488 to 1513. Unfortuantley we weren’t allowed to take photos in the room with the crown jewels. After Queen Mary of Scots was crowned she went to France and came back when she was 18 years old to rule Scotland. In 1567 Queen Mary of Scots abdicated the thrown to her son James VI who was still only an infant. Charles I and Charles II were crowned in Scotland. In 1651 the crown jewels were hidden from Cromwell at Dunnottar Castle. He attacked the castle so he could destroy the crown jewels but they were smuggled out by two women and taken to Kinneff Church. The jewels were then put into a chest after Charles II coronation and forgotten about for 111 years and it was opened in 1818. In 1707 was the Act of Union that united the Parliament of England and Scotland. We went through the Royal apartments including Laich Hall built in 1617 which is the outer reception room and dining room for King James VI. We also saw Queen Mary’s Chamber where she gave birth to James.


We also visited the Prisons of War Exhibition where Americans were held as POW’s during the war for independence. This was really surprising to me that Americans would have been taken all the way to Scotland. It was a military prison from 1842 to 1923. Each floor has 8 solitary confinement cells and communal bathrooms. Punishment for the prisoners would be things like drills of carrying heavy round shots for 1 hour back and forth three times a day.


After Edinburgh Castle we found a nice pub to have dinner. Travis and I then climbed a hill near the Parliament building in Holyrood Park that overlooked Edinburgh. We walked back to our hostel after dark seeing the city lit up.

the smallest chapel- St. Margarets

Edinburgh Castle


Monday morning we had to get up early because we needed to drive all the way back and wanted to make a few stops along the way. Scotland has loads of castles so we wanted to try and stop to see a couple if we could. We first went to Caerlaverock Castle near the border to England. It was quite a small triangular shaped castle. There was a moat that surrounded the whole castle. It was really fun to have free reign to explore.




After crossing back into England we stopped in a small town to visit Penrith Castle. This one was also small and free to wonder around. It was also across the street from a McDonald’s which was really strange and something you would not see anywhere in America. King Richard III lived in this castle before he was crowned in the 15th Century.


Our last stop was the beach town of Blackpool on the West Coast of Northern England. We visited a carnival pier and wondered along the beach as the sun was starting to set. The funniest part was in the restrooms above the sinks were signs telling you not to wash your feet in the sink which I don’t think I had ever seen before and wouldn’t think it was something you needed to tell people. We were here at the perfect time because the soon to be setting sun made the light perfect. It was a nice end to a really good weekend exploring more of the UK. Driving wasn’t so bad either. Our first year here we had rented a car for a day and we got lost and mixed up with the driving on the opposite of the road. This time it was pretty easy probably because we had a GPS. It really is a great way to see different places because even though there is a good rail system in England some places like the Lake District and random castles we saw wouldn’t have been possible to get to by train. There’s still more places we should see in England!

Caerlaverock Castle

Penrith Castle

Blackpool