A weekend in Scotland!

On Friday, Katherine and I, along with Pamela and Linda, our other flat mates, went to Scotland. We had to get up really early, and take a cab to King's Cross to get on the train to Edinburgh. While we were waiting at King's Cross, we wandered down to Platform 9 and 3/4. There is actually a blank wall with a sign that says "Platform 9 ¾" with half a luggage trolley sticking out. That was very cool. Of course we all took pictures of ourselves pushing the trolley on our way to Hogwarts. We got on a very crowded train, and began our trip. The train trip took about 5 hours and then there we were, in Scotland. We ended at Waverly Station in Edinburgh, and were met by a guide in full Scottish regalia, kilt and all, who led us to our bus playing bagpipes. It was seriously cool. He drove us around town for a couple of hours, showing us Old Town and New Town, and things all around town. We actually only got off once at Holyrood Palace, because it was raining. It was raining and it was cold. I had to keep reminding myself that it was July, because it felt like our coldest days in winter at home. We got back on the bus and it dropped us off at our "guest house." It was a little different than we expected. We ended up all sharing a room with another student from London named Birgit. Our room had 5 single beds, a wardrobe, a teensy tiny TV that we never even turned on, and an en-suite bathroom, which I think may have been a closet at one time. We were in room 3, which is on the second floor, which is really the third floor because the first floor doesn't count. We went to find some dinner, and came back to our room and crashed. We laughed and laughed for a long time. It was like a slumber party.

On Saturday, we got up early, breakfast was at 7, and Birgit, Katherine and I headed off on a bus tour of the Highlands. The bus was again very crowded and we ended up in the very back seat. I was seriously thankful for the motion sickness medicine that Andrea gave me. Even with the crowded bus, I think next to Oxford, this was my favorite thing we have done so far. Our driver and guide, Fred, who was also wearing a kilt, kept us in stitches. I don't even have the words to say how beautiful the Highlands are. Every new corner and turn (and there are lots of those) is just one more beautiful view after another. Especially for me, from flat Florida, it is just spectacular. I have been to a little part of the Rocky Mountains and my family has vacationed in the mountains of North Carolina, but I have NEVER in my life seen anything like we saw in Scotland. We saw snow on the sides of mountains on July 19^th. SNOW!!!! We stopped for a restroom stop at this little tiny place, I don't even know the name of, and they had a Highland bull named Hamish that people could feed. Those are the funniest looking things I've ever seen. In the very next field were sheep, and of course I took pictures of the sheep. As we rode along, Fred played mood music for us, bagpipes and songs from movies like Braveheart and Rob Roy and Last of the Mohicans. It was fabulous, just fabulous.

We passed Ben Nevis (4,406 ft above sea level) which is the highest mountain in Great Britain. According to Fred, no one needs to climb Mount Everest, they can just come climb Ben Nevis, which skips the pesky bottom parts and gets right to the top. We stopped for lunch at a place called Spean Bridge. We drove on, again past the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen in my life towards Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness. When we got the castle, the views again are just incredible. Urquhart is a ruined castle, but while we were there, a couple was getting married in part of the castle. We watched men in kilts walk down the hill for the wedding, and we all had to clear the path as the bride and her father walked down the path towards the castle, with a bag piper playing in front of them the whole way. It was fantastic, although a bit creepy to think that we were spying on their wedding. I guess that's part of the deal for getting married in such a public place. At the castle, we got onto a boat for a ride across Loch Ness. It was simply amazing. Fred told us and I agree, that Loch Ness may be the most famous body of water in the world. It is so deep and so big, that all the water in the rest of Britain and Ireland together wouldn't fill it up. There is enough water in that loch alone, to serve the entire population of Scotland for 60 years. As we rode along in the boat, we could see mountains on the sides, and the loch was disappearing behind us in the mist. It was incredible. No sign of Nessie, although we did see a odd spot, where the water was moving in a weird pattern, unlike the rest of the loch. If something would have popped up, we probably all would have had a heart attack on the spot. It was very mystical.

That wasn't our entire trip to Scotland, but it's enough for now and enough for this post. It's already too long!