My Dear Readers,
I must warn you that the following Blog post is going to be
a novella, if not a full length novel. Please read the following responsibly.
Lots of Love,
Jacquelyn
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| Our Tour Guide, Richard |
The past four days have been the best of the trip so far. I
know every time I write I keep saying “this has been the best so far” and
literally every time, it gets does get better.
We left for Scotland in the wee morning hours on Thursday,
trudging from tube station to tube station to get to King’s Cross train station
before rush hour. When we finally got to our train and got settled in, it was a
six hour ride to Edinburgh. This being my first train ride, I was thrilled. And
let’s not even mention the gorgeous English and Scottish country sides that we
got to see from the windows. We got to Edinburgh around two in the afternoon
and were promptly picked up by our tour guide, Richard, who generously
reinforced the Scottish “men-in-kilts” stereotype. He was great fun, so he was.
He talked a wee bit fast and in his slightly thick accent, his stories were
hilarious but occasionally hard to understand. By the end of the weekend,
though, we had acclimated enough to have me writing this in a proper Scottish
accent twenty four hours after hearing Richard last speak (if you couldn’t
already tell). He took us around the city sharing its history and interesting
stories of famous Scottish people that I had never heard. It’s a bit sad how
little Americans know about Scotland. But then again, it’s been so closely
connected to Britain both geographically and politically, most people just
assume the history isn’t that big of a deal but it’s actually quite
fascinating. After our walking tour, we were taken to our hotel which was
possibly my favorite thing about the trip. IT WAS SO NICE. The bed was like a
cloud, something I’ve missed sleeping here in London on my rock of a mattress.
It was seriously heaven to get the luxury of that hotel. Laugh all you want. I
challenge you to come try out my bed here and see how it feels.
ANYWAYS, our wakeup call had us up early Friday morning as well and getting ready for a long day. We headed out to the Scottish highlands after breakfast, a normally three or four hour drive except that we stopped at several little “photo stops” along the way. The first was the memorial to a Scottish war hero (of course I’ve forgotten his name already…he’s the guy from Braveheart but I never saw that movie…). The memorial was set on top of a “hill” but in Scotland when they say “hill” they mean mountain. Granted it was a small mountain but it was definitely not a “hill.” We got our blood pumping and calves aching marching our way up to the top but it was worth it.
But of
course, we’re Americans so we had to complain the entire way up which led our
CAPA representative Ollie to give the headline that became my blog title and
Facebook photo album. After some war stories and history of the monument, we
made our way back to the bus, happy to give our legs a rest. From there it was
back on the road, passing AMAZING things that I wish we would have had time to
stop and see including but not limited to Dune Castle which they used for the
Frenchman’s castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“Your mother was a
hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!”), Hagrid’s house and the
Forbidden Forest, and the station that housed the Hogwart’s Express. You can take a regular train for the same
ride for six pounds or you can actually ride the Hogwart’s Express for thirty
pounds. I would have paid the extra twenty four pounds for that experience. SO COOL.
But alas, we kept moving. (Unfortunately, the bus was moving quickly and I was
on the other side so I don’t have pictures of any of those things but I do have
memories so lucky me!, sorry guys). Our last stop before the live museum (which
was really cool, by the way) was a “photo stop” in the middle of the highlands.
We got off, took pictures and expected to get back on the bus but instead we
were lead out into the middle of the fields and up and over the hills (which
were actually small hills compared to the mountains surrounding us. None of us
had expected this and we were all in the wrong shoes, most girls were in flats
and I was in my black boots that I had been fighting to keep in pristine
condition. We were basically trudging through swampy ground, completely ruining
our shoes. It was disgusting….but I got great pictures. 
With wet socks, shoes,
feet, and jeans, we made our way back to the bus, shivering and mourning the
destruction of our shoes. Eventually we got to the live museum where a man dressed
in head to toe Tartan plaid showed us how ancient highlanders lived and told
the stories of traditional kilts. It was incredibly fun and a few people got to
get dressed up to boot. It was great fun, so it was. Afterwards we checked into
the REALLY nice hostel and slept the night away. 
Saturday came with another early morning as we headed out to
Loch Ness just after sunrise. It was absolutely gorgeous, complete with a
rainbow. Sadly, we didn’t find Nessie but we really did try! We headed out to
Blair Castle (my home away from home) and got a tour. It was lovely and I would
definitely live there if it weren’t for the excessive use of antlers in their
decorating. But it was definitely fun. Afterwards we hopped on the bus and had
a few more photo stops around the country, one included the Hamish forest. It
was absolutely stunning. It was awesome to see the beauty of God’s creation in
an entirely different atmosphere.  |
| Loch Ness |
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| Blair Castle |
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| Forest |
The rest of the trip was relaxing and wonderful and a
complete joy to be there. Seriously, it was incredible and I’d love to go back
to Scotland, particularly to ride the Hogwart’s Express. Maybe someday.
It’s nice to be back in London, though. We’re all back in
the routine around here and settled in for another slightly crazy week. I’m
sure you’ll get another update soon. On a completely unrelated note, Happy Six
Months, Steven Jones! Also, for more pictures, SEE FACEBOOK!
All Done For Now!! That wasn’t so bad, was it?
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