An EVENTFUL Weekend

I feel as though I haven't been on here for a very long time, but it' only been about 4 days!  So much has happened!

Friday we went with class to visit Nottingham, England.  It was about a 45 minute train ride from Grantham, and it was a blast!  The city itself is very modern, and there is a tram that runs through Nottingham.  We toured Nottingham Castle, which is on the top of a huge hill that you have to walk up.  From the bottom of the hill, the castle looks beautiful.  There are flowers and gardens at the base of the hill.  But once you get to the top, you can't tour the actual castle; it has been converted to museum.  I was ok with that, the museum was really cool!  Part of it had clothes you could dress up in, and that was really neat.  We also took the tram to Hucknall, a sort-of suburb of Nottingham.  We wanted to visit the house of Lord Byron, a Romantic-era poet, but the house was very far away and we only had about a half hour.  Instead, we visited a beautiful church, and it turned out that was where he was buried!  I love love love Lord Byron's poetry, so it was really cool to get to see a place like that, so steeped in history, with my very eyes.  I also learned that Nottingham Castle, the original building, was where King John and King Richard the Lionheart had been.  If you know the Robin Hood legend at all, those were two kings in the legend.  It was great!

In the gardens below the castle.

The Castle!

The girls and me at the train station

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On Saturday morning, we left bright and early for Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was about a 4 1/2 hour train ride, but the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  I slept part of the way, but mostly I looked out of the window.  After a few hours, we went through a town called Berick-upon-Tweed, and it was absolutely beautiful.  This town marks the border between England and Scotland, and it is on the coast.  The land was green, and the ocean (I think it is the North Sea) is so blue.  It is a deep, sparkly, dark blue, and the sun was out so it made it even prettier.  I wanted to get off the train and explore the coast!  About an hour from there, we finally got to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.  This city had some of the coolest architecture I've ever seen.  The coolest thing about Edinburgh is that it is divided into two parts: New Town and Old Town.  Old Town is primarily located on a huge hill all around Edinburgh Castle, the original fortress in Edinburgh.  These buildings date as far back as the 1100s.  New Town is at the bottom of the hill (and I mean HUGE hill), and it was built around 1791.  It is crazy to me to think that this is their "New" Town, which is over 200 years old, and the USA didn't start that far before it did!  And that is our entire nation's history.  It is incredible.

Saturday we mostly walked around town took tons of pictures.  We ate dinner at a pub and relaxed, that was great. We had some craziness with our hostel (not a good experience, but definitely a meaningful one that I have learned a great lesson from) and ended up staying in a hotel.  We spent most of Saturday night around the"Grassmarket" which is a oddly-shaped cobblestone "square"-sort of, with lots of pubs.  Toward the end of the night, we were talking to the security guard at the pub, and she had a friend who did PR for a club in town.  He offered to take us on a FREE Hummer limo ride around the city and then drop us off at the club!  We got discounted tickets into the club (only 2 pounds!)  When I say club, I mean full out dance club--strobe lights, smoke machines, loud music, and girls in tiny skirts and 6inch stilettos.  Then here comes us Americans, in our hoodies, jeans, and tennis shoes.  It was hilarious.  We danced and had a great time!

Sunday morning, we toured Edinburgh Castle.  It was built in the 12th century, and is a complete fortress.  It was used to house prisoners of war as recent as WWI, and it is the home of the Scottish Crown Jewels.  Unlike Nottingham Castle, we actually got to walk around in the rooms and hallways and dungeons of Edinburgh Castle.  We got to stand in the room where Mary, Queen of Scots, (Elizabeth I's rival who was beheaded by Elizabeth) gave birth to James VI of Scotland, who became King James I of England, the first of the House of Stuart.  I am such a history buff--to be able to stand in this room, in an actual castle, was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  Also on Sunday, we ate lunch at "The Elephant House," the coffee shop where JK Rowling went when she was writing the first Harry Potter books.  She would stare out the window in the back room and look at Edinburgh Castle, and it was her inspiration for Hogwarts!  Since I am a huge HP fan, it was very fun to get to eat at the exact restaurant she went to!  All in all, Scotland is an incredibly fascinating place.  There were also cathedrals and so much more to the city that we didn't even get to explore.  I would go back in a heartbeat!

Katie and Me with a man in full Scottish dress.  After we took this picture, his friend lifted up his kilt, and he flashed us!  Scots really don't wear anything under their kilts!

At The Elephant House!

Edinburgh Castle!

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On Monday, we woke up REALLY early (5:15AM) and walked a mile to the train station to catch the 7am train to London.  We spent the day visiting various tourist places in London, and I got to see my high school friend, Joe!  He was in London for the past week, and he left today for a month-long tour of Europe with a tourist group.  We have been friends for a long time, and it was great to experience London with him!  It was only a small taste since we only had a few hours, but it was great to get a taste of it before I get to live there!

I want to try and write smaller blogs more often, but the time gets away from me so easily.  I'm also working on finding a photo sight.  My friend suggested a few other photo hosting sites, so I am going to check those out this week.  I can't believe I've only been here a week.  I have already experienced so much, and I cannot wait to see what the remaining 5 weeks have in store for me!