14-15 May 2008: Trip to Edinburgh, Scotland

I was so ecstatic to visit Edinburgh (Ed-in-bruh), mainly because I have daydreamed about Scotland since I was a little girl. My father's family is Scottish (Mercer is a lowlander Scots name) and I was thrilled to finally compare the  real landscape to the image in my head (wildly beautiful, full of heather and stormy skies, with strapping Highlander men traipsing around in tartan kilts, brawny muscles and huge claymores [in fact, I still sort of do... don't tell my husband]. Oh, and bagpipes. How could I forget the bagpipes? I imagined it like in a movie, where you would hear the pipes in the wind, like ghosts.)

Alas, it was my one great disappointment, not seeing the Highlands of Scotland.  But I digress.

Edinburgh turned out to be very much like London, except everything in Edinburgh CLOSES AT SIX except the pubs, which is obnoxious when you want to do something aside from drink. It was a beautiful city though; I loved the juxtaposition between old and new--in fact, it is even called Old and New Town (with a smattering of other names... this is in reference to only two small parts of Edinburgh). In Old Town Edinburgh much of the medieval still exists in its dark, Gothic architecture and close-knit buildings. Old Town runs from the Castle all the way down the Royal Mile (I don't know exact dimensions).  New Town  Edinburgh is more spaced out and consequentially much brighter; it originates from the 1800s. Looking at Google maps of Edinburgh, I believe it is roughly south of the castle (how on earth did I not realize Arthur's Seat is in the middle of the city? And why did I not realize we were that close to the North Sea?!) This last thing I know is due to tourism, but I loved it. It made Edinburgh Scottish and not English. It was the haunting sound of bagpipes throughout the central city. It was like the past around me--constantly there, no matter where I ventured. It was beautiful, and a little sad, and the only part of my daydream that came true. I swear the pipes must be made from the bones of Scotland herself, and as long as they are played they keep Scotland thriving and alive. 

Sarah, Jessi, Whitney, Me, Cecily at Edinburgh Castle

Sarah, Me, Whitney, Jenny in a Close (little alleyway)

A beautiful old graveyard at the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert

Edinburgh Castle

A pub close to the Hostel

Edinburgh Castle from the bottom of Granny's Green Steps

Close up of above photo

Personally, Europeans have the right of it--How often do you find names
like the above here in America?

In Old Town, you can see New Town in the Distance

The Tartan Factory~My surname, Mercer, comes from Scotland.
We were lowlander Scots, though, so I think we are under another Clan.
I found out my grandmother owns original tartan from our clan.

Princes Street Gardens

Cottage in Princes Street Gardens

Ross Fountain

The Parish Church of St. Cuthbert

Panorama from over the train station I believe.

 I don't know anything about Scottish laws, I wonder why they would tag this...
also interesting, it's in chalk. Kids maybe?

I am silly and didn't write down much while I was in England and touring the Mediterranean--some, but not much. How I regret it now! I do have my journal I bought at the Bodleian Library, but I didn't write enough information down! Next time I travel, there will be much more writing involved!

I miss travelling. This is going to be melodramatic.

WARNING: Ranting.

Why does it have to be so expensive?! Shouldn't people make traveling less expensive so it encourages tourists?? Pretty soon all those pretty destinations will be void of travelers (or at least poor Americans, of which I qualify) due to inflated flights costs and ridiculous dollar-whatever ratios! BAH!

Ranting over.

Boy, am I terrible at blogging... I apparently can only keep one blog alive at a time. I hope that doesn't translate over to children.... I will have to update the Wonderer with all the photos from the remainder of England and then from the Mediterranean (I went on a cruise to celebrate the end of my life living in England. It was bittersweet). It will be good to revisit the memories. It will make me a little homesick, though. That was almost three years ago. Some days, it feels like it was all just a really good dream and not actually real.

Dearest England, oh how I miss thee! (Que dramatic faint)

Technical Errors and a Letter to the Masses

Hey guys! Sooo, I have been having some problems getting certain items off of my SD cards because of the whole camera issue, but I will try and take care of that--mainly it is just the videos that I have to get off, but they are worth seeing! There is a really spectacular one from Edinburgh, and a couple from York... anyway, I also only have a few days till finals (you guys forgot I am going to school, too, I bet! Funny, so did I...), so I am doing my best to get everything done before finals occur. That being said, my blog is likely to go by the wayside for a few days so that I can catch up on all my schoolwork (I haven't done much of anything, so it will be a LOT of catching up!). I love you all and sorry that it will take a bit longer than expected! Oh, and for those who don't know, I will be back in Georgia as of July 6th. XOXO


PS--
They call a cash register/cashier a "till"... I've never heard that before. So you don't check out at the cash register... you check out at the till!

Scotland here I come!!!

I have been looking forward to Scotland for-EVER! I am sad I will only get a chance to see Edinburgh, but at least it's SOMETHING!

In the Beginning...

April 29--The Arrival

The plane trip was entirely uneventful. I think I was conscious for a grand total of 30 minutes--and that was largely when we took off and landed. Thanks to the pillow and blanket provided, I was even mostly comfortable. They served us a tortellini dinner around 11:30 at night (not sure why) and then a complimentary breakfast (for those of us who are really irritable when we don't get food). It wasn't so bad. There was a lot of turbulence as we went up the coast toward New England, but thanks to the Dramamine, I didn't get sick to my stomach like I normally do--however, it didn't do much for my nerves. I slept the rest of the time and it was mostly dark when we were over the Atlantic, so I didn't see much. This was my first look at England!

Hee hee... check out those clouds! Naturally, it was raining when we landed.

Look! I do believe we flew over Windsor Castle! Sorry the picture is blurry.


Not sure what city this is, but it is cool!

We went on our first Walk that afternoon, even though all of us were exhausted and it was raining and cold (it's London... surprise surprise! oh, also, we have a booklet with 17 London walks in it that we have to complete before we leave. It's part of our London Walking class--it makes it so we get out and see a lot of things, so when I say we went on a "Walk" with a capital letter, this is what I am referring to). It helped to keep us awake. It was only a tour of our neighborhood, but it was nice. We got a little turned around, however. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the place I live, really. But in case any of you are curious, it is 27 Palace Court, London, UK W2 4LP (that is the zip code--it means we live in the county of Westminster (hence the W) but I can't tell you what the rest of it means. Anyway, it's a pretty posh place to live. Kind of silly how large some of the homes are. However, in most places in London (Palace Ct included) people tend to build up instead of out. There simply isn't room for building outward, unless you have the money. Hear is a picture of our street. I will post more later when I get around to taking some.


Palace Court. This is taken from the North end, facing south--the Russian Embassy is south of us, as is Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, and Kensington Palace.

Speaking of money, down the street from us is the Russian Embassy, and if you go down the road the Embassy is on you run into the really really ritzy homes--there are three other embassy's, plus the back of Kensington Palace. We were walking down this street yesterday (05-02-08) and passed one of the embassy's---next to the gate was a guard in a black trench coat and sunglasses (it was cloudy at the time and nearing dark). He also had a ponytail and his hands were clasped in front of him. I said hi to him and he looked a little startled that I had spoken, then tried to hide a slight smile. He didn't say anything in response. On our way back home, we passed the embassy again and I was trying to get a pebble out of my shoe, so I stopped for a moment. The guard nonchalantly began to move over to the gate... You know, just in case I was going to do something I guess. It was an interesting experience.