Great Scots!

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been many moons since my last blog. A lot has happened since then!

I got a job at a creche (daycare) as an after school teacher! Basically, the girls come to the creche from school, put on their play clothes, do their homework and then we do arts and crafts! It's challenging at times, as the girls get a lot of homework and I haven't done long division in years!! I am enjoying it a lot though, the women I work with are all really nice and we all help each other out!

About three weeks ago John and I headed to Scotland for my 'birthday' trip! We were in Edinburgh (the capital) for about two full days and we got A LOT done. On the Saturday morning we started off with a breakfast at our GREAT hostel, Caledonian Backpackers. Then we went up the Royal Mile to the castle, which sits on top of an old volcano! We went on the tour and got some great pictures of the city from the top.

View from the top of the castle

At the top of the castle is the Scottish War Memorial, which is an archive of all the Scots lost in the wars since WWI. I was fortunate enough to find my Great Uncle R. D. Cowan Stark's name after a little research from the staff. It was humbling seeing his name there, a man I was never privileged to meet. He was a volunteer with the Royal Air Force,lied about his age to enlist and was killed in 1941. I wish I could have taken a picture, but it was not allowed as it is a privacy issue for the other people in the book. His name is on the War Memorial Wall in Stirling, Scotland, so hopefully someday I will get there and pay tribute to him.

After the castle we went on a free walking tour of the city...but not before we got to witness another William of Orange Parade! Apparently we can't travel to the UK without bringing out the Protestants and their drums.

So on the walking tour we walked (duh) throughout the entire city, seeing things such as the Heart of Midlothian (where people used to have to pay taxes, and now they spit where the heart is), The Elephant Cafe- where Harry Potter was written (some of it :P) and the Covenanter's Tomb. The Covenanter's rebelled against the Monarchy who were trying to regain religious control of the country. There were thousands of them killed in the streets of Edinburgh.

Heart of Midlothian...minutes later someone hocked a loogie on it...

 We then went to dinner with the walking tour, and sat with a nice German man doing his engineering degree in Edinburgh. So what came from that? An hour and a half of engineers boring me to death. But we did try Haggis!!

Haggis! It actually wasn't that bad, kind of like sausage. The pepper sauce on it was WAY strong though, John struggled finishing it...I only had a bite :P 

 We went back to the hostel after dinner and then headed back up to the old town for the ghost tour! It was run by the same company that did the walking tour, and it was great! I did one when I was in Edinburgh last spring, and I was terrified afterwards. That tour had people jumping out at us throughout the walk, while the one John and I did was more about the history of the city and its hauntings and less about scaring people, which I appreciated!

The next day we went to the Elephant Cafe (where JK Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter books) and had a nice a lunch...and I got a cool mug :)

Elephant Cafe :)

We finished our trip with a trip to the Museum of Scotland, which has artifacts dating back from the days of our favorite Scot, Robbie Bruce! It was interesting to see the fusion between Irish, Scottish and English heritage, as Scotland has been influenced by both of these cultures. It was also a good mix of kid-friendly activities and things that interest us older folks :P

We ended the trip with a dinner at TGIF's...I know I know, I should be enjoying the local cuisine. But seriously people it had been over THREE MONTHS since I had buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing. So step off my wings, and let me fly :P

More to come soon, I promise!!