Adventures in Scotland Continued...

So this piece of weaponry is also located at Edinburgh Castle. It's called Mon Meg, and this massive gun in capable of firing 300 pound cannon balls up to 2 miles. Right after I took the picture this man inthe picture stuck his entire head into the cannon and shouted hello. It echoed very nicely and was much cooler because of his accent. I wanted a picture, but unfortunately I was not quick enough and he didn't do it again. You'll just have to use your imagination. We also went to this restaurant called The Elephant House which is important because:

On the third day in Scotland we went on a bus trip and visited Stirling Castle (which I'm still not entirely sure why it's so important),

the William Wallace monument and Inchmahome Priory on the only lake in Scotland. It was yet another hike up a steep hill and a climb up nearly 300 stairs to reach the top of the Wallace monument.

And if you're not entirely sure who William Wallace is just refer to the picture above, and that should help. However, people from Scotland supposedly don't like Mel Gibson's Braveheart too much as evidenced by the defacement and eventual removal of the William Wallace statuemodeled after Mel Gibson.

Here is a picture of the Wallace Monument from Stirling Castle:

After we finished looking at this stuff we headed to the priory. It was a beautiful day in Scotland. Every Scottish person we met made sure to tell us how unusual the weather was. This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places we've been so far.

We took a boat over to Inchmahome Priory on the island. The whole place was green with lots of sunlight and it smelled wonderful...like heather.

Finally on our last day there we just walked up and down the Royal Mile. I did some shopping and ate a banana and toffee muffin from this wonderful place called Chocolate Soup. Luckily this glorious cafe isn't international because if I could go there regularly I would probably quickly weigh about 1,000 pounds...which would be bad even though the food is oh

so good. And to top the day off while I was shoving

the last bits of the muffin in my mouth we heard drums and penny whistles, ran out to the street to see what the ruckus was, and it was a parade!!! It was a little disappointing because it is the first parade I've ever been to in my life where I did not have any candy thrown at me. But there was lots of Scottish music including drums, cymbals, penny whistles, and even a few accordions. There were also a lot of badly dressed old women, almost a brawl, and lots of men with tattoos. And these guys did a little dance for us when the parade had to stop for a bit.

And of course I cannot go to Scotland without sharing one last picture:

Whit's 'at caad in Scots?

I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!

I just back from Scotland, and I loved it. It was beautiful. Edinburgh is a much more manageable town to see than London. Don't get me wrong I love everything about London, but at times it is overwhelming because there is just so much to see. I feel like I got to see everything I wanted to see in Edinburgh in just a few days, and it was good to be able to leave feeling like I have not missed anything.

And partly I'm excited because:

My very first picture is finally uploaded!!! This is Scotland. This hill you see is the top part of what's called Arthur's Seat and we hiked up the entire thing(this pictures is just the very top)...and it was definitely a hike. This is the

very first thing we did after arriving in Edinburgh following the 4 1/2 hour train ride (which was rather miserable seeing as I had a backwards facing seat). So after a good long up hill hike I celebrated making it to the top like this:

and this:

All in all it was a fun day.

The next day we visited Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately the day before I lost my Explorer pass to get in to this castle. Luckily, the guy was very understanding when I explained my situation he let me in anyways. Once we got inside the gate we asked the man at the audio guide booth if there was a map of the castle. He said yes but they are only in Gaelic. However, I decided to take a map anyways because the nice man made sure to tell us the numbers were in English and would lead us to signs that were in English.

This castle is where Mary Queen of Scots lived and had her first and only child

,James VI, who became King James I of England. We also learned some interesting things about the American Revolution and how prisoners of war were kept in the castle dungeons. To the left is a carving of a boat and an early American flag that a prisoner made in a door.

And if you can't read this delightful sign to the right it says "Because the Americans were officially regarded as pirates they received only 1 pound of bread per day". Everyone else got 1 1/2 lbs of bread per day. By far my favorite part of this castle was this exhibit in one of the small museums about the Scottish army. There was an exhibit that explained how during a battle a woman had fled the city and left her small child with the father. This might not seem like too bad of an idea. However, the father was a soldier and not long after the mother left he had to fight. Having nothing else to do with the child he simply put the baby in his knapsack while he fought in the battle. What you can't see in this picture is that on the ground at the father's feet he

is just about the stab a man with the knife on the end of his musket. But you can see the baby in the bag under his right arm.

That about sums up day one and two in Scotland, and I will update the rest of the trip tomorrow when hopefully, though doubtfully, the internet will be working faster. It has already taken much too long to upload just these few pictures.

Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine

I was rather boring this morning, but I was also really tired so I feel completely justified. I actually got up for breakfast though which is more than I can say for yesterday morning. Despite the fact I didn't do much on the sight seeing front I was fairly productive today. Class was good, and I got a better grade on this paper than the last...even if it was only by the + at the end. I finally cleaned up the massive paper bag full of junk sitting at the end of my bed, and I'm sure the other five girls that sleep in this small space are happy about that. I also did my laundrywhich was absolutely essential if I wanted clean clothes to wear for the next four days. Why couldn't I just do it tomorrow you might be wondering. And the answer to that question is that it would be rather hard to do my laundry while staying in a youth hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland!!

We leave tomorrow morning at 8 am from King's Cross station to go there! Yes, THE King's Cross where everyone's favorite wizard Harry Potter and all his fellow Hogwarts class mates travel to school from. I saw Platform 9 3/4 for myself (pictures to come later), however, I am sad to report that the wall simply wouldn't let me through no matter how hard I tried. I also didn't have a flying car in the parking lot so that whole idea was a total bust. Maybe I'll try and follow the people complaining about Muggles in the morning?!

So besides cleaning for the upcoming excursion I also read a lot of the book "Gaudy Night" by Dorothy Sayers today. It is for class, but I am really enjoying it. I have been laughing out loud throughout the day while reading it. Plus there can be nothing wrong with a book that has this quote in it:

"Do but consider what an excellent thing sleep is: it is so inestimable a jewel that, if a tyrant would give his crown for an hour's slumber, it cannot be bought...yea, so greatly indebted are we to this kinsman of death, that we owe the better tributary, half of our life to him"

~ Thomas Dekker

Now that guy knew what he was talking about! Speaking of sleep, I should probably point out my dumb moment of the day. While attempting to put my freshly laundered pillow case on my bed I decided to try and set the glass of water in my hand on my small bookshelf directly above where my head goes when I sleep. As you can imagine, the glass of water promptly fell over dumping its contents all over Gaudy Night, the new Conor Oberst CD I bought, my pillow case, and my sheets. Luckily it was just water though, and I am happy to report it had ample time to dry and I don't have to sleep with my head on a wet spot or at the wrong end of my bed tonight...that would be terrible.

Final thing for the day:

I went to Mama Mia tonight! It was pretty much delightful. Aside from the fact that all the attractive men in London are in the cast, you also can't really go wrong with ABBA. So it would be pretty hard to mess it up. And for those less than impressed with the movie I'm happy to report that minus Pierce Brosnan attempting to sing the show improves considerably! And my favorite part of the movie, the singing and dancing at the end, is included and even better live! Being in a completely sold out theatre full of people dancing and singing to ABBA is rather epic! So overall I would highly recommend it. (I have pictures of this too!)

As much as I liked it, if you ever go to New York or London or wherever, and you only have time for a few shows my favorite to so far that I would go back and see if funds would allow are Wicked and Les Miserables. As a matter of fact, if it looks like I have some free money at the end I might go see them again even though I can't really afford it.

********

With my bagpipes and kilt all ready to go, I'm off to Scotland!

Updates from a Slacker...

So I obviously am horrible about logging my travels. I figure the best way to keep up with what I have been doing is to post some excerpts from e-mails to my mommy:

April 28:

I think I'm off to a pretty good start. Today we went and walked
around the business district and Cheapside. There were lots of people
in business suits so we all felt a little underdressed. We went to a
play tonight. It was very dramatic and I would never have went to see
it on my own, but the teachers bought tickets for the whole group.
I'm pretty tired tonight after all the walking. I'm going to attempt
to go to bed early tonight. I'm not sure if it will actually happen
though. Have a good night! Even though it's not quite nighttime there
yet!

May 4:

Me and a group of four other girls are going to Paris this weekend.
We are going to leave Friday morning really early and come back late
Saturday night. We'll be taking the Chunnel. It's kind of expensive
but we're so close that I should go. We already booked our tickets
and a hotel. Let me know if you want more detailed info about when
and where I will be places! Stonehenge was really cool today. It's a
lot smaller than i thought it would be though. I wanted to buy
something for dad but we went so early that the gift shop wasn't open
yet. Is there anything that you would like from London? Let me
know!!!

May 7:

(This is from my mom to me)

HAVE A GREAT TIME IN PARIS !!!!! (HOW DOES THAT SOUND??) (STRANGE????) TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES. BE VERY CAREFUL AND BE VERY CAREFUL WITH YOUR WALLET AND MONEY ETC. LOTS OF PICK POCKETS IN EUROPE. REMEMBER PARIS IS I THINK ONE HOUR AHEAD OF TIME THAN LONDON. DON'T MISS YOUR CHUNEL(SP?) BACK TO LONDON. IT WILL LEAVE GOING BACK ON PARIS TIME. BUT IT WILL LEAVE LONDON ON LONDON TIME. I'M SURE YOU KNOW THIS BUT JUST IN CASE!!!

WELL, MISS YOU BUNCHES!!! I HOPE THE GLOBE THEATER WAS GREAT. THESE ARE EXPERIENCES THAT WILL LAST FOREVER. TELL ME ABOUT CHURCH IN ENGLAND. I WILL TRY TO CALL YOU ON FRIDAY NIGHT. WHAT TIME PARIS TIME DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL???? IT WILL BE GREAT TO HEAR YOUR VOICE. BYE, FOR NOW. LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE!!!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE MADE. WE HAD A STAKE CONF. SUNDAY. PRES. MONSON SPOKE BY CABLE. ONE THING HE TALKED ABOUT WAS YOUR DICISIONS EFFECT YOUR DESTINY!!! SO, KEEP SMART AND THINK HOW THINGS EFFECT ETERNAL THINGS AND KEEP MAKING GOOD DECISIONS. YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB SO FAR. DON'T GET IN A RUSH FOR GETTING THINGS TOO FAST!!! IT WILL ALL HAPPEN IN DUE TIME!! JUST ENJOY THE JOURNEY THAT YOU ARE ON NOW!!!!

LOVE,

MOM

And my reply on the 10th of May:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I wish I could give you a call, but I'm so happy
I got to talk to you the other night! I hope you have a good day and
do something good for yourself! Paris was really fun. I had lots of
yummy food and saw some pretty cool things, including mass at Notre
Dame! I will really try to get you some pictures soon. The internet
is just always so slow here. This is the first time it's been really
working all day. YOU NEED TO GET
A SKYPE!!! IT'S FREE!!!! I LOVE YOU AND once again HAPPY MOTHER'S
DAY!!!

May 11:

Thank you for the Mother's Day e-mail. I am so glad you had a good time in Paris!!!! Let me know all of the great things you will be seeing this week. Miss you bunches. Gage asked me why I didn't buy him a plane ticket to London so he could see you. Ha. I told him we would come and see you when you are back in Provo. He asked me yesterday if you were in that salt city. Have a great week!!!!!!

All our LOVE,

MOM and DAD

May 12:

Hey! Nothing too interesting this week so far. I did go see Phantom
of the Opera tonight though!! We're going on a three day roadtrip to
Cornwall tomorrow morning early so I probably won't be able to write
for awhile. Tell Gage and I said hello and that I love him! Anyways I need to sleep
because it is kind of late and I have to get up really early. I love
you and will send you an e-mail when I get back!

Love,
Rachel

May 15:

Let me know when you get back!!! Hope you had a great trip. I have a hair
> appointment on Sat. so we are going to Jamestown on Fri. evening and comming
> back on Sat. night. Love and miss ya!!!
>
> Love,
> MOM

May 16:

Hey! We got back last night. I was really fun...there were lots of
really pretty beaches. I bought dad a present this morning. It's
this nice compass, sundial thing that came in a fancy wooden box. I
think he'll like it. I teach a primary lesson in church tomorrow with
another girl. it will be really fun even though there are only about
3 or 4 kids in the class. I'm trying to find a good gift for Shanda
and Angela. Let me know if you have any ideas. I was thinking maybe
I'd find a book for Angela and some kind of clothes for Shanda. Also,
I bought this really cute book called "This is London" for Gage and
Cainan. Anyways, I love you and miss you. Have fun in Jamestown!

Love,
Rachel

May 19:

Rachel,

Hi, sorry I didn't e-mail you on Monday. I have been so busy. I also had Gage this week-end and Shanda also brought him to me as soon as I got home on Monday and didn't pick him up untill about 10:00!!!

I hope you are still loving it and getting to do lots of fun "stuff". Let me know some of your agenda for this week. How is it going with so many girls to live and travel with!!!! Is Katie still comming to London and are you going to get to see her. Is Jessica Owens still comming to London???

What day do you get home?? I made you an appointment with Shane at the end of June. I told him I would cancel if it was before you got back. But I think it will be o.k..

How is the weather??? What are you doing your extra days on the end and who are you traveling with????

Have lots of fun, be safe, and keep in touch. We miss and love you bunches.

Love,

MOM

May 16:

Hey! It's not a big deal. How is Gage? I am still loving it and
have fun doing lots of fun "stuff"! We're going to Oxford tomorrow
morning, I went to Hairspray tonight and I'm also working on kitchen
crew this week. That means I have to help set up and clean up after
dinners and breakfast. It's only for a week though so it's not too
bad. Hairspray was really fun tonight. I also met Katie and her mom
for lunch today and it was nice. Jessica is not coming to London
anymore. I'm going to go to Ireland for 5 days at the end of the
program with three other girls from my group. Their names are Brooke,
Jenni and Laura (she's from Memphis!). They're all really nice so it
should be fun and the tickets are only 15 pounds. I'm flying into
Nashville on June 21st and I get in around 4:30 pm or so. I'll have
to check for sure. I'll forward you the itinerary sometime soon.
Living with a bunch of girls is actually not bad at all. It's
really fun because there are always people around to go do fun stuff
with.
I bought tickets to the Green Day concert in Nashville on July 31. Brandon and I are planning on meeting up there and I asked Shanda if

she wanted to come with me and she said yes.
I'm also planning on going to Bath this Saturday for a day trip.
Hmmm...that's about all I can think of about what's going on with me.
Tell everyone I said hello! I'll talk to you soon. GET A SKYPE
ACCOUNT!!!

Love,
Rachel

May 21:

Just a quick hello!!!! 8th grade graduation was tonight. The Berry twins just graduated 8th grade!!!!! Time sure goes fast!!!

Hope you are having fun!!!! MISS and LOVE you bunches!!!

Send me details of all of your great adventures!!!!

LOVE,

MOM

May 22:

Hey!

That's crazy. I didn't realize they were that old already! How bad
did she wreck the Mustang? I'm going to Bath tomorrow for the day. It should be fun!
We're also going as a group to see the London Symphony Orchestra on
Sunday night, and I'm pretty excited about that! Hope everything is
going well! I love and miss you guys! Tell everyone I said hi!!

Love,
Rachel

********

Whew....that's about all the catching up I can handle for one post. And a note on the lack of pictures: I realized today that I did not bring my cord to transfer the pictures from my camera to the computer, and if I did bring it now it is nowhere to be found. Which is entirely possible considering my track record with keeping track of small but important things. However, I plan on uploading and posting pictures here and on facebook as soon as I work out a way to do it!