Scotland! *bagpipe music plays softly*

Okay. Scotland. I need to tackle this beast of a blog entry now or forever hold my peace (aka forget everything that happened on our trip and have nothing of substance to tell you). Sooo, this is for my Mom, Lauren David, and everyone who wants to know about Scotland (which, let's just be honest, should be everybody). 

1. The train ride there. It was eventful, it was 5 hours, and we were sitting in the "kiddie" section with the professors and their children (fyi, English teachers don't play Go Fish with their kids on trains, they play "Guess the Shakespearean play from this list of clues I'm going to give you"). 

Skeptical about our 9am departure

We were taking the route the Hogwart's Express takes in HP! King's Cross to Scotland! Woohoo for people who know what that is/freaked out a little just now

Our first glimpse of Scottish shores

2. Upon arrival, we met our tour guide ... in a kilt. I sneakily took this picture for your viewing pleasure. 

It was fitting that he kind of looks like Mel Gibson

3. We were given free reign of Edinburgh (capital of Scotland) to roam! So, I went a little picture crazy. Don't judge. 

The gothic architecture was gorgeous

A Scottish car - also gorgeous

Dormant volcano that lies next to Edinburgh!

The Palace! Ooooo!

And, naturally, her gallery

Cool Roman building

Cool tower...thing

Tyler, a foot, and a small climbing child

Abbey

Poor Babe...

Found a flower!

Me + Edinburgh Castle!

Tyler loves castles

 4. During our roaming in Edinburgh, Tyler and I made our way to The Elephant House, which is a little cafe/coffee shop in the city. Sounds typical, yes? Well,the reason it was special is this is the place where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter! Indeed! She loved the coffee shop and would go there to write -- ALSO, there is a fantastic view of Edinburgh Castle from the big bay window in the rear of the restaurant and this was her inspiration for Hogwarts. Neat, huh? Also, it was very cold and I wanted hot cocoa.

Our delicious snack

Cappuccino anyone?

5. Here is a video of some street performers - because this Scotland entry wouldn't be complete without some bagpipe music!

 

6. More adventures.

Cool monument - the guy in the center is posing in the camera's direction

Pretty fountain with flowers + Edinburgh Castle!

Love!

And thennnn we decided to climb up to the Castle

Climbing = hard, taking pictures of the view = cool!

Luckily, I managed to stay fabulous amidst the climb

Sunset on an eventful day in Edinburgh

 7. That was, by no means, the end of our night, however! We went to a local pub, The Conan Doyle, and had some drinks to celebrate Scotland! Aaaand hereafter, decided upon  karaoke. Excellent life decision, always, and the people loved/hated us!

Chanea and Elise - Build Me Up, Buttercup

Tyler - Piano Man

Big group of people - Don't Stop Believin'

Me karaoking? Karaokeing?

 This is the end of day 1 in Scotland -- I'm sorry to bow out of posting more today, but I took about 500 pictures of Scotland/The Highlands, so it's going to take a while to sort through and make entries! At least this is something, yes? Have to go to class now ... bye!

 

L-L-L-London

So, I just got back from our weekend trip to Scotland and the Highlands ... which was absolutely incredible. I will have to devote a lot of time to that blog entry, seeing as it's going to be a doozy!

Here's a little more catching up on London goings and doings, however!

Roommates + Tyler going to Wicked!

Roommates in the tube!

WICKED!

We <3 West End Shows

So, indeed, we saw Wicked. And it was spectacular ... The actors were spot-on, the singing was incredible, and I just love the show immensely! We also snuck in our own chocolate covered raisins and peanuts to be thrifty. See, Mom? I'm doing so good! :)

Another show we've seen recently ... BILLY ELLIOT! Incredible. Go search youtube for videos and clips, because the show was so moving. The American version trims out all of the political aspects and thus, it is just about a boy who wants to dance. The full-length version, playing in Britain, includes the story of Billy's family and their community strife caused by the UK miners' strike (1984–1985) in County Durham, Northern England. It's a truly touching musical and I was completely blown away by the talent displayed by all of the kids in the show!

Billy Elliot Theatre! - The Victoria Palace

Us at the Matinee performance!

Another fun thing that we attended was the Mayor Thames (pronounced Tems) Festival on the River Thames! It was very fun ... kind of what we anticipated the Notting Hill Festival to be but without the excessive amounts of drunk people and with the added bonus of fun little stalls and booths where people were selling their stuff! There were purses, jewelry, crafts, woodwork, quilts, and much more! There was also a lot of food. And that was cool, as well. :)

Crowded!

Awesome Tower Bridge pizza dough sculpture!

Delicious hazelnut crepes!

Very tall stilts woman

London Bridge is fallllling down ... except not

 Above is a video I took of a ship going through Tower Bridge! It only opens a couple times a week and you're lucky if you catch it... looks like we were lucky that day! 


Also, we took a trip out to see the Thames Festival fireworks and they were shot off from a boat in the middle of the Thames, so very close to us! It was fun ... except we climbed a wall to get a good seat and consequently were about 15 feet above water on one side and a cobblestone street on the other. Heights aren't my thing, so I was pretty terrified until the fireworks started and I got distracted. 

Kolby and Elise

FIREWORKS

Tilt your head to the side and this picture works

On trip 2 to the Globe the other day to see Henry IV, I slipped to the lavatory and saw this big gold wall with a bunch of signatures of people who have donated to the Globe. Guess who I found....

Stephen Sondheim

Judi Dench

Elizabeth Taylor

Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Also -- we had a bit of fire alarm drama in our flat. Our fire/carbon monoxide (we're still not sure) alarm went off ... VERY LOUDLY in all of the flats and freaked everyone out sufficiently. We were evacuated to the street while 2 fire trucks were summoned. Oye. It was intense. Luckily, I saved my penne pasta and got to eat lunch in the rain while we waited for them to turn off the gas in our building and fix the alarm. They didn't seem too pleased that our flats have 6 people in each of them, or that the back doors to the bottom 2 flats are barred shut. Lllll, possibly we just got our landlords in some trouble. 

British Firemen. Excellent.

Angsting in the rain ... entertaining the neighbors ... setting off alarms. Just fulfilling the American stereotype in London, no biggie.

I will update on Scotland asap! Love you all! Cheers from London! It's getting chilly here...