Arrival and Edinburgh

With my family headed back to the States, I've now got time to post about this past week. Most of the past week's been packed with lots of traveling across Scotland, so til now, I haven't really had the time to post about our adventures. So, now that my week of sightseeing with my family is done, here goes!

The picture Alyssa took from the airplane as she got her first view of the United Kingdom, flying into Manchester.

Break at Stirling is officially April 2 to April 9, but since the second is a Monday, a lot of people had already headed home or off on vacations by the weekend. After a very slow weekend, I was very happy to head into town on Monday. I had some shopping I wanted to do, and then I was heading a little bit out of town to meet Mom, Dad, and Alyssa (my sister) at Mom and Dad's guest house. I went to town in the afternoon, bought some yarn from the yarn store, and then headed to a used book shop. I'd heard about this shop--it's a bookstore that has all these used books, and you can find some really great stuff if you look around a bit. I bought 'Hamlet.' Admittedly, it's not one of my absolute favorite books, but it's a classic, it is quite good, and the books itself was very cool (it's a blue, cloth-bound book with gold engravings on the front and then the inside's got amazing drawings).

Finally, I headed out to meet my family at their guest house. The woman who owns the guest house showed me to Mom and Dad's room, and I got to see my family again! Since I figured they'd be jet lagged after just arriving to Scotland, I gave them a tour of campus, checked Alyssa in with the porter, and we headed into Bridge of Allan for dinner. We went to the Allanwater Cafe, where we all ordered fish and chips (not bad for a British meal!). It was a good night, especially considering that my family was tired, and were all ready to go to sleep pretty much right after dinner.

Edinburgh Castle, from the bottom of the hill. 

Tuesday was more exciting than Monday. Mom and Dad got to University early to pick me and Alyssa up, and we headed to Edinburgh, bundled up to try to stay warm. After the heat wave last week, Tuesday was forecast to be cold, with the biting winds I'm starting to get used to here. We parked at the base of the hill that Edinburgh Castle is built atop, and set out on foot for the castle. We got to the castle just in time to see the firing of the gun at one o'clock. It was pretty cool, watching the ceremonial firing of the gun. We explored the rest of the castle, and got to see the crown jewels of Scotland too! It's amazing, being able to see the history of the country I'm spending the entirety of my spring semester in.

The firing of the gun at one o'clock. The way they did it seemed like a very strict, ceremonial routine, but it was really cool.

Our hot chocolate and shortbread at the Elephant House.

After the castle, we headed down the royal mile. We stopped so Dad could get a hat--his ears must have been frozen from the wind and the sporadic rain. Then, we headed down the road that led to the Royal Museum of Scotland. On the way there, we stopped for my second trip to the Elephant House. We got hot chocolates to warm us up, and shortbreads to fill us up. The shortbreads are shaped like elephants, and they're really, really good. After we finished our snack, we headed down the street to see Greyfriar's Bobby before going into the Royal Museum of Scotland. The museum was awesome. I'd been before, but it was still fascinating to see how much history there was from such a small country. We stayed in the Scottish history section of the museum, moving from the early history level up to the sports and more modern-day Scottish facts.

Greyfriar's Bobby!

At the end of the day, we headed back to Stirling. After our more traditional Scottish meal of fish and chips the night before, we went out to eat at a restaurant called Papa Joe's. I think we must have picked one of the few restaurants that served all American food. The menu even said 'fries' instead of 'chips.' Mom, Alyssa and I ordered pizzas, and Dad at least order salmon. I'm sure it's much more local than my pizza! By that point, we were all pretty tired, so Mom and Dad dropped me and Alyssa off at AKD (my residence hall). Alyssa and I were both out pretty quick.

My sister's a very, very good photographer, so I'm stealing her pictures for my blog posts about this week! Thanks, sis.

A tout a l'heure!