Storming The Castle

Today was our last day in Edinburgh. And it rained. Check that, it poured. All day. As I write this blog, it's still raining and it's about 7 p.m. So yeah, it's been pretty crappy all day.

Still, we had a plan for the day and we were going to achieve our goals! Here were our said goals for the last day in Edinburgh:

1. Go to Edinburgh Castle
2. Go to St. Giles' Cathedral
3. Climb Arthur's Seat

We got downtown and were still relatively dry at this point. As we were trekking up to the Castle, we made our first great decision of the day: stopping for coffee and breakfast. A very cute place off of the main road that had the best tomato and cheese croissant I've ever had. Great decision.

Then we went back out into the weather, which had worsened. As we walked up the hill, the rain started falling sideways so our umbrellas were pretty much useless. Our shoes, jackets, and jeans were pretty much soaked once we made it to the castle entrance. Here is where we made our second great decision of the day: only doing item one on our list. I knew the rain would persist all day and that a trek up the mountain was not in our best interests.

So we toured the castle and I personally don't have any pictures because it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera wet. It was really cool and on a clear day, it would have been great to see the city of Edinburgh from it. But it wasn't so we didn't get to see much.

After leaving the castle, and stopping at the shop of course, we made our way back into town. On the way, we made our third great decision of the day: stop for lunch before heading back to Dalkeith. We went back to The Albanach to actually have their food this time and they did not disappoint. I may have had the best beef stew ever (besides my mother's of course). And we couldn't resist having their dessert one last time so Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake it was!

(Side Note: We're all extremely happy that Jenny will most likely be moving here next summer so we aren't too upset that we didn't see everything. Melissa and I will just come back to visit and see stuff then! Next summer, hopefully.)

Then it was back to Dalkeith via the bus. Still raining pretty hard. We made it back to our rooms by 330, and I proceeded to spend the next 30-45 minutes in the shower to warm up to normal temperatures again. This evening will be a relaxing one of packing and preparing for our five days of travelling that commence tomorrow morning. I may not be as frequent about my blogs because we will be in a different hostel every night and I may not have the time to keep up with it. As a reminder, here is our schedule:

Thursday: Edinburgh to Newcastle. Visit Hadrian's Wall, Then back to Newcastle and head to York for the night.
Friday: York all day. Leave for Nottingham in the evening.
Saturday: Nottingham all day. Leave for Cardiff, Wales, very late.
Sunday: Cardiff all day.
Monday: Leave Cardiff mid morning. Return to London early afternoon.

Hopefully I'll be able to check-in periodically but I can't be certain. It will be a whirlwind but I'm looking forward to it. Til then!

- Kate

What Happened to Monday? Cotswold Must Have Stolen It...

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Not only Wednesday, but I'm almost half way through the trip. All of a sudden, this week and the entire trip is flying by. I'll be in Scotland in a short time and then onto my mini-break and then it's almost time to return home. I feel like I've done nothing but I know I've done a lot. There is just so much more to see and do in this city! Sometimes I don't have the energy to push on to one more museum but I'm doing my best to see as much of this city as possible in the short time that I am here.

Today was a very full day that involved a lot of walking. A.Lot.Of.Walking. We started the day at the Art Library of the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is located near south of Hyde Park and is actually directly across the street from the Natural History Museum that we visited on Sunday. It was a really cool library and it was nice to see a museum library. They showed us a lot of amazing things! We actually got to touch the first manuscript of Dickens' Bleak House! I'll say no more of that but will blog more about it on my class blog.

After finishing there, we wandered around the Victoria & Albert Museum itself to see what it had to offer. The jewelry collection was stunning, as were the tapestries, and the dress collection! There was a lot that this museum had to offer but just not enough time to see it all (as is often the case with museums). We left there around the noon hour to find some lunch and happened upon a nice Thai place just across the street. It was very lovely and I had some really awesome Phad Siew. 

Then we began our four hour walk across London. I've decided to map it for you all cause I have a lot of time on my hands. Enjoy that. First we went to the Science Museum and walked around there. We saw an exhibit on the WWII code breakers in England, most specifically Alan Turing. Then we listened to the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform The Planets. After hearing it, we then decided to go to the Royal Albert Hall to purchased tickets for the Proms. Here is the event we will be attending: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2012/july-23/14244. We're all very excited!

It was very nice out so we walked up by Hyde Park and on to Oxford Street. We stopped in several stores during this walk but by the end of it, all of us were exhausted. But hey, I purchased a really pretty dress, which is so very unlike me. And it looks all feminine. I will be wearing it to the proms with my date, Cotswold. Once more, we're back at the dorms and blogging/relaxing. Tomorrow we will be heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon for an all-day trip. It will be a long day so I probably will not post again for a few days. Until then!