Day 8 - Divide and conquer Edinburgh

Matt and Morgan flew up to Edinburgh the evening of day 7 so we got to spend day 8 together in Edinburgh!  Of course the guys had to get in a golf round so Morgan and I shopped all the places the guys would have hated.  It was so much fun!

 

We walked through Edinburgh after breakfast and enjoyed walking around the Edinburgh castle from all sides (except the inside for me... Matt and Morgan went inside the next day).  It's so huge!  I love how it is positioned on the hill, and you'll see in a later picture how prominent it sits as it can look over the water in the distance.  Again, I just think back to hundreds of years ago when the position of this castle could mean days of preparations as they saw the enemy approaching. 

This is actually from the entrance to the Edinburgh Castle.  This is where (pictures later) the Royal Tattoo took place.  It was fun adventuring with Morgan!  She moves well for a preggo ;-)

 

The two pictures below are of the same view.  It is from one of the ledges from the castle.  So you can see how many miles away the water is, but what a great view.  Imagine seeing ships come to shore and have days of preparations.  Just amazing to me! 

 

These were taken on the Royal Mile.  This is a mile strip of castles and buildings with again, so much architecture!  The overall look was more interrupted while we were there because of The Fringe show locations.  Seriously, they stuck a show in every nook and cove they could so there was signage everywhere for them.  But it was still amazing to walk up and down some of this strip.

 

 

And this picture was for my Chloe.  She told me right away to get my picture with a bagpiper.  This guy was funny, too.  He asked me where I was from, to which I replied "United States, Kansas".  He then responded with "Are you Dorothy?". I laughed and said "No, but it is funny that we are from Kansas and actually saw Wicked in London, a story that is based in Kansas."  His quick response was "Why would you spend time in London?". Of course the residents of Scotland think they are better than those of England! 

 

After walking through a fantastic flea market of vendors, the castle grounds, and through a fascinating Weaving Mill, Morgan really wanted me to have an Afternoon Tea experience. 

Where else to have afternoon tea than the Waldorf Astoria? What a stunning building.

This was so neat!  Good thing we split the desserts because we would have not put a dent in it otherwise. 

 

Now to the boys.  They took a train and a taxi to get to their golf course.  While they claimed the rental clubs were difficult to use and it was windy, they did have fun despite their scores.  Matt snapped a few pictures of Royce and of the course so he can remember such a pretty links-style course.

 

 

 

A windy day but a happy golfer.  I'm so glad Royce got to golf in Scotland.  We are thankful Matt was there to 'volunteer' to go with him.  It's not everyday he'll be able to have this experience again!

 

Although the wind may blow the same in Kansas..... 

 

Once we reunited after the tea and golf were compete, Morgan and I had a surprise in store for Matt and Royce.  At this time we did not have tickets to the Royal Tattoo yet so we truly felt terrible when they thought we were going to surprise them with tickets to the show.  Instead we took them to the lowest floor of the Weaving Mill to the photo booth.

 

"Suuuurrrrprrriiissseeeeeee............"

 

Thankfully after taking the pictures and laughing so hard at ourselves we found a scalper and locked in some tickets for the late performance of the Royal Tattoo!  We had just enough time for the guys to grab some scotch samples and me to discover that I really like lime in my Captain and Coke.

 

This was an absolutely perfect ending for our last full day in Scotland.  Matt and Morgan were just as excited to see the show as we were.  You can think of a combination of half-time show, Olympic opening ceremony, and bagpipe festival.  It was just amazing.  Several branches of the United States military were represented as well.  It was just amazing to sit back and watch the formations, dances, commentary, and hear the music. 

 

The picture below is one of my favorite from the entire trip.  I just love the colors, the excitement, and the symbol of topping off our trip with fireworks.  It truly was the icing on the cake to see this show while we were there.  The odds that we were in Edinburgh during the couple of weeks they have this show is just too cool. 

 

 

On that note -- Good Night, Edinburgh!

 

 

Day 7 - St. Andrews Golf Course

What good would it be to travel to Scotland and not visit St. Andrews?!?  Royce knew he wasn't going to golf while we were there so he didn't force the issue of visiting.  But I really wanted to see it while we were there and I'm glad we did.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there by train and bus, but it was more countryside to see and the only rainy day we had. 

 

 

This picture, and all of our St. Andrews visit, was during the rain.  It was a really nice rain though, and it certainly didn't stop the golfers.  We learned from the Scotts that

"There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing."

We spent all of our time on the Old Course.

 

Shown here is the Old Course Club House.

I don't carry the correct equipment to have stepped foot inside. 

 

After visiting the Old.Course Gift Shop my perky golfer needed a picture with his new apparel. 

 

He looks mighty fine I might add :-) 

 

We ended the day with a nice facetime message with the kids -- always a bright spot in the day!  Then we enjoyed Thai food and another comedy show from The Fringe! 

Day 6 - Train ride to Scotland!

Thursday, August 13, 2015.

Matt slept in from flying the night before and Morgan was off to work.  Royce and I collected all of our things, managed to pack souvenirs and whatnot in our suitcases, and we walked the mile to the train station.  It was a nice morning walk through Bury and we were excited for the train ride ahead. 

 

Our first train was very full.  Royce and I were not able to sit together until after a couple of callings, or stops.  We had many callings along the way, but only had to change trains one time.  After our exchange we were in reserved seats.  It was still a full car but at least we were together and in comfortable seats.  It was a beautiful train ride.  We had two hours in the first leg and then a scheduled four hours on the second leg.  The drive would have been eight+ hours and the train was scheduled for six hours.  We were able to go more direct cross-country and follow the coast line along the route.  It was so neat! 

 

 

We had a long delay at one of our callings... there was actually a death at the train station... so we were all required to stay on the train and wait it out until other trains could get on schedule as well.  We were probably delayed about 1.5 hours, but all that aside, it was a very nice and relaxing ride through the countryside and coastline. 

 

Edinburgh, Scotland!

This place was ELECTRIC.  On our train ride we found out that the largest arts festival in the world was happening in Edinburgh -- that's right -- the largest arts festival in the world!  Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an approx. 25 day time period which showcases more than 3,000 shows with artists from 50+ countries being held in over 300 venues.  There were shows, ticket lines, artists, and venues EVERYWHERE.  Everyone told us we needed to catch a couple of comedy shows, so we did just that.  When else can we say we saw shows at The Fringe? 

 

To say it was intimidating stepping off of the train is an understatement.  Wow. This city was just so busy.  It was exciting though.  We could see the multiple castles on the Royal Mile and were just amazed at all of the architecture again.  Just incredible.  It took us a while to find our hotel but we found it and got settled in a bit before heading out to explore and see our first Fringe show.

 

Matt had found out a couple days before we got there that there was a Royal Tattoo happening in Edinburgh as well.  How did we miss all of these annual August events in our planning?  Now it make sense why the hotel rooms were so expensive!!!!  But we were willing to dive right in and enjoy it all.  We saw the fireworks from the Tattoo the first night we were there. 

Days 4 and 5 -- Warwick Castle and staying close to 'home'.

Truth be told -- I blogged for two hours last week and hit save about 37 times only to have it NOT SAVE and NOT POST.  So... I'll try these again. 

Day 4 in England - Off to Warwick Castle!

 

Royce was our fearless navigator.  He drove us in Matt and Morgan's Mini Cooper the 2.5 hours to Warwick Castle.  Through every roundabout intersection, with oncoming traffic on the right.  Left handed stick-shift and all.  He was a rock star and kept us safe. 

 

Warwick Castle is HUGE.  It's so very neat to think that some of the original parts of the castle were formed in the 1000s, with some of the current structure that still stands being built in the 1400s before America was even discovered.  Several fires happened through the years and there were major renovations through the 1700 and 1800s.  None the less, the hill used as one of the first lookouts still stands and the age of all of the structures just amazes me. 

 

This is an enormous buffet built over a 10 year span by a single oak tree.  It was amazing.  I though Royce and I were pretty crafty but sheesh, this is amazing.   

 

Horse's armor...I can't even imagine them wearing this.  And a formal dining room.  Looks like the size of table I need in my house! 

 

This is an actual Queen Anne Bed.  Queen Anne was scheduled to stay at Warwick Castle so about a month ahead of her visit she had a bed sent for her stay.  She never actually ended up staying at the castle, but seriously, can you imagine sending a bed ahead of your stay?  Wow!

 

We watched a neat jousting reenactment as well.  Complete with a heckling jester!   

 

This place was so neat.  There was beautiful room, followed by beautiful room, followed by beautiful room.  And because of the age and purpose of the castle there were also hidden staircases everywhere, secret passageways for servants and for escaping, and of course dark areas for torture and for captivity.  Wild animals included!

 

We walked every stairway and looked through the guards towers.  It was just a fun, make-believe place to be, even though it was very real all the same.  There was so much to do... you could honestly spend three days here watching all of the demonstrations and seeing all of the side shows. 

 

We did go to the top of this tower shown below.  It is the same one as seen in the picture below it.  The picture on the right is a lookout tower where they had cannons and extra supplies for an attack. 

 

 

The library had original books.  There were many issues of The Times from the late 1800s.  It was so neat!  The second picture is of the library also.  They had wax figures in there to represent the clothing, age, look of those who lived and visited the castle.  Tough in pictures to tell who is real and who is wax.

 

Pictured below is the hill that was first formed in the 1000s. 

 

The last stop of the Castle was doing the Dungeon Tour.  It was SO FUN!  It was not for the weak-stomached or easily scared.  You could think of it as an entertaining haunted house.  We first visited the castle cook, who was in charge of dissecting the latest victim of the plague, as he was supposed to see if he could find out the real cause or effect of the plague by what happens to the body.  He was sickly himself, and rather enjoyed ripping into the dead body on the table.  We next moved to a torture chamber where there were still many tools any gadgets in the room and we got a demonstration on how they were used.  We then proceeded to a trial room, where I was ordered to take the stand as I was being tried for "running about the public square while naked and showing all of my wobbly bits.". Luckily I was let off by reason of insanity.  As the crowd was ordered to BOOO me I'm quite confidant Royce's Booooos were the loudest.  You never knew when someone was going to jump out in front of you, if your seat was going to be jerked in a different direction, or if you would see any remnants left in the torture chambers.  It was an entertaining end to the day.

 

We left the castle, very tired, but decided to take advantage of Stratford Upon Avon only being 15 minutes away.  This is the birthplace of Shakespeare.  It is a beautiful little town (Stratford) sitting on a river (Avon)...... thus.... Stratford Upon Avon.   

Royce drove us safely back to Bury St. Edmunds where Matt was waiting up for us with a fresh batch of homemade ice cream.  Morgan had to fly this night.  God Bless Them for their service.

 

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Day 5 -- Staying home! 

Our lovely hostest with the mostest knew that we would be exhausted at this point so Morgan scheduled a local day for us.  We walked their little downtown market, both stores and street vendors, and had a proper breakfast.  I can handle baked beans in the morning but they can keep their blood pudding.  We put a dent in our souvenir shopping and really enjoyed the day. 

 

Royce even had a drink in The Nutshell.  This pub started in 1867 and is 15' x 7' in size.  It was a fun little stop and we are glad we have been in Britain's Smallest Pub! 

 

Matt flew this night so Morgan made tacos for us at their home.  Speaking of their home....

Pictures of the front and back.  They have off-street parking.  Morgan's Ford Escape is shown and Matt is a champ and moves it every night he gets home last and parks the Mini Cooper in the closest spot before pulling the Escape back into place.  What a guy!  Not only that he does it but that it's a crazy parking maneuver! 

 

Their staircases are all stacked in one stairway except for the third to fourth floor staircase.  And they have 12' ceilings on each floor.  The crown molding is beautiful, along with everything else.  They have two rooms per floor and the fourth floor is a big studio. 

 

Our window on the second floor looked over a school playground.  We could hear the kids playing each morning.  By day five we even missed our kids a bit. 

 

While Morgan and I enjoyed a beautiful walk in countryside this evening Royce enjoyed two more pubs.  His final pub in England was called The Mason's Arm. 

 

Good-bye England -- train ride to Scotland is next!