Student Bloggers

My mother and brother came to visit this week, so I have been doing plenty of touristy things.

Our first stop was Edinburgh Castle, where we got to learn a bunch about the history of the Castle and Edinburgh, and how poor Scotland and Edinburgh Castle kept changing hands between English and British rule. We then walked down the Royal Mile, and popped into the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions museum, which was good clean fun. I have not laughed so much in quite a while. It was great to just be silly.

Another trip we took was to the Royal Botanic Gardens. We caught the gardens in the early twilight of a beautiful sunny day and walked around, enjoying the fresh air and flora. That night we decided to be brave and try haggis for dinner, and it was quite tasty. I would describe it a cross between a meatball and pâté.

We also took a bus tour up towards Stirling and the Highlands. We boarded a bus with a very chatty, funny, and well-versed tour guide named Marty and began our journey towards the William Wallace monument. Along the way we heard stories and history lessons. Fun fact: William Wallace was the inspiration for the legend of Robin Hood. He would rob in a green cloak with a hood, thus was called the Robbing Hood-turned into Robin Hood.  We also learned about Robert the Bruce*. He was also a Scottish freedom fighter, and after an eventful life, on his death bed, he was sad that he would not be able to go on the Crusades. He asked a friend to cut out his heart, embalm it, and take it on the Crusades with him. The friend did as asked and during one particular battle, the Scottish saw that they would die. As they charged into battle, the friend threw Robert's heart and yelled, "Go forth, my brave heart." Thus, we have the Braveheart reference.

We travelled on, pausing for photos of the Stirling Castle, the most important castle because the only road towards the Highlands was past the castle, thus it controlled all of England. Then we passed the Lake of Menteith, the only “Lake” in Scotland. The word for Lake in Scottish Gaelic is Loch, so every lake is called Loch *insert name of lake*, but due to a bureaucratic error with map making, Lake Menteith is called "lake" not "loch."  We then got to feed and pet the "Hairy Coo,” or the Highland Cows. We then checked out Doune Castle, the one that appears in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is as anticlimactic as it is in the movie. Last stop was the Forth Bridge, the bridge that goes over the Firth of Forth. 

*University of Edinburgh's mascot is a Moose named Robert. Get it, Robert the Moose.