Time for another post! I seem to be behind, again.... Things to catch up on: IFSA-Butler trip to Isle of Skye, Easter Weekend, and the Royal Wedding.
Isle of Skye. Eilean A Cheo. The Misty Isle. Two weekends ago, the study abroad program that I am apart of, IFSA-Butler, collected all of their students from the various Scottish Universities and brought them up to the Highlands for a weekend on this beautiful piece of land.
The buses picked us up at the gates of the university early in the morning, so we would have a day filled with highland adventures. Before we left the lowlands, we made a quick stop at ASDA to meet up with all of the Scotland groups. In case you did not know, Wal-mart has extended its hands to the UK in the form of ASDA. Though still not nearly as large as the super center we are used to back at home, it still had the grocery section along with its shoes and clothing section. Definitely not the type of store you see in the UK everyday.
IFSA was kind enough to provide each of the buses with tour guides that could inform us about the surrounding areas that we were passing and give us little folklore, as well. Our tour guide was a small scottish woman named Andy. Andy was very loud. Andy did not understand that early in the morning, college students might like to sleep a little bit. She thought we might like to be the party bus at 8 am and listen to loud music and yell 'SEXY COOOOOOSSS' every time we saw a highland cow. Now, unlike the Glasgow group (whose bus the Stirling group was sharing), us Stirling kids had seen a coo or two, as we are fairly close to quite a bit of farmland. So, while the Glasgow kids thought it was hilarious and they were the coolest things under the sun, we Stirling folk really just wanted to sleep. Simple enough. Not gonna happen on this trip.
Though loud, Andy was also very good for a story or two and seemed to know quite a bit about the different areas we were driving through. Like Burnham Wood, for instance. Yes. That's right. THE Burnham Wood. From the Scottish play. Needless to say, I was excited. Unfortunately, we didn't stop. We kept driving until we ended up at a place called the Queen's View (that is, Victoria...). The Queen's view overlooks Loch Tummel, and a story goes that, while visiting the highlands, the Queen wanted to stop for tea, and just so happened to stop there. There was more to the story, something about not being able to boil water and asking one of the farmers who lived in the area to boil their water, but I don't remember it exactly. But the view, itself, was amazing!
After we had all sufficiently taken in the view, there was an optional 'light' hike down to Loch Tummel. I put quotation marks because Andy pretty much led us down a cliff. There was little path to the footpath that we were taking. It was more along the lines of, 'head straight down until you hit the loch, you can't miss it and there's no losing it!' Once we got down there, though, it was quite gorgeous. The loch, as you can see, spread out for miles. After a short exploration, it was a heart attack back up the hill and off again.We had a quick lunch at a cute town called Aviemore, and then headed to the Culloden Moor battlefield, the day before the 265th anniversary of the battle itself. For those who don't know, the battle of Culloden was was essentially the slaughter of the Jacobite army by the Government Redcoats in April of 1747. The Jacobite army was attempting to bring back their exiled king, James VII of Scotland and II of England, who had been a Catholic Stuart, and thus a threat to Protestants. After the battle, the Redcoats were ordered to kill any and all Jacobites still living. Bonnie Prince Charlie, who had been fighting with the Jacobites, fled and went back to France.
The battlefield was just quiet and somber, as many are. Red flags flew to show where the Redcoat army was, and blue flags to show where the Jacobite army began. There were also gravestones to show where major clan leaders had fallen.
After walking around for a bit, we then got back onto the buses and finally headed over the waters to the Isle of Skye. The village that we stayed at was called Kyleakin, at the Kings Arms Inn. According to its website, Kyleakin is gaelic for “Strait of Haakon,” which was named for the Norwegian King Haakon. It is also supposed to be pronounced as two separate words. The first view of Skye is quite amazing, as is the drive over the Kyleakin Bridge, which is the only bridge to connect Skye to the mainland. All other ways require a ferry. In this picture, Kyleakin is on the right. We are crossing the bridge.
One interesting thing about the Kings Arms Inn is that it does not have showers. Just bathtubes. As many of us had not taken a bath in quite some time, we were all confused as to how it is properly done. But we were determined to stay clean on our Skye adventure.
We had some time between when we had arrived in Kyleakin and when we were to head over to the Castle Moil restaurant for dinner, so a few friends and I wandered around. On a hill across a bay were the ruins to the Castle Moil, so we made an attempt to head for that. However, there apparently was no footpath to get there, and we ended up simply walking through tall grasses and brush. Reminded me of LBOLA work.
Muddy though it was, I was quite determined to reach the ruins, so, leaving my IFSA butler crew behind, I managed to wrestle my way through the brush and reach the windy hillside. Unfortunately, after all that hard work, the ruins were not that impressive. So, shoulders hunched, I made my way back to safety, and we returned to the Inn to change for dinner.The rest of the day was pretty lo key, consisting of dinner and a fun gathering at the local pub with live music (it was our program coordinators birthday, so we all sang her happy birthday, getting the band in on it as well). After a long day, it was time to rest up for the next days adventures around Skye.
After an early wake up call and a delicious breakfast, we head up to the Armadale Castle, which is home to the Clan Donald on Skye. To be honest, the castle grounds were more impressive than the castle itself, which had attached to it a more modern looking abode. The laundry house was neat looking, though!
There was also a museum on the grounds, which told of some history of the Highlands and the battles that had been fought. The forests were quite lovely, and there was a stunning view of the ocean right by the castle, but all in all, not too exciting, unfortunately. After this, we were to split up into two groups, one to go on a hike up to the Old Man of Storr (long story short, a giant wasn't allowed to be out in the sun, but fell in love and stayed out past dawn and turned into stone, and is therefore now the Old Man of Storr) and the other on a sightseeing bus tour around Skye. Given the damp weather and the late night beforehand, most people went for the bus tour, as did I. On the tour, we wandered to Lealt Falls, the Kilt Rock Waterfall and cliffs, saw the ruins of Duntulm Castle, and wandered the memorial grave site of Flora Macdonald, who had assisted Bonnie Prince Charlie in his escape from the Redcoats.
This is a picture of the Kilt Rock water falls and cliffs. The cliffs behind the waterfalls are apparently supposed to look like the back of a kilt. Bit of a stretch, and more difficult to see in the picture than when at the actual falls. After our day tour, we had some time to wander around the capitol of Skye, Portree, which is only bigger than Kyleakin in that it probably has about two more blocks in the village center. On the way back to our Inn, we stopped by the river at Sligachan, which, the story goes, if you put your face in the water for 7 seconds (no more, no less) you will stay young forever..... that is, only if you stay on Skye. Naturally, we all had to try it out. We are still waiting on the results.
After this, it was time to return to the Inn for dinner (which, sidenote, I learned is also called Tea here..... High Tea makes SO much more sense, now....) and another quiet night in.Sunday, the last day of our little adventure. It was time to leave Skye and wander back through the Highlands of the mainland. On our way home, we made a quick stop at the Eilean Donan castle. Now, this may mean little to you, unless you have seen 'Made of Honor.' It is one of the castle's that they filmed the movie at. Fun fact of the day.
It was then off to Fort Augustus, to have lunch at the beautiful Loch Ness and to do some of our own Nessie sighting. The Loch was calm and the day sunny. Definitely a place I would like to return to and have more of a chance to explore. Apparently, Loch Ness is the largest loch in volume Scotland, and could hold all of the lakes in England and Wales combined! It is only second to Loch Lomand as the biggest loch in surface area. This is why it can so easily hide Nessie! Unfortunately, we had no such luck in finding her, but it was still a gorgeous day and it is a beautiful body of water, so no complaints here.
Finally, it was time to pack up the buses once more and head back to Stirling, to continue our studies. All in all, a very successful trip.The next weekend:
Easter! It is Easter weekend in Scotland! However, considering I had had a presentation the Thursday beforehand, I did not have any exciting plans, and simply stayed on campus, which worked just fine for me. So nothing too thrilling to note on this weekend. Went on a few walks through the hills behind campus,
Made a sad attempt to see a sunrise on Dumyat Hill on Easter Morning - there was another hill in the way.... However, the walk back down was beautiful! The morning sun made everything seem so much brighter and clearer than usual.
After that, I made some more bread for the Easter dinner that a friend was making (Lamb, mashed potatoes, spanakopita, green beans, and bread!).Monday was slightly more eventful, as I pretty much visited Hogwarts (i.e. University of Glasgow). My friend Dana and I got a tour of Glasgow from her boyfriend, and were able to see all the beautiful areas of Glasgow, including the Kelvingrove park and Art Gallery and Museum. We even got to try the infamous deep fried mars bar. Dana and I split it, as I don't know if we would have been able to handle the much deep fried-ness. Then it was back to Stirling, and back to classes. Well, for most people. Due to Easter Monday being off, teacher strikes on Tuesday, no class on Wednesday, and leaving for London on Thursday, I got away with no class that week. Good stuff. Up next: Royal Birthday Weekend.
Though I'm sure everyone was more excited about the Royal Wedding, I, however, was excited that it was my good friend Marta's 21st birthday. So that Thursday, I took an early train down to London to spend her birthday weekend with her. Though, I must say, nothing really to note happened on Thursday, except the usual birthday shenanigans of a nice dinner and going out. So, we move to the wedding.
Friday, April 29th. Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton get married. Met at University of Saint Andrews, in Scotland, in case you didn't know. I'm sure most of you already know the story, from what I hear, as it's been on the news in the US as well as the UK. Large, excited crowds, giant tv screens, parades, telecasters, and merriment all around. It was pretty much what it looked like on TV. Except I didn't really see it, as large crowds and being 5'2" don't really go together very well. Oh well, it was exciting to be apart of the crowd. There were Union Jack's everywhere, and many people even dressed up!
All the restaurants and pubs were also decorated, and the entire city had an air of excitement around it. That night was spent simply enjoying the city air. The next day, Marta and I had a special little treat - going to see the Doctor Who Experience. Since arriving in the UK, we have both become quite the fans, and decided this was a necessary thing to do. And it was amazing. Anyone who is a Doctor Who fan should go and see it. We helped the Doctor fight off Daleks. No big deal.
After the Doctor Who Experience it was off to Camden Town, which I have decided is kind of like Market Night....... on crack. Literally mazes of shops and booths for blocks and blocks. It is amazing. It has everything and anything you would want. If I do find my way back to London, I would need an entire weekend just to explore this one area. Quite amazing. But then it was back to her flat, for a much needed quiet night in. Then it was to the trains on Sunday morning back to Stirling, and here I am.
Not too much has happened since Sunday, except for the farewell dinner for IFSA-Butler, as classes are ending and finals are beginning. So, wish me luck!
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