New School Year

It has been ages since I have updated this thing! I am slowly getting back into the swing of things in Birmingham and have just moved into a house off of Broad Street after enjoying five absolutely amazing sunny weeks in Canada (the majority being at Camp! woo hoo!). I'm really looking forward to another school year here and although I am currently back on the supply list, I am hoping that I'll soon land another LTO to get me through the rest of the school year. The year tends to fly by quickly so I am hoping that I will be able to see just as many amazing places as I did last year!

My new room in the house!

Our amazing HUGE kitchen!

Kayaking on Superior during summer break :)

The super neat looking Scottish Pound!

Even the taxis have tartans!

Greyfriar's Kirkyard.....Scariest Places on Earth

You can watch the episode of Scariest Places on Earth about Greyfriar's Kirkyard and the poltergeist haunting, it's a little bit cheesy but it does explain a lot about the Covenanter's prison from the 1600s.

Greyfriar's Kirkyard & Haggis

On our second day in Edinburgh we decided to visit Greyfriar's Kirkyard. This graveyard is really old and famous for two very different reasons. The first reason being that it was used as an open air prison in 1679 for over 1000 supporters of the National Covenant. The National Covenanters supported a document by the same name produced to help protect Scottish Churches from English influence.

The right hand side of this photo shows the old prison rooms, they were open to the elements and had simple iron gate in the doorway and no roof . They were later bought up by the Victorians and converted to burial sites. 

The second reason this graveyard is so popular is due to a Skye terrier named Bobby. The story goes that Bobby's owner Auld Jock died when Bobby was two. Bobby spent the next 14 years guarding his master's grave until his death. After his death he was buried just outside the church grounds (because he was an animal he wasn't allowed to be buried inside the walls of the Kirkyard).

Monuments to Greyfriar's Bobby

This was one of the coolest (and creepiest) graveyards I've ever been in. In one area of the yard the tombstones make up the back wall of homes while in another area all of the graves are covered by mortsafes (a contraption covering the area that stops the buried bodies from being disturbed....the biggest problem was the bodies being dug up and dissected by medical students) There are tons of stories involving the yard, it's use throughout history and famous hauntings.

Tombstones with homes built of the back

After finishing up in Greyfriar's Kirkyard we headed out to the National Gallery to view some amazing paintings and to a cute little pub for some lunch where I got to have Haggis for the first time. I actually loved it! It was a fancier version mind you, mostly ground lamb and less gut!

Edinburgh (still day one)

 The Castle on the way back down the hill

In a graveyard with the castle on the hill in the background...they don't fool around when it comes to headstones I am standing next to one of the smallest ones that we saw there!!

 Headstone of a man of the law

The Scott Monument (and in the foreground the road ripped up...they are putting in a tram system)

Edinburgh

After we were finished with Ireland we hopped a plane over to Edinburgh to see what Scotland had in store. Edinburgh is definitely one of the coolest looking cities I have ever been in! Everything is so old, dark, and slightly creepy looking. We decided to check out Edinburgh castle the first day we were in town. It was really cool but took a bit of a hike (uphill) to get to it. We did the full tour and some of our own wandering through the castle. It is still used as a military base and was never really meant to hold royalty but what it lacks in ornateness it definitely makes up for in brute strength, there are weapons or links to the military and wartime throughout the entire castle. The military museum is located here as well as various other small buildings dedicated to certain battalions (like the Dragoon Guards) and the half moon battery with the massive guns was definitely impressive.

half moon battery

Mons Meg made in 1449 as a gift to James II of Scotland, shoots cannon balls that weigh approximately 400 lbs.

The graveyard at the castle, not for soldiers but for their dogs....how sweet!

After we were finished up at the castle we wandered through a tartan manufacturer and went on the Scotch Whiskey experience both on the Royal Mile. The Scotch Whiskey Experience was so fun! I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. The tour involves information in the production of Scotch followed by a break down of the different types of Scotch from different regions and a smell test to determine what kind of Scotch suits your taste. After you are handed your Scotch in a rather fancy little glass you are led through to the world's largest collection of Scotch Whiskey. Literally thousands of bottles are in these cases.

Some things I learned during this experience:

1. Do not shoot back your Scotch like you are in high school, you are meant to hold it on your tongue to get the flavour, not trying to get drunk.

2. Adding water doesn't ruin your Scotch....but you are only supposed to add a few drops to open it up...not half a glass.

3. Swirling the Scotch around in the glass shows you the alcohol content (you can somehow tell by how slowly it drips down the side of the glass).....it also makes you look fancy (especially when you give it a little sniff afterwards).