Weekend in York

On Thursday, I headed down to England on a bus with my friend Kyle. We arrived around dinnertime, finding the city of York completely decked out for the holidays.

The B&B where Kyle, Tom and I stayed-- a five minute walk from York Minster.

The view from our top-floor room.

Kyle, Tom and I in the middle of the Christmas Fayre in downtown York, where vendors were selling crafts, flowers, and produce.

At night, the narrow streets were all lit up with Christmas lights. It was verrrry chilly, but there was no snow until Sunday. We were amazed by the hundreds of small Christmas trees attached to the store fronts throughout the city... they were all real trees!

York Minster at night.

We found so many great pubs and cafes while we were in York-- I found the best pot of chai I've ever had in my life at a tiny Mexican cafe called El Piano.

It started to rain, so we took shelter in the Railway Museum-- which ended up being pretty cool.

Our first morning, we got on a boat and headed up the River Ouse for a little cruise around the city.


...Here's that pot of chai I mentioned earlier! Everything served on the menu could be vegan and gluten-free-- interestingly, we found a ton of cafes and restaurants that offer gluten-free menus.

A few more shots of the stunningly enormous York Minster Cathedral


When I returned home on Sunday evening, I was swept off with my flatmates to a James Morrison concert in downtown Edinburgh at the Picture House. We heard some really great music and it was a fantastic end to my long weekend (although I still had a paper to write by Monday afternoon!).

Sunset view out my flat window.

Still no snow in Edinburgh! It's actually quite warm today-- about 45 degrees and sunny. But Old Town and New Town look like Christmas already with a large outdoor skating rink set up in Princes Street Gardens, a ferris wheel right on Princes Street, and Christmas lights draped all over the Royal Mile.

Weekend in the Highlands

I joined the Edinburgh International Students Club on a weekend trip to the Highlands. Our first stop was at the Hermitage, which is where I saw this little bridge.

The Hermitage is a forested area in Dunkeld.

We were on a bus of about 50 international students and we had a Scottish tour guide who knew a great deal of history-- and he was very entertaining too (wearing a kilt the entire weekend, of course!). We visited Culloden Battlefield, where the Jacobites were defeated by the Hanovarian British in 1746.

After the Battle of Culloden, many of the traditions of Scotland were banned by England-- including the wearing of kilts and speaking Gaelic-- in an attempt to crush the spirit of the Scots.

We also visited this really strange site called Clootie Well. The well here was said to have had healing powers because of its minerals, so sick people would come here, drink the water, and then tie a small piece of clothing onto one of the nearby trees. By the time the clothing fell off, the person would be healed. As you can see, there are hundreds of little pieces of clothing attached to branches all around the well to this day.

That evening, we arrived at Carbisdale Castle, our hostel for the night. It is SUCH a beautiful place!

The entrance to the castle

This is the Great Hall, where we had dinner and breakfast in the morning. We also had a ceilidh later Saturday evening in the ballroom upstairs. It was so much fun to explore the rooms of the castle before going to bed.

I found a kitty in the castle's library!

Sunrise from the castle walls

Castle Urquhart ruins on the edge of Loch Ness
We had such beautiful weather on Loch Ness... but no sightings of Nessie this time!

Me and my friend Evonne, whose parents are Chinese, but she was born in South Africa, raised in Ottawa, works in Ghana during the summer, and goes to school in Edinburgh!
Much of our time during the weekend was spent gazing out the windows of our bus at the amazing Highland countryside-- we covered a lot of ground in two days.

The river at Glencoe

More Highland views


We stopped in a small town to get some lunch, and I found this handmade soap shop with a wool mill next door.

Another shot of Glencoe, where in the winter of 1692 the Battle of Glencoe took place. It was the first time the British army used one Highland clan against another Highland clan to do its bidding, and the results were devastating (the Campbells sided with the British against the MacDonalds). There is still a degree of hostility between the MacDonalds and Campbells, even if it's not completely serious-- outside the Clachaig Inn, which is a hotel and pub in Glencoe, there is a sign that reads, "No Hawkers or Campbells."

Scotland vs. New Zealand

On Saturday, I went with five friends to a rugby match at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.

We had AMAZING seats! Somehow, we ended up in the fourth row. Marjo bought the tickets really early, so we were lucky that she was so on top of things. This is a photo of the Scotland team warming up right before the match.

We were so close to the action!
Scotland lost pretty badly to New Zealand, but apparently it was kind of expected-- the NZ All Blacks are the best rugby team right now. We were actually sitting with a pretty good mix of Scotland and New Zealand supporters, so we were right in the middle of lots of patriotic chanting and flag-waving from both sides.
People (especially the Scots) really get all decked out for the match. As we were riding the bus to the stadium, throngs of people were wrapped in Scottish flags, sporting kilts, and showing off their blue-and-white colors with face paint.

They really made a show of it when the Scotland team first entered the field-- crazy lighting and exciting music and fire accompanied them.

I think this is such a funny picture.

So many bagpipers!
This was the organized group that played at the beginning of the match, but there were also lots of individual bagpipers who just stood in the stands and played whatever they felt like.

Still happy, even after a 35-6 loss!

I took a few photos of the bread I made yesterday because I think I'm going to include a recipe for organic apple-walnut bread in an article I'm writing and I wanted to have some pictures to accompany it.

Halloween weekend

On Friday, I went out with a few of my friends to experience Halloween in Edinburgh. I dressed as a girl from the 70s, haha. After a French dinner made by Aurore, we headed to the Royal Mile.

The parade on the Royal Mile was crazy-- I've never seen anything like it.

I met two Statues of Liberty!

Neil, Eleni, and Colin all dressed up

Here are some more photos of the parade on the Royal Mile, or the Fire Festival.


Pretty darn weird.

Saturday was a beautiful day, so I headed out and took some more photos of Edinburgh.

Imposing castle in the background

Outside the Parish of St. Cuthbert-- according to tradition, Christian worship has been practiced continuously on this site for over 13 centuries. There is a really cool cemetery outside it with with all kinds of interesting headstones.

The Grassmarket area in Edinburgh-- very quaint.

Last night, I watched some election coverage with a few American friends, Tom and Kyle, in Kyle's flat on the Royal Mile. We were all pretty exhausted, though, so we only made it to about 2 a.m.-- which is only 9 p.m. in New York time. A lot of bars stayed open late so that people could watch Obama win (there is almost universal support of the Democratic party here, from what I've seen).
This evening is Guy Fawkes Night, which is basically an excuse for British people to have bonfires and set off lots of fireworks. It's a celebration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, which took place on November 5 in 1605, when some conspirators (including Guy Fawkes) made an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Of course, they failed, which gives Scots all the more reason to create little statues of Guy Fawkes and burn them while drinking lots of whisky.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I can think of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!