We had two neat bus stops on our way from Durham, England to Edinburgh, Scotland. The first was Housestead's fort along Hadrian's Wall. This wall was built about 100 AD and marked the northern extent of the Roman Empire. I think it was supposed to serve as protection from the "barbarians" or Scots. The remains were really neat and we had fun climbing, posing, and balancing on them The weather was pretty chilly and misty/rainy. It was rather gloomy, but I guess that's how the weather normally is up here.
We stopped for a quick lunch in a small Scottish town. I got a BLT which I threw away. Mental note: bacon doesn't mean the same thing in all countries. But the cool thing is the town just happened to be where Robert Burns, probably the second most famous writer in Scotland, lived. I memorized one of his poems for my English class and happily recited it for credit in front of this plaque.
Oh my love's like a red, red rose, that's newly burst in June...
Our second stop was Abottsford, home of Sir Walter Scott. I didn't know anything about him beforehand, but I quickly fell in love with this cool guy. He is Scotland's most famous author, known for his poetry, novels (Ivan Hoe, Waverly, etc), and historical fiction. He was also a lawyer and worked at law while writing works that became worldwide successes. It is ironic that he originally published under a false name (like women writers often did to mask their identity) and is now the most famous name in Scotland. His house, Abottsford, was incredible. I think it has been one of my favorite parts of this whole study abroad! Almost everything in the house was authentic (paintings & sculputres of he and his family, furniature, their Bible, manuscripts, etc). One of the best things inside his house was the study - it was a library full of weathered books - we could still see little pieces of paper serving as bookmarks in the pages. The bookshelves spanned from floor to ceiling... it was like Beauty and the Beast, but on a smaller, realer scale. He was also obsessed with collecting artifacts. He had loads of swords, armor and even Napoleon's book and pen. But even better than inside the house were the grounds. The house itself is a mini-castle whic he had built when he earned money from his writings (he was poor and worked up slowly). The house has a walled-in garden full of beautuiful flowers. The backyard has a gorgeous view. There is a steep grassy hill, then a horse pasture, and finally a stream which is perfect for wading and skipping rocks. We spent some time down there enjoying the sunshine which magically appeared for us.
We finally reached our destination of Edinburgh. We split up for dinner, took a long exploring walk, and ended up finding the "Elephant Cafe" where J.K. Rowling wrote "Harry Potter". It was really fun and our dessert was delicious! Finally good cheesecake!!!
Danielle and I opted for a safe dinner from Pizza Express - I had enough Scottish suprises with my lunch today!
I contemplated writing my own brilliant novel on a napkin just like J.K. Rowling, but then my cheesecake came...
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