Pilgrimages, Protests and Rugby.

It was very sad to leave Scotland last week, but a week later I am happy to be settled back into London life. We spent our last full day in Scotland, which was St. Patrick's day, getting haircuts, doing some window shopping and then, of course, celebrating. It was great to be back in a college town for a day like St. Paddy's. After a long and fun guinness-fueled night we had to wake up and sadly, say goodbye to St Andrews.

Liz getting her hair done

some Scottish beer names

The golf course at St Andrews

One last shot out of our window

Goodbye Scottish countryside

We came home to an empty flat that was devoid of food. The result of this was a quiet night in and a gigantic hit at the grocery store on Saturday. Liz and I made dinner for John and Kevin, which, despite my so far sub par cooking skills, was delicious. We made steak, chicken, salad and potatoes. I attempted to make apple pie using Jojo's recipe. I had to improvise, as we lack a proper pie dish and I forgot to buy flour at the store, but it still turned out delicious.

Our improvised version of Broiling

Bradley, my birthday cake

On Monday our walking tour took us to Victorian England. We walked around Kensington, seeing the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert, Royal Albert Hall, The Albert memorial and Hyde Park. It was an incredibly beautiful day, making the tour amazing. I'm looking forward to going back to Hyde Park in a few weeks to enjoy a picnic with some friends in the warmer weather!

Natural History Museum

History Museum again

More of the Natural History Museum

Flack and Flak from the Blitz

Victoria and Albert

Royal Albert Hall

Albert Hall

The Albert Memorial

Africa

America

Europe

Europe

Unfortunately, after our lovely walking tour we went to see a truly terrible play about alcoholism. I hated the play- it was far to 'artsy' for lack of a better term. Our teacher calling in sick on tuesday and consequently leaving us with no classes all day did slightly make up for the fact that we had to sit through the play.

On Thursday our Museum theory course took us to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. I don't really have much to say about this museum, as I only made it about 5 minutes into the tour. I am very squeamish, to a point where it is embarrassing, and though I tried to hide it, my professor was concerned by the lack of color in my face and my clearly nauseous expression. The museum was full of intestines and other organs in jars, and the tour guide loved giving graphic descriptions of truly horrific things. I couldn't handle it. Professor Coyle, as well as several of my classmates, told me I looked like I was going to faint. He told me to go home and not to worry about it. I was incredibly embarrassed to have to leave, but also relieved to get out of there! Needless to say, I will not be returning to the Hunterian any time soon.

Thursday night we all headed to our favorite spot, the Court with some of our housemates from last year who were visiting. Gwynne was visiting from Germany and Kate from Spain, so we wanted to show them our usual haunts. It was a lot of fun and great to catch up with Kate and Gwynne. Seeing them both made me more excited for next year, when we will all be living together again in Bunche House! I wish they could have stayed longer!

Allie, Megan, Jordan, Molly, Suzanne, Myself and Gwynne

On Friday we took a day trip to Canterbury with the English group. Canterbury is only about an hour away by train, so we got to sleep in a little. We took a tour of the Cathedral at 1 and were then free to wander the town until we wanted to go home to London. The Cathedral was awe inspiring. My inner history nerd came out when looking at the many memorials and tombs of major players in English history that are held there, such as Thomas Beckett and the Black Prince. It was another beautiful day and was great to get out of the city for a bit.

Gates to Canterbury

The main street in Canterbury

Pilgrim's Hospital

Myself and Jordan in front of the Cathedral Gates

The site of Thomas Beckett's Martyrdom

I lit a candle for my family!

One of the many stained glass windows that was restored after they were smashed in under Cromwell

View down the Chapel

Saturday I awoke to the sounds of protesters marching in Russell Square. A protest of about 250,000 people was held to demonstrate against recent cute in the national budget. This protest was peaceful and ended in Hyde Park. However, some anarchist groups took advantage of the rally to do some serious damage to the city. Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus both sustained considerable damage, the result of fires, smoke bombs, graffiti, smashed windows and dangerously aimed fireworks and flares. The violent demonstrators smashed teh windows of several major banks, the Ritz hotel and Fortnum & Mason. The riot police were out in full force and several were injured. The violence continued in small pockets until very late last night, when the last of it was seen in Trafalgar Square. Luckily for me I was not in the city all day Saturday. I went to a Rugby game with Emily, Molly and Emma. We met up with Charlie, Randall, Mike, Alex and Cam at the game. I've never really watched rugby and don't know the ruled beyond the most basic form of the game, but Emily is a rugby player and kept me aware. It was a really nice sunny day, perfect for trying out this English sport for the first time. I can't say I understand rugby much better than I did before, but at least I experienced a game while over here!

Rugby Pitch

Some type of Rugby play?

Today Carolyn, Corey, Elizabeth, Kevin, John and I walked down to Trafalgar Square to go to the National Gallery. We walked by a lot of the damage left from yesterday, including an HSBC bank with all of its windows smashed and considerable amounts of spray painted and chalked graffiti. It was a shame to see the monuments in Trafalgar defaced with violent saying and symbols of anarchy, but it was still nice to see the square.

HSBC bank with the windows smashed in

Trafalgar Square

Chalk graffiti, note the hopscotch

Defaced lions

Graffiti on Nelson's statue

More Graffiti on Nelson's statue

The National Gallery was amazing. The building was so large, I found myself feeling lost at points. The Architecture was also awe inspiring, which was wonderful to see but did take away from the art a little. Despite the overwhelming nature of the museum, it was still a great visit. It isn't every day you get to see Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Monet's footbridge, especially when its only a 10 minute walk away from your home! There are still so many things in London I have to explore, I hope I don't run out of time before I get to do it all.

The National Gallery

Some Bagpipers in the Square

There are several second hand book shops on the way back from the gallery, so John and I stopped in to look around. I found some really cool old books, such as a pocket book of Shakespeare's sonnets from 1880, but found most of them to be way out of my budget. I did end up picking up a book about St. George from 1957. It looked like an interesting read, not only because it is about St. George, but also because it seems to have an unabashedly biased view. The book also has the unmistakeable old book smell, one which makes every English nerd happy.

Today we have a walking tour of Leighton House museum and another play starring Matthew Fox from Lost. I'm looking forward to it!

21 in Scotland!

Today is our second full day in Scotland and I am so in love with this country that I don't ever want to leave, even to return to my beloved London.

Flying over the Alps on our way from Rome

We arrived at the hotel around 11pm on the 14th, after a long day of traveling. Our room is incredible. We overlook the ocean on one side and the golf course on the other. I love corner suites. We are also equipped with a fireplace and two plasma screen TVs. It is going to be hard to return to our flat in London after this!

Our Hotel!

Hotel again

our sitting room at the hotel

the fireplace!

the bedroom

Fireplace again!

After midnight we went to the hotel bar and had a drink each, as was only appropriate since it was officially my 21st birthday.

First drink as a 21 year old! Guinness, of course

On my birthday we woke up to a delicious breakfast delivered by room service before heading down to the spa in the hotel. We had hot stone massages, facials, manicures and pedicures. It was absolute perfection. We also met an older scottish couple while we were there, Margaret and Donald. Margaret was thrilled to be at the spa, but Donald, who was clearly dragged along by his wife, thought it made him feel like "a wee bit of a nancy boy". As if the spa day wasn't already incredible, meeting those two made it even better.

After a delicious dinner, with some champagne and a card from the hotel sent up for my birthday, we headed into the town of St Andrews in order to explore the pubs. We ended up at the Central, a cute corner pub that was full of students. Halfway through the night one of my friends from Kent who I haven't seen since graduation, Sam Batchelor, walked into the pub. I still can't believe we just happened to run into him. I don't think I was nearly as surprised as he was though, he seemed dumbfounded to run into me here. He has promised to take us around on St. Patricks Day, which should be a great time!

a 'Happy Birthday' from the Hotel!

Birthday Guinness at the Central

We got home around midnight and went up to the room to turn in, as we had to get up early this morning to go horseback riding! We drove about a half hour into the country side to a riding school called Barbara Fields. We went on a breathtaking trail ride. We cantered through fields of sheep and cows, which all boasted breath taking views of the Scottish country side. My horse, Beau, was both extremely feisty and lazy. Every chance he got, he would try to eat or slow down, so we were kindred spirits. I am so glad Liz and I got to go riding. The experience has convinced me that rural Scotland is one of the most idyllic places in the world. I even ended our excursion with meeting a friendly dog named Rusty and a few adorable kittens.

Scottish Countryside

On Beau!

Gorgeous

Perfect place to ride!

View from our ride

another shot with Beau

Heaven

Liz and I on our horses

Rusty

My new cat friend

Liz and I are now going to have lunch at the hotel and relax for a while before heading into town again tonight to explore and bit and have dinner. Tomorrow is St Patrick's day, so we will be saving up our energy. We both have hair cut appointments at 2:30 and plan on staying in town to celebrate this wonderful holiday after our appointments, which will allow us to have a bit of a lie in and still get into town with plenty of time to experience a Scottish St. Patty's day!