Scotland the Brave

Scotland. Wow. Just wow.

We spent the past 4 days exploring Scotland and it is just too beautiful for words. The short version of our trip: many, many, many hours spent in a moving vehicle surrounded by gorgeous scenery punctuated by climbing really, really steep inclines in really cold/windy/slightly rainy conditions.

Arthur's Seat aka inactive volcano

The long version:
Day 1: We left London from King's Cross for the almost five hour train ride to Edinburgh (We took the route of the Hogwarts Express!!!). Once we got to Edinburgh, we met our tour guide (little did we know he would be THE most annoying part of our trip) and went on a brief bus tour of the city. Edinburgh is a magnificent city, full of hills. My friend Elise decided we needed to climb the inactive volcano just outside the city.


So, after having lunch at a pub (and being served by a rather attractive waiter) we bundled up and began our trek. And boy, was it a trek. There are sooooo many hills within the city of Edinburgh. You never hear about them, but they are definitely there. Then, we got to climb some more steep inclines (it was a volcano after all). But the view was sooo worth it (as you can see here):

After that, we met up with some friends to have drinks at The Conan Doyle, a pub on the street where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born.

Me in front of the view from the Wallace Monument

Day 2: We got up really early to leave Edinburgh and make our way into the Highlands. Our first stop was the Wallace Monument in Stirling (FREEEEDOM!). Just FYI, he didn't look like Mel Gibson (he probably had red hair and stood at least 6'4) and he didn't wear a kilt. After yet another really steep trek, we reached the top to be rewarded by really picturesque views (and really bracing winds).

Hamish taking a break

On our way to our next stop, we got diverted by a tree in the road. Part of our detour to us past Hamish the Hairy Coo and his girlfriend Heather. Hamish was befriended and saved from slaughter by local school children. He's now 17 years old.

Armed and dangerous :)

After lunch, we went to Fort Augustus on the banks of Loch Ness to the Clansmen Centre for a demonstration of "authentic" Highland life (pre-1745). My friend John and I were dressed in semi-authentic Highland garb (we looked a wee bit ridiculous, but I told myself it was good research). Life in the Highlands was not nearly as romantic and appealing as its made out to be in romance novels :(

Susan and me by the Loch

Loch Ness was quite pretty, but there was no sign of Nessie, although according Chatty McChatterson (our tour guide who would not stop telling stories- very badly I might add- with the bus's microphone up WAY too loud), there is sonar and pictoral evidence enough to hold up in court that she does exist.
We spent the night in Inverness, the only city in the Highlands, in a hostel that could only be described as being in possession of character. Inverness is a very charming little city, although most of us were too tired to fully enjoy it.

Kristi and me in front of the memorial Cairn,
set up by the Victorian to honor the clansmen
who died here.

Day 3: After a quick breakfast at the hostel, we drove just outside of Inverness to Culloden Battlefield, where the Jacobite Rebellion of 1746 made its last stand. I'd only ever really heard the English version of most events in Scottish history, so it was very interesting to hear Chatty McChatterson's Scottish Nationalism POV. I had a few issues with his presentation of facts, but it was still interesting to hear.

After Culloden, we drove to Blair Castle, the hereditary seat of the Dukes of Atholl (the only man legally allowed to have a private army in the world). The castle was very pretty and had a lot of interesting pictures, but it was a bit weird wandering around someone else's house and looking at their family pictures.
When we left the castle, we drove down to the Blair Atholl whisky distillery and learned how they make whisky. I enjoyed hearing about the process of making whisky (and our cute tour guide there- much better than Chatty McChatterson), but I did NOT enjoy the taste (blech!).

Elephant House 

We drove back to Edinburgh that night and my friends and I went to eat at Elephant House, a little cafe overlooking Edinburgh Castle where J.K. Rowling wrote most of the first Harry Potter book. It was very cute and had a great atmosphere. The walls in the Loo (bathroom) were covered with notes to Rowling and quotes from Harry Potter.

Elise and me just outside the castle gates

Day 4: This morning we got to get up and leave the hotel. We went and toured Edinburgh Castle, which is still a working garrison. It reminded me a lot of the Tower of London, except they had a way cooler exhibit for their crown jewels. After that, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and took a really, really, really long train ride back to London.





Overall, it was a very fun trip and one of the most aesthetically pleasing places I've ever been in my life. In a lot of ways (attitude, pride, etc), Scotland reminded me of Texas. Cowboys were really just displaced Highlanders.

Anywho, it is now time for me to go to bed. This is a non-stop, action packed week, so I'll try to update more towards the end of it.

Cheers!

Adventures in and out of London

Good grief, but life around here never stops. So many things to talk about, so little time. Hmmm, what to start with?

Going back to last week, Bath and Stonehenge were fun. Stonehenge is somewhat of a disappointment, as it was the last time I saw it. You just get to walk around in a circle around the rocks, looking at them from 10 feet away, trying really hard not to get blown away by the wind that is an inherent part of the Salisbury Plain (where the stone circle is located). Still, it is a beautiful site, especially in contrast to the agricultural life going on in the fields right beside the location. We did wonder if sheep raised in pastures next to Stonehenge bring a better price than regular sheep…

Me in front of the Pump Rooms

Bath is a gorgeous city. Everything is very close together and, unlike a lot of areas of London, Bath has retained much of its Georgian (last 1700s-early 1800s) architecture and atmosphere. The main attraction of Bath is the supposed healing properties of the water there. Wealthy people would drive down to Bath and go to the Pump Rooms to drink a glass of the water or go next door to the baths and submerge themselves in it in hopes of being cured. (Having tried a sip of the warm, sulphery water, can I just say GAG!)

The Royal Crescent, where all the really, really rich people live :)

Jane Austen's House- Number 13 Queen's Square

Jane Austen Centre

Me in front of one of the Roman Baths-
I wouldn't want to swim in there

We spent a good part of our time in the museum devoted to the Roman Baths, but my favorite part came on the walking tour. We not only got to see the Royal Crescent, where parts of the ITV adaptation of Persuasion were filmed, but we also got to walk by the house on Queen’s Square where Jane Austen lived for a majority of her sojourn in Bath! Personally, I would have rather taken the money they spent on our admission to the Baths and gone to the Jane Austen Centre, but they didn’t give us an option L 

Poor lonely little ruins

On Wednesday, we went on a walking tour of The City with our British Life and Culture teacher, Professor Fosdal. The City is what Londoners call the 1 square mile area that is the original city of Londinium, where the Roman’s set up the first real settlement. It is now the financial center of London. There is very little evidence of the Roman origins of the City now with all of the big (and often ugly) office buildings that house the corporate cogs of London. We did however see a very sad sight. Today, most discoveries of Roman structures unearthed by construction are catalogued, then recovered to preserve them. This has not always been the case. In the 1960s, they discovered the remains of the Temple of Mithras on the site of a new building. Rather than relocating the building or recovering the find after archeologists has examined it, they simply picked up the remains and moved them 30 feet away. Now they sit next to the building, looking very sad and forlorn and out of place.

My view of the stage at the Globe

Thursday night, we saw our first play at Shakespeare’s Globe. The Comedy of Errors is blessedly one of Shakie’s shortest plays because we were groundlings, which meant standing for over 2 hours. The play was very funny and well done. It was the play that went on tour this summer, so the company was much smaller, and many of the actors did double and triple duty in different roles. Despite being sore and ready to collapse at the end, we had fun.

The Royal Pavilion 

Friday, we went to the beach. Brighton, to be specific. Brighton has been one of the favorite resort towns in England since the late 1700s when the Prince of Wales (later George IV) decided he wanted to build a palace there. Ok, not just a palace. A gaudy monstrosity of decadence and indulgence would be a better way to describe the Royal Pavilion. We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the inside, but that’s probably a good thing. So many garish colors and gold opulence might have broken my poor little camera.

Me and my roommates Chanea and Kristi at the beach

Being a resort town, Brighton is primarily centered on the beach. Professor Fosdal made us take off our shoes and wade (or paddle) into the ocean (which was REALLY REALLY COLD!!!!). Unlike nearby beaches, the Brighton beaches are rock beaches. Rock beaches are a lot more painful on little feet than sandy ones, especially feet that were abused the night before by standing up for 2 straight hours.

The pier at Brighton

Along with the beach, there is a pier, much like ones you might find at Coney Island or the Jersey Short, complete with overpriced games, sketchy looking roller coasters, places to consume alcohol, and even a mechanical bull. Despite its somewhat cheesy exterior, I enjoyed the views from and of the pier. It was a really cool place to watch people. Some people were caught up in the frenzy of the games and rides, but others simply sat in these beach chairs and just watched the ocean for hours on end.

Well, I suppose I should probably get back to my homework now.

Cheers!

Busy, Busy Dizzy

Weekends around here are busy/crazy. That’s not an excuse for not blogging (ok, it is) but it is also a fact. There always seem to be a million and twelve things going on. Now that classes have started, homework occupies a decent chunk of time.

On Friday we went on a trip to Stonehenge and Bath, but I will save that blog for when I can have the corresponding pictures to assist with the recounting of the adventures.

Saturday started out very lazily. We slept in, ate a bit of breakfast/lunch (we got up around 10 or so), then got ready for the day. Most of the group opted to stay in and do homework (yes, homework. On a Saturday!), but my intrepid friend Hayley decided to join me in exploring Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, as far as British weather goes. The sun was shining, birds chirping, and Londoners were taking full advantage of it. There were people EVERYWHERE. Picnics were going on at comfortable intervals all over the park. People walked around enjoying the day, soaking up some much needed Vitamin-D. As we ambled along the Serpentine (the small man-made river that runs between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens), we saw dogs frolicking in the water, blissful to be out of the house.

I FINALLY got to search out the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens! I’ve wanted to see it since my first trip here, but have never quite managed it.

After that mission was accomplished, we wandered over to the very lovely quartet of fountains at the head of the Serpentine by Marlborough Gate. By this point we opted that it was time for a bit of homework, so we settled in to do some reading/homework.

Being my mother’s daughter, I couldn’t help doing more people-watching than actual work. One of my favorite parts of London is getting to observe the various cultures and conglomerations of people. In one small place, there were families (with adorable and heathenish children alike), couples, friends, strangers. There was evening a wedding party taking photos around the fountains. Listening to the conversations of the grass-loungers around us, I heard many different dialects and accents, most of them not British.

Living with the same 21 people and only interacting with them 24/7 can get a bit old, so on Sunday I went to visit the England branch of the Mommy Mafia, the lovely Tara Allen and her family. This required me taking the tube by myself for the first time ever (moderately scary) and figuring out how to get a ticket to take a train out to the little town they live in, about 50 minutes from Waterloo Station. (Just FYI, Waterloo Station is scary, busy, and really confusing). But I was completely victorious and was rewarded with good company, homemade cookies, wonderful Thai food (chicken pananaag- Yum!) and advice on how to make finicky and confusing British appliances to work.

Today is a day for reading for British Life and Culture class (Watching the English by Kate Fox) and attempting to work on my sadly neglected writing. My novel is going well, but my Angels and Demons story is proving to be a difficult undertaking.

Tomorrow or Wednesday, I will try to post about Stonehenge and Bath, as well as update pictures. The internet here at our lovely flat is too temperamental to attempt to upload a significant amount of pictures. 

London Midweek Photo Update 1

The Royal Albert Hall- one of the many monuments to Prince Albert, all within walking distance of our flat!

Greetings from the very quiet resource center here at CAPA!

I've only been here 5 days, but it feels like I've spent much more time here. Since I last blogged, I've officially settled into the flat, got a UK sim card for my phone, and started classes. Also mixed in there was our first UK grocery shopping trip and our first play.

As far as classes go, I've only been to two out of four so far, but I'm quite excited about them. Shakespeare with Dr. Kilfoyle is going to be fantastic. After Capstone, I was a bit burnt out and jaded towards Shakie (as our Theatre professor fondly calls him), but this class is renewing my love for the Bard. We've already started in on Romeo and Juliet and are going to see an all female cast perform in tonight at the Camden Fringe Festival (review to come later). After R&J, we move on to The Tempest (one I haven't read before), then we'll spend time with Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream. After that we got for a history play or two (Henry IV Part 1&2), followed by The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, and King Lear. Dr. Kilfoyle is trying to convince us that we need to put on a small production of our own in November, as the city seems to be lacking in options for about two weeks, but we're not buying it.

Theatre class started yesterday. Our professor, who asks that we call her Janine (I still find it incredibly weird to call professors by their first names), is quite a character. She is adept at many different dialects and accents, which she demonstrated for us. Over the course of the semester we're going to just about every kind of theatre production she could find in London. The one I'm most excited about is Les Miz!!! (25th anniversary year, in the original theatre!). Last night, we went to see The 39 Steps, a comic play based off of the Hitchcock movie of the same title. Didn't realize it at the time, but the lead actor appeared as Francis in Pillars of the Earth. It was quite funny, made more so by the fact that it was performed by a cast of 4, 3 men and a woman. The theatre we saw it in was pretty cool too. Located right by the Statue of Eros in Leicester Square, it's actually built underground, so instead of climbing up to the nosebleed section, you climb down to the stalls.

The weather here is absolutely fantastic. We've had a bit of rain, but nothing too terrible. I am soooo not missing triple digit heat and humidity. All of me loves living here, except for the blisters on my feet. They're not too happy at the moment, especially since I love walking around. I planned to spend yesterday morning in Hyde Park, but my body decided I needed to sleep until noon instead, so I'm planning an excursion there tomorrow after my 9:15 Writing In The City class.

And now, the pictures I promised. There aren't many as I'm trying to soak up the city rather than experience it through a camera lens.

Monument to Prince Albert that was painted black up until about 20 years ago b/c it had to be protected from WWI/WWII bombings.

Lexie and her awesome Dutch pancake with nutella.

Our small and rather messy room (3 girls in one room makes for interesting mornings)

Our living room/kitchen and my flatmates Hayley and Anna

I promise to try and have more pictures for next week. This Friday we go to Bath and Stonehenge, so I'll undoubtedly have more pictures from those adventures.

London from a Bus

Greetings from our lovely (but TINY) flat in Kensington!

           

After a two-hour orientation this morning at the hotel, we went on a wonderful private tour of Central London. Our tour guide (Eric) was quite funny and full of knowledge of the city.

Some interesting facts we learned today:

-       Affluent people live in the West of London and socioeconomics grow less well-off as you move East. The reason? Because in the West, you get fresh, country air, whereas if you build East you get the more pungent City smells. Part of the reason London won the 2012 Olympics was because most of the events will be held in the East so that they can revitalize the neighborhoods and boroughs there.

-       Dad, there’s very little mowing in London because there’s no room to have yards. The only serious mowing occurs in the parks.

-       Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are known as the Lungs of London because there are so many plants and so much open space.

-       The Knightsbridge area got its name because two knights fought to the death over who got to tax a bridge. (Seriously.)

-       As the tour guide said “We win, we nearly win, or we just don’t talk about it.” The American Revolution is just a page in front of Napoleon.

-       The dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral (which is actually 3 domes) served as a rallying point for Londoners during the Blitz, because as long as it was still standing, Britain was still fighting.

-       Barristers are the dudes who wear the wigs and robes and they work in the civil courts.

-       London never stops. Even after the Great Fire of 1666, it develops, gets better, and gets bigger.

I will admit to completely nerding out as we drove through Mayfair, getting to see all of the places that I’ve read about in my romance novels (Grosvenor Square, Berkley Square, Hatchard’s Bookstore- which I plan to visit soon).

We’re in a really great neighborhood in Kensington. It’s about a ten-minute walk to the CAPA center where we’ll have classes and maybe a 30-minute walk from Kensington Gardens. We went to a pub this evening for dinner (which was really more like snacks) and drinks with some of our professors.

Now we’re just back, hanging out in the apartment, getting ourselves sorted out.

I’ll try to upload some pictures by Wednesday. Tomorrow is going to be spent shopping, getting cell-phones and stuff like that.

Cheers!

London Calling

Well, I’m finally here. I’m in London!

Getting here was exhausting, to say the least. 10 hours on a plane, in the middle seat, behind a family with twin toddlers made for a very, long day, especially on top of my connecting flight to Houston being delayed. But I’m now sitting in my hotel room just outside of Heathrow Airport, relaxing.

To stave off sleeping and avoid jet lag, we all decided to use our Oyster cards (see: Tube passes) to go into Central London and explore a bit. We started out in a larger group, but by the time we actually got into the city there were just 6 of us. We didn’t particularly want to actually do a lot, so we went on a very long wander around Westminster.

Most of you will be shocked to hear that I was actually the one navigating (and not getting us lost on top of that). But after walking around for 4+ hours, we were pretty wiped out, so we ate at a pub and came back to the hotel.

Can I just say I love London? There is so much history just everywhere and it all blends in with the modern seamlessly.

Tomorrow we have orientation and then a bus tour of the city before we move into our flats.

P.S. I already have blisters (Ouch!)

Summer Excuses

So...I'm not going to lie. I've been too caught up in writing and researching my new novel to keep up with this blog for the summer. Just to show that I haven't been slacking off, I present....(dramatic drumroll) the cast for the trilogy that I've been working on. The first novel starts in March of 1816.
First, the women:

Sarah Bolger as: Miss Katherine Burns. Heroine of the first novel, Kate, at 24, doesn't plan on every getting married. She's spending the Season as her cousin's chaperone when she meets a mysterious man who will forever change her life.

Kirsty Mitchell as: Lady Beatrice (last name TBD). Kate's best friend since childhood, Lady Bea is a feisty, adventurous sort whose hidden soft spots will be revealed in the second novel of the trilogy.

Rachael Caprini as: Miss Cassandra Armstrong. Kate's romantic dreamy cousin learns the harsh realities of love in the last novel.










And now, the men. (Not gonna lie- I had a ton of fun casting this part :D)

Henry Cavill as: Colonel Lord Aidan Cavanaugh, the Marquess of Pierston. Aidan never expected to inherit the title. He spent most of his life in the middle of India in an army camp. Now, with Kate's help, he must learn to navigate the dangerous world of London society. The Warrior

Joe Manganiello  as: Lord James Hartwell, Marquess of Hartham. James is the heir to a dukedom, but he joined the army from a sense of duty. In the second novel, he returns home to the land he loves. The Farmer.

Chris Egan as: Lord Robert Grey, the Earl of Blaze. Rob lost his parents at an early age. Raised by his grandmother, he's always been a ladies' man. His quick wit and his smooth words win him the hearts of women and other politicians alike. The Politician














So, I probably won't post much until I'm in London. August 20th, get here soon!