The Freezing Castle (Edinburgh)

   On September 6th, we took off to Edinburgh. This was the day that I mentioned earlier, saying it was absolutely freezing, rainy, & miserable. That pretty much sums it up, but we tried to make the best of it & ended up making memories along the way!

   Edinburgh Castle is the focal point of Edinburgh. It's at the top of the Royal Mile, which is a mile long street leading up to castle at the top of the hill. The Royal Mile packed with shops & plenty of Scottish tweeds & tartans to go around. That day we got some royal exercise.

Photo Credit: Dad

   We weren't expecting it to be so cold, so we didn't even bring coats! Just to impress on you how freezing it was, Mum bought us two scarves trying to make us a little bit warmer. I already had a scarf but no gloves, so I just wrapped my new scarf around my cold hands. I did take my hands out of the scarf every now and then to take pictures for you guys. Oh the things I do for you . . .

   I will now mention that my family & I came to Edinburgh on our last England trip, back in 2005. Believe it or not, it was 10x more freezing then than it was this time around. All our Edinburgh memories are rather cold.

   The castle itself was fascinating, so it's a pitty I mostly ducked my head & wanted to go inside a building to get warm.

   Here's a before & after picture! Eight years makes a difference. (And yes, that really was me under all those layers. You'll just have to take my word for it.)

Photo Credit: Dad

Photo Credit: Dad

   One of my favorite parts of Edinburgh Castle was seeing The Honours: The Scottish Crown Jewels. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take pictures of them, but there is one fascinating story about them that I'd love to recount to you. 

   The crown, scepter, & sword of state were used at the coronations of Scotland's monarchs as far back as 1543. When the Parliament of England & the Parliament of Scotland were dissolved in 1707 & the Parliament of Britain was formed, the Honours of Scotland no longer had a symbolic purpose. Therefore, they were locked in a chest in Edinburgh Castle and almost forgotten for over a hundred years. 

   When a group finally went to regain the Honours in 1818 they were afraid the jewels might have been stolen during their hundred year rest. But when they broke into the chest's lock & lifted the lid the Honours were safely inside. My favorite part of the story is that there was one more item found in the chest besides the crown, scepter, and sword of state. It was a silver-gilt wand. No one knows why or how it got there, it's all a mystery. It would make an excellent historical fiction novel!

Photo Credit: Dad

   After we finished exploring the castle we warmed ourselves up with tea at a nice cafe. Then we went back out to face the elements to do a bit more shopping on the Royal Mile. I bought a cute pink cardigan at my new favorite clothing store, Ness! They have the loveliest things.

   The next day was a mix of more walking around the city, resting in the hotel room, & saying goodbye to Aunt Kim & Uncle David. We had such a great time with them & were so sad to see them go!

   We enjoyed our stay in Scotland very much, even if our last day was so dismal. We found Scotland to be very laid back and friendly. Almost all the people, especially our waiters & waitresses, were so kind & went out of their way to give us great service. Definitely hoping I can go back one day!

P.S. On our train to Edinburgh we sat behind a lively group of women throwing a hen party, which is the British version of a bachelorette party. They were quite a boisterous lot with plenty of champagne for the whole weekend! =) We asked if we could take their picture & they happily agreed. Even though it's kind of blurry, it captures the atmosphere of coach rather well. 

Photo Credit: Dad

Our Adventure to Coton

   This is the recounting of the day in which we walked seven miles, picnicked, & got throughly lost. Oh. And I had the time of my life.
   This past Saturday we traipsed out to the village of Coton with our new friends Peter, Zuzana, & baby Andrew. It was about a two mile walk, so we went prepared for all weather types & took a picnic lunch to eat once we got there.
   The walk out there was lovely. The weather was perfect with just a hint of cool. We never walked for more than a quarter of a mile with the same kind of scenery. For a while the path ran along a wheat field, then it went through some woods, then a lot of over grown brush, then a cow field, etcetera.

   In several places we found huge bushes of wild blackberries! We picked some to snack on and though many of them were rather tart, some of them were sweet. So (as mum likes to say) we ate blackberries from the hedgerows! =D

   The village of Coton is not very big, & there wasn't anything extra special about it. We mostly enjoyed it because of the journey it took to get there (&, as you will see, to get back)!

Zuzana & I took lots of pictures!

   We picnicked by the church. We had a lovely spread of things, including sandwiches, crisps (chips), raspberries, avocados, olives, & chocolate swirl Slovakian bread (thanks Zuzana)! 

   After we finished lunch we began the trip home. On our way to the church we had noticed a footpath that lead from Coton to Newnham (which is very close to Tyndale House). We decided to try it out. Well, it ended up being quite the adventure, to say the least!

   The path was very narrow at times. Like, really narrow. And Andrew's stroller had to be lifted over several fences before it was all said and done.

We saw lamas!!! =D They made me sooo happy . . .

This is my favorite picture from the day. =)

   About half way through the trip home there was a branch in the road. I thought we should go right because both the arrows on the post pointed right, but everyone else thought we should go left because that would take us back over the highway. We went left & . . . got lost. I'm not saying that was where we went wrong, but that was where we went wrong. We ended up going through cow fields, wheat fields, & many other random fields. But I had the time of my life!

Photo Credit: Dad

For posterity's sake Zuzana & I had to snap a picture of this. In Peter's defense, they did this about five or six times.

  The worst part was when we had to climb over a fence into a bunch of stinging nettles & up a knoll to get to the road. Thankfully we all made it and soon realized we were very close to home! 

Photo Credit: Zuzana

Photo Credit: Dad

   As soon as we got home it started raining! We all settled down to rest & drink hot chocolate, & I watched Downton Abbey. We walked seven miles in all, so we had earned it. It was a perfect Saturday!

Random Thoughts & Snaps...

   The last few days have been a lovely blend of relaxing, creating, relating, experimenting, & working. Here are some of my favorite shots.

We walked to The Orchard in Granchester on Saturday. It's a lovely two mile walk & the weather was perfect. They were out of scones (*sigh*), but we made due with cake.

We've had a few rainy days, but not many. I enjoy them when they come, but I know I'll be singing a different tune in a few weeks. I'm trying to soak up the sun before it disappears for the rest of our time here.

Mum made a chicken pot pie & had a little extra pie crust. I liked it, so I put a bunting on it. =)

A friend came over yesterday & we baked these amazingly delicious raspberry lemon muffins. I'm eating the last one now, & I'm definitely going to make them again. You can find the recipe here.

I bought some flowers at the market to put in my lemonade bottle. They look so happy.

   This week I've also started my senior year of high school! Say WHAT? It's going to be the best year ever! More on that soon.

   I still miss all of you dreadfully, but I do love it here. Is that how most of life is? A mix of joy & pain, of longing & contentment, of questions & thankfulness? 
   Even though all the emotions can be confusing, they are what makes us human. We are aware of our humanity when our hearts ache & our minds spin with tons of emotions. But we are also reminded of God's faithfulness & kindness because His Word tells us to:

Give all your worries & cares to God, for he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7

(New Living Translation) 

   He wants us to let Him take on all our crazy emotions. He wants to walk with us, to comfort us, to teach us, & to turn the pain into something beautiful. So will you let Him?