Today was such a fantastic day!
Well. Let’s start with last night. I was having trouble falling asleep (which is very unusual for me) and I was contemplating getting up to take a Benadryl when my roommate, Ashley (who had been asleep for about an hour), got up, walked over to the window, tried to open it, looked out for awhile and then got back in bed. This morning when I asked her about it she didn’t remember at all, and we had a good laugh about her sleepwalking episode. When we set the alarm clock in our room last night it was 10:30 and we forgot to set it for 22:30, so we woke up a little late for breakfast but we got down in time to eat something. Then we set out.
We were planning on going to Scott’s View first (a great lookout where you can take great pictures) but a road was closed and we couldn’t get there easily, so we went straight to Dryburgh Abbey, where I got bunches of pictures that will have to just go on Facebook because there are way too many to put on here! But it was fascinating. Dr. Buck asked us to find a quiet spot for about 20 minutes and journal or meditate so I found a spot in the Chapter House off of the Cloister and beside where the dormitories would have been. It was an administrative area for the Abbey so it seemed funny to choose to sit in there and meditate, but they had Gregorian chants and sacred music sung by a choir playing through a stereo system beneath the stairs that sounded just gorgeous echoing off the stone walls of the Chapter House and I didn’t want to leave. The monks would go to the Chapter House each morning to sit beneath the stone arches, listen to a chapter of the monastic rule read to them, make administrative decisions, confess their sins, and receive chastisement. After sitting there for awhile I started wandering around and taking pictures. Sir Walter Scott is buried at Dryburgh Abbey, so I have a few pictures of his grave as well.
Next we went to Sir Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford. In the class, I enjoyed his novel The Bride of Lammermoor, but I can’t say it was the easiest one to read or necessarily my favorite. But when we got to Sir Walter Scott’s home and the guide (not John but the one who takes care of Abbotsford) began giving us a tour of the house, I was fascinated and just astounded by everything. He made it so exciting! He even recited some of Scott's poetry for us (I tried to get a video but I don't know how well it turned out). I could have listened to him forever. When the tour was over I just wanted to start over from the beginning and have him go into all the minute details of everything - it was that great. We ate lunch (soup, sandwiches, and dessert) in Scott’s own bedroom upstairs. Then we began the tour and went into his private study (containing 2,000 books) where sat his desk and armchair (the desk still holds his spectacles, some quills and record books), and then into his library (which holds another 7,000 volumes, as well as a display containing artifacts that Sir Walter collected such as a lock of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s hair, the crucifix that Mary Queen of Scots clutched as she was executed, a wooden box made from one of Shakespeare’s trees, etc.). (I should mention that for the extra credit journal scavenger hunt I was supposed to have found a statue of Eddie Olchiltree [a character from one of Scott’s novels] and get a picture with my arm around him but I forgot to take my syllabus so I forgot to find Eddie... so I think I’m probably discontinuing the scavenger hunt at this point.) There was also a painting in the library that told a story of when Sir Walter was about 15 years old and staying with a fried whose father had the poet Robert Burns at his house one day talking with a collection of intelligent men of that time. Burns noticed a painting and poem on the wall and loved the poem so much that he was moved to tears. He asked all the men in the room who the poet was, but no one could tell him except young Walter Scott, who was so shy that he had to be pushed up to Burns by his friend.
The next room was a beautiful sitting room decorated with stunning green hand-painted Chinese wallpaper. There was a portrait of Sir Walter on the wall with his beloved dogs. Next we passed through his armory (he loved to collect things, so the walls were full of every kind of weapon you can imagine). Then we went into the beautiful dining room. The enormous table was set with a set of his china, and there were portraits of his family on the walls. When he had suffered from strokes near the end of his life, he could no longer climb the stairs to his bedroom, so he asked for his bed to be brought down to the bay window at the far end of the dining room, which looks out over the yard and the river tweed – a gorgeous view. That was the last view that Scott ever saw - he died in that dining room. We also went into the entrance hall which is filled with suits of armor, animal skulls (among them a walrus skull), swords, and there is a clock above the fireplace that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. Then we went out and explored the grounds. We walked through the gardens, walked around to the back of the house where there’s a hill sloping down to the river. We walked down to the river and petted the horses and then Lauren and I went and spent some more time inside looking at the house and the artifacts (I was absolutely intrigued by the study, the library, the sitting room with Chinese wallpaper, and the armory). 
Then we headed back to Edinburgh and went to “A Taste of Scotland,” which is apparently a Las-Vegas-ified version of a Scottish Céilidh (I spelled it wrong yesterday but a Céilidh was a get-together for people from all around where they would sing, dance, eat, and spend time together. What we saw was more of a show. But it was so much fun!) I had a great time. To my chagrin we had to ask them to remove the wine from our tables but... rules are rules. There was a bagpiper, dancers, a singer, an accordion player, a fiddler, and four little girls who came out and did some traditional Scottish dances. One guy did the traditional sword dance – that was cool. Twice the dancers went out into the audience and picked people to bring up to the front to dance with and once, one of the girls came and grabbed Cale from our table so he got to go up and dance at the front. :) Right before intermission, the chef brought up a plate of haggis, to which the host recited Robert Burns’ poem “Address to a Haggis,” and then invited us all to have some. We were brought plates of haggis and I wondered how I would like it, but I loved it! It was delicious and I’d definitely eat it again. :)
Then we got on the bus and came back to the hotel, with John, our guide, and our new coach driver, Andy, telling us jokes on the drive back. It was a fantastic day and I’m having an amazing time. It just keeps getting better and better! Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head to the Lake District (!!!) to see William Wordsworth’s town and grave, take a boat across Lake Windermere (on which apparently Nessie’s cousin was recently sighted... ha!) and eventually get to our hotel, the Craigwood (which is apparently very nice). I can’t wait!
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