Day 3: Dryburgh Abbey, Abbotsford, and Céilidh

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!

Days 1 & 2: Flights, Arriving in Scotland, and Edinburgh

Wow. I really don’t know how to start! My internal clock is extremely confused. :o) It’s now about 10:30 pm, meaning that at home it would be about 5:30. I got a good solid two hours of sleep on the flight from Chicago to London, but that was about it. The sun went down as we were flying over the east coast of southern Canada and when I woke up about two hours later, we were over the edge of Ireland and the sun was rising. Whoa.

All our flights and connections and travel went very smoothly, including the connection from London to Edinburgh where we thought we were only going to have an hour. We ended up having about an hour and forty minutes which was extremely helpful. And I learned that UK airport security is T-I-G-H-T.

When we finally landed in Scotland, we met our guide, Mr. John Lionet (who is really cool!) and headed out on our coach for downtown Edinburgh. We arrived and went straight down the hill to tour the royal palace – Holyrood – so called because “rood” is an old Scottish word for “cross.” Her majesty the queen of Scotland still resides at the palace in the summer. Across from the palace is the Scottish parliament, where John explained some of the differences between the British and Scottish governments. Then we went on a personal-listening-device guided tour of the castle. For extra credit on my journal, I have to do a scavenger hunt, and the first thing on the list is to give an informal tour of Holyrood from memory, so here it goes. I would give you pictures to accompany this tour, but we weren’t permitted to take pictures inside the palace. So there are a couple, but you’ll mostly have to make do with my words. :)

We walked through the gates and got our tickets, and then the first area we entered was called the forecourt. It was a square courtyard of sorts with grass and surrounded by the internal walls the palace. There was a “fountain” in the middle, although I was confused because I usually associate fountains with water.

Then we went up a grand staircase. The architecture, layout, and overall splendour (sorry, I couldn’t help it) of the palace increases as you get closer and closer to the king’s bedchamber. There are several columns throughout based on ancient Greek architecture (Corinthian, Doric, Ionic), and across from the staircase is a great portrait of the queen painted in 1967 I believe. The first room we enter is the dining room, where the queen sits in the middle of the table (that seats from twenty to thirty guests) and looks out over the forecourt. The table is set with silver and surrounded by portraits of several people including Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The next room was the throne room where we saw a huge portrait of a Charles... either I or II... I can’t remember which at the moment. But he was painted in an interesting fashion because there was armor either discarded or ready to be put on in a corner behind him, but the king himself was wearing a simple black outfit that a scholar might have worn, and wore only the neck piece of armor. Apparently this represented chivalry.

The next room was the evening drawing room, complete with a portrait of the Queen Mother, and the next room was the morning drawing room, equally as lavish as its evening counterpart. Apparently many important affairs of state have taken place in this room even recently. Next was the ante chamber, and then the king’s bedchamber, which was more splendid than anything we had seen thus far. There was a mural on the ceiling of Hercules, painted with the illusion that the person was actually looking into the sky and seeing Olympus – it was meant to flatter the king.

We then passed through the king’s closet (only slightly smaller than the bedchamber itself), and went into the Great Gallery which was carpeted with a lush, deep red carpet and the walls were covered with more portraits than I think it would’ve been possible for me to count. This was the room where knights have been honored – Sir Sean Connery was knighted in the room. Many of the portraits looked similar, and that was apparently because the painter was commissioned to do so. It was to further establish the Stuarts’ right to rule Scotland.

We then passed into the Queen’s lobby, where we found the deep green velvet robe and official insignia (star and crest) of the Order of the Thistle all contained in glass. The Order of the Thistle is the most prestigious Order in all of Scotland. There was a picture of the Queen dressed in the robe, hat, and insignia, etc. This room was the first of the “Queen’s apartments.”

Next was the Queen’s antechamber and it was the oldest part of the palace, and right away we went into the Queen’s bedchamber where the famous Darnley bed, recently restored, is contained behind glass. On the wall was a picture of Mary Queen of Scots.

We then went upstairs to Mary’s own bedroom which was splendid and lush and had its own little supper room attached to it. It was here that she was eating with several people including her Italian secretary Rizzio when Lord Darnley a few other men burst onto the scene, dragged Rizzio into the next room and stabbed him to death (56 times actually) in a fit of jealousy.

Next were the Outer Chambers and they contained a few portraits including a famous one of Mary Queen of Scots, and the Darnley jewel. There was also an alcove where Mary knelt daily to say her prayers.

This room concluded the tour in the palace and we were back to the forecourt, and then passed through to the Holyrood Abbey ruins. I stood in the ruins of the Abbey nave (and took a few pictures).  The Abbey was built in 1128. The story goes that King David... was in the woods and was almost attacked by an enraged stag. Suddenly, however, he saw a crucifix in the stag’s antlers, so he reached up and grabbed it and was saved. So he built the Abbey in honor of his delivery, and that is where the name “Holyrood” came from. Next we walked through the royal gardens, which were lovely, blooming, and fragrant. The sun was even out for us! It made me feel like I was in a Jane Austen novel, going for a walk in the gardens. :)

And that was Holyrood palace! After touring the palace, we went to St. Giles’ cathedral. Here he is in the middle pane of this window. The story goes that he rescued a hind from being shot – he took the arrow in his hand instead, so he is always depicted with an arrow through his hand. There was another stained glass window that was more recent and is a very modern tribute to Robert Burns. Next, back in what is called the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, there are stalls for the various lords and ladies that have been selected for the order because of their contributions to different causes. Each stall has all the coats of arms of every lord or lady that has sat there, and the vaulted ceiling (you can kind of see) is richly decorated. But I got really excited when he pointed out this coat of arms in one of the stalls. It belonged to a Lord Cullen who was a judge in the Lockerbie trial! The IWU Theatre Guild will present the play “The Women of Lockerbie” this coming April which tells the story of that incident.

After the Cathedral (which is now basically a community center with an eclectic collection of items dedicated to different historical figures), we went to lunch at a pub called The Last Drop. The food was delicious, I had a shot of coffee, and we had Sticky Tacky pudding for dessert (delicious!). Then we did a little bit of browsing and shopping, then climbed back on the bus to head for our hotel (which I was told was only about 55 minutes away). I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open because I wanted shots of the countryside but it was a useless battle. I fell asleep pretty quickly and dozed on and off. Awhile later I remember waking up and seeing signs for south Edinburgh. I thought that was odd because we’d been driving for some time and still weren’t out of Edinburgh. But I feel back asleep and didn’t wake up again until close to when we arrived at the hotel. Come to find out, we had spent about two and a half hours on the coach because the driver had gotten lost. But that was all right – I got a great nap out of it. :) We unloaded, freshened up, had a delicious dinner, and then sat around for awhile having tea and coffee. Then I decided I had better sit down and record this all before I forgot it. That’s all for tonight, but I will have to write some more tomorrow on the death of Rizzio for my scavenger hunt. Tomorrow we’re going to Dryburgh Abbey, and we’ll finish out the day by going to a Scottish Caligh where I’m going to try haggis for the first time! And we might even get a Scottish dance – we’ll have to see. :)

Wow, what a crazy 48 hours. And we’re not even done with Scotland yet!

T minus 2 days

Surprisingly, this is the first blog I've ever attempted. Fortunately it will only be 10 days long.  :o)

This month, I took 19th Century British Literature for May Term at Indiana Wesleyan. Why? Well that's easy. Part of the class is a ten day trip to the UK.

The class started on May 4 and we've had eight days of classes including lectures, quizzes, and two exams. Today was our final exam for the class, and now all that's left is the trip!

We depart on Sunday, May 15 (leaving Chicago a little after 5:00 pm) on British Airways, have a connection in London at 8:00 am, and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland at around 9:20 am on May 16. From there, we'll embark on a ten day literary tour that highlights Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, and the Brontë sisters - the main authors we studied in the class. We'll depart from London on May 24, arriving back in Chicago at about 6:00 pm. The itinerary outline is as follows:

Day 1 - Departure from Chicago
Day 2 - Arrive in Edinburgh - Symington (2 nights)
Day 3 - Day trip to Scott's View, Dryburgh Abbey and Abbotsford
Day 4 - Symington - Lake District (1 night)
Day 5 - The Lake District - Haworth (1 night)
Day 6 - Haworth - Chawton - Farnham (2 nights)
Day 7 - Day trip to Bath
Day 8 - Farnham - Box Hill - London (2 nights)
Day 9 - London
Day 10 - Departure from London

The last grade I get for the class will be the completion of a journal. But I've noticed that, in the past few days, I've had about 39845028745 people ask me to tell them all about the trip and bring back pictures. (Okay maybe not quite that many. But you know.) So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. The blog can serve both as my journal for the class, and as an easy way for me to share my trip with everyone else who wants to know about the shenanigans I get myself into over there. :)

T minus 2 days. Tomorrow: packing!

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded; appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is - I repeat it - a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them." -Charlotte Brontë, Preface, Jane Eyre