Monday, September 2, 2013

Palaces & Castles (Day 3)

Our group was up and out of the hotel by 9 this morning, actually probably a little latter since everyone was lagging a bit.  Today we toured a cemetery with a statue of Abraham Lincoln (the first statue of an American president in Europe and the only statue of an American president in Scotland - pretty cool! The statue can be seen out of focus in the first photo below). Then we walked up to the Firth of Fourth, where a whole view of the city could be seen.  After that we walked through the Palace of the Holyroodhouse, where the Queen of England still takes some of her summer holidays.  Elizabeth II has accepted the key to the house at least 20 years in a row now - it's part of a ceremony - and then she always hands it back, which is also part of the ceremony. 

We also toured the Edinburgh castle after lunch and a World War I memorial within it, which made me very sad since there were books full of the names of Scottish soldiers that had died.  Some of my peers spent more than an hour in that part of the castle alone since the memorial had so many details and things to look at. By the time we had finished touring all of those places it was 4 in the afternoon and some of us headed back to the hotel to rest for about an hour. Then we went to a coffee house to study and straight to dinner afterward. I enjoyed a glass of Rose that went straight to my head... sometimes it's a genuine pain not being able to act normal after drinking one glass of wine. However, the trip has been fun so far and tomorrow we have to be up and out by 8:30. Goodnight!





Dear Will, this picture is just for you as it is stained-glass of William Wallace fighting in battle!


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