Day 8: We had a gorgeous drive to Scotland and made a few stops on the way. Even though our first two stops were technically in England, I am going to blog about the entire day here in my Scotland entry. Besides, the two places we stopped at are located close to the border between Scotland and England. Our first stop was at Lanercost Priory, which "can only be dated definitely between 1165 and 1174 based on the evidence of charters and . . . is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene" ("Lanercost"). We didn't stop for very long, but it was nice to get off the bus.

Our second stop landed us at Birdoswald Roman Fort, which "is located in one of the most picturesque settings along the whole of Hadrian's Wall. It is unique because at no other point along the wall can all the components of the Roman Frontier system be found in such a small area. You can also see the early turf wall built in AD 122, over the original fort" ("Birdoswald"). The remaining Roman walls were amazing!! We were even allowed to walk on the walls, which was a bonus. There were a lot of sheep roaming around, and some of them were getting pretty upset. This is when I found out that my mother is afraid of sheep. She grew up on a farm and apparently they can get pretty mean. Luckily, everybody survived.

After walking the wall, we got back on the bus and awaited our next stopping point-the border to Scotland. It was a great stop because there was this awesome Scotsman playing bagpipes. I bought his CD and listened to him play for a while. Because of my apparent fascination with bagpipes, I was the last person to get back on the bus. Good thing this was the only time I kept people waiting.

Once we crossed the border, we headed towards Edinburgh, but we made a quick stop at Rosslyn Chapel before exploring the city. Rosslyn Chapel "is a 15th-century church . . . [and] is famous both for its decorative art and its mysterious associations with the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, and the Freemasons. Rosslyn Chapel's mysteries played a significant role in Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code. . . . Part of the filming of the Da Vinci Code movie based on the book took place at Rosslyn Chapel in August 2005" ("Rosslyn"). The carvings within the chapel were magnificent, especially the variations of the Green Man.

After we finished exploring Rosslyn Chapel, we drove to Edinburgh and had dinner. We were all really impressed with Edinburgh and decided to get some sleep, so we could all enjoy Scotland in the morning. Unfortunately, our hotel was an hour out of Edinburgh, but it luckily had a lot of character. We even heard rumors that it was haunted. It was an old hotel where one actually had to use a real key to get into a room. It had a really great setting too. Students had fun playing various games, and then we all headed to bed. I think students actually got some sleep since there wasn't any Wi-Fi.

Day 9: We started the day with a guided bus tour of Edinburgh, which was great. Our tour guide then took us to Edinburgh Castle, which "dominates the city of Edinburgh like no other castle in Scotland. Over one thousand years of history sit on top of the famous Edinburgh rock. . . . People have always sought a safe refuge, and the volcanic rock that forms the base of Edinburgh Castle has always afforded the ultimate safe and defensive position in Edinburgh. Fierce Iron Age warriors defended a hill fort here, and the nation's oldest poetry tells of a war band feasting here for a year before riding to their deaths in battle. The Scots and English struggled for control of the castle during the Wars of Independence. In 1314 it was recaptured from the English in a daring night raid led by Thomas Randolph, nephew of King Robert the Bruce" ("Edinburgh Castle").

It was a very large castle, so it took a while to get through all of it completely. Overall, the view was what I loved the most. One could see the entire city from up there. Another highlight of the castle was the Scottish Crowned Jewels. They were beautiful, but as I said before, the view was the best part.

After viewing Edinburgh Castle, we had free time. My mom and I found an amazing Italian restaurant and were really impressed by the quality of the food. After eating lunch, we were fortunate enough to run into The Elephant House, which is the birthplace of Harry Potter. This was the cafe J.K. Rowling started writing her famous novels, and since I am a huge Harry Potter fan, I was glad that we ran into the cafe.

After checking out The Elephant House, we did a little shopping and then went to the history museum. The museum was huge, and since Scotland has quite the past, we only made it to the early settlers section of the museum. I would like to go back there for sure and spend a whole day, especially since museums are free in Europe. There are a lot of museums I never had the opportunity to visit on this trip, so maybe I will just have to go back again someday.

Once we made it back to our group, we headed to the Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) and had a great dinner. The word Ceilidh "descended from the Gaelic word for 'gathering' or 'party'" ("License to Ceilidh"). During this Scottish party, some people ate Haggis. I tried it, and I must say it didn't have the best texture. The flavor was fine, but the texture was hard for me to handle. After we finished eating, we heard some Scottish music and watched some Scottish dancing. At the end of the night, four volunteers took part in a Scottish dance. Brenner volunteered from our group and did a great job. Everyone was so excited to see him up there dancing, and it was definitely a great way to end the night.

Day 10: We began our day at Stirling Castle, which was quite enjoyable: "During a long and bloody history, Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. Three battles have been fought in its immediate vicinity, two of which were turning points in Scottish history . . . a fourth equally important battle took place just a few miles to the north. A number of Scottish Kings and Queens have been baptized, or crowned, or died in or near Stirling Castle" ("Stirling Castle"). From a distance, we could see the William Wallace Monument. Yes, the warrior from Braveheart really did exist, even though many say the movie couldn't be more inaccurate to what actually happened. My favorite part of the castle was the Great Hall, which had two royal chairs. I spent more time in there than anywhere else.

At one point, I lost my mom and ventured around on my own. Once I found her, she said she was distracted by the unicorns in the Queen's Inner Chamber. One of the worker's was explaining the symbolism of the unicorns displayed in the room, and their connection to not only paganism but to Christianity. In the "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestries, the birth, death, and rebirth of Christ is detailed through a unicorn. I didn't look at these tapestries very carefully because I was too busy trying to find my mom, but my mom looked at them for a while and described them to me later. She explained how the tapestries show the hunters enter the woods in search of the unicorn. When the hunters come upon it, they take the unicorn captive, pierce its side, and then take it to the castle, which is symbolic of Christ's death. I have never related unicorns to Christianity before, so I decided to look into it-apparently there is A LOT of religious symbolism tied to unicorns. There are even Bible verses that reference unicorns.

After walking around Stirling Castle, we headed towards Loch Katrine and the Trossachs, which "is the starting point for several activities in a scenic setting, surrounded by natural woodlands and mountains. Loch Katrine was the setting for Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem, Lady of the Lake, published 200 years ago. It was a best seller and sparked the passion for visiting the Trossachs and Scotland" ("National Parks"). Once we made it to Loch Katrine and the Trossachs, the sun went behind the clouds, and it was pretty chilly. The Colorado students weren't very impressed with the mountains and view since it was nothing compared to Colorado. At this point in the trip, some students were getting pretty homesick. I emphasize the word "some" because others didn't complain about being homesick once and even said they were sad we were over half way done with the trip.