Believe it or Not!

Day 503
I was up early and packed and put my things in storage for the day. After some internet time I headed back to the Thai Airways office. I was happy to see that they had cash for me and I felt suddenly flush. I also had a few hours left to kill and some things that I wanted to see.

J.W. Waterhouse has long been one of my favorite artists. Unfortunately not many of his paintings are in public collections. I've only managed to see about five of his pieces in person, many more are familiar to me thru books and the internet. The largest collection of Waterhouses work ever assembled together was currently being held at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The exhibit was amazing. My favorite, the Lady of Shallot, was there it's usually at the Tate Britain. As so many of the paintings were from private collections I felt really privileged to see them. Marianne and Tristam and Isolde were among those. It was really amazing. I couldn't believe my good timing.

Next up was the rather new Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum, well, odditorium. I hesitated a bit at the price and that was enough for me to run into a family of three with 2 buy one get one free tickets, they needed a fourth person to get the lower price for their daughter. I happily obliged and paid for half of a ticket. The museum was very new and very well done, it looked really really good.

The smallest road legal car in the world was there as well as an American them ed mini-cooper. There were several multi-limbed animals and a collection of people who can make really weird faces. There was a bottle of beer brewed using yeast found in an Egyptian tomb and lint sushi. I also learned that the word Yankee came from the Indians mispronouncing the word English. Also that Lancaster, PA was the US capital for one day on September 27, 1777.

When I had finished with the museum I grabbed lunch at Yo Sushi! and then headed back. I had a little bit of internet time before grabbing my things and heading to the airport. I hadn't checked my flight time and ended up there about 40 minutes earlier than I needed to be. I passed the time planning and reading. Soon enough my flight to Bratislava took off. I was picking up just where I had left off 8 months before.

When the plane landed everyone cheered. I couldn't figure out why, there wasn't any turbulence or anything like that. Immigration was a breeze and soon I was on my way to the hostel. I was pretty lucky because I made the last bus and the last tram of the day. Once in the hostel I checked in and then checked my email before calling it a night.

Mondays

Day 502
I really hated that I had to leave London the next day and was really sort of lazy with waking up. It was also Monday, the day that most museums are closed so I didn't really have a lot to do. After some internet time I headed to Piccadilly Circus to return the plane ticket that I was forced to buy when I left for Bangkok about 8 months ago.

At the office I found out that they only return cash payments as checks and that they don't send things to the US. After a few phone calls they told me that I could probably get cash in the morning and that I should come back. I was a bit disappointed because I thought I would have a lot of cash to spend. I still needed to do some shopping though, I've been tossing a lot of clothes recently and was down to only one pair of pants.

After shopping I headed back to Camden and hung out in my hostel room and fell asleep for a bit. I then went to the internet cafe to make some phone calls and check my email. This is when I found out that Sarah, one of the girls I had stayed with last time I was here, had to work at the last minute and needed to cancel on me. I gave her a quick call and she gave me directions to her place so that I could pick up the winter clothes that I had left here prior to my last minute SEA departure. I also called Edward to see if he would like to meet up again.

When my internet time was up I headed up the Northern line to Sarah's flat and picked up my things. It felt good to be reunited with my European guidebooks. It's too bad that I didn't get to catch up with Sarah as well though. I then headed further north to meet up with Edward. It was Monday and the pub was dead but it was a really nice place. We drank some Magners and chatted for a few hours. It has been so nice to spend the weekend with Edward and to be in London.

I went back to the hostel and fell quickly asleep.

Half Blood

Day 501
I was up stupid early again and went back to the internet cafe after some breakfast. Edward met me around lunch time and we wandered around the Camden Market stalls for a while. A lot of the stuff for sale were things that I had seen and even bought in SEA, China and India. The prices were unbelievable! I'm glad that I bought those things where they cost $2, not where they cost $20!

Edward and I then wandered thru Regents Park and down to Leicester Square. I think he was a bit surprised that we had walked so far After a quick lunch at Weatherspoons (an inexpensive pub chain) we had to hurry to make our movie in time. We were going to see Harry Potter! It was really nice to see the movie not only in the UK but also on the biggest screen in the country. Edward had booked the tickets ahead of time to ensure that we would have good seats. The movie was really very good, I can't wait for the next, and last, one!

After the movie we went back to Waxy O'Connell's for a few drinks. Unfortunately Edward has one of those job things and had to be up in the morning to go to work. Before parting we made plans to meet up in Budapest in a month or so. Once again we said goodbye on the tube.

It was only about 11 so I spent some time online before calling it a night.

Wandering

Day 500
The hostel I was staying at was the same one that I had stayed at my first time in London 7 years ago. You would have thought that I would have had an easier time finding it the night before! With all the time changing I'd been doing I was up early, but that was good, this place served breakfast rather early.

After eating I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with Edward. I walked by the Camden locks and watched the market vendors set up. When I lived here I would take an long lunch every Saturday and come up here. I used to eat at a crepe stand that isn't there any more. It's been replaced by a large building and indoor shops. Ahh, the march of time and gentrification. This was the third time I'd been here though since the building went up. Now it looks like it belongs. I wonder how that happens?

Eventually I found a super cheap internet cafe and caught up on my emails before heading back to the hostel where I was meeting Edward.

The two of us had thought about going to Brighton for the day but decided against it at the last minute. Instead we hopped on the tube and headed to Leicester Square. We ended up at a really nice wine bar, it was just a bit too early to drink though so we ordered some orange juice and checked out the cellar-like place. We then went to Trafalgar Square where there is an empty statue pedestal. I forget why, but for a certain amount of time every half an hour there was a different person on the pedestal doing whatever they wanted to. We saw a guy in a cape, he was shouting stuff, but it wasn't very loud and I couldn't hear him.

Back on the tube we headed to a market. By now we were hungry and stopped by a pub for some fish and chips. This is a requirement every time I come to the UK. I don't even care much for fish, but I guess that most things taste ok when they are fried! Afterwards we wandered up to Coven Garden and watched a man juggle chain saws. Eventually we ended up at Waxy O'Connell's for some drinks.

We'd been walking around all day and decided to call it an early night. We said goodbye on the tube and I went back to the hostel and quickly fell asleep.

Back Again

Day 499
I was up early and quickly packed. After checking out I headed to the metro. I then got off at the wrong spot. Big surprise. Luckily the first person I asked for help spoke English and she told me where I needed to go. In no time I was on the bus to the airport.

After checking in I went thru immigration. After the pain in the ass of registering I really wanted to be given a hard time and to show that I had all my ducks in a row. I don't think that the guy even looked at my registrations. It was really upsetting.

My first flight was on time and I fell asleep before it even took off. When it landed in Copenhagen I went thru security again and then hung out at my next gate. We boarded on time but then sat on the runway for over two hours. By the time I got to London I was already 2.5 hours later than expected. I then about had a heart attack, the immigration line was ridiculously long and slow moving. Luckily after about an hour of waiting the nice American couple in front of me let me use their phone so that I could call Edward, who I had met in Hong Kong, to tell him that I would be late, very late for drinks.

The line was ridiculous. It took two hours. You couldn't go to the toilet, there wasn't any water, and sitting was impossible. Babies were crying and the elderly looked very uncomfortable. This is what Ellis Island must have looked like over 100 years ago. This is what you would expect out of a 3rd world country, not out of the UK. I understand if they want to check people more closely, but then they should have more than 4 people working at a time. It's just unreasonable to expect people to wait for so long. It was down right obscene. Eventually it was my turn and soon I was back in the UK.

As soon as I grabbed my bag I called Edward to tell him when I thought I would get to the bar. I then hopped on the expensive but way faster train (as opposed to the tube). I just didn't want to spend another 1.5 hours getting to my hostel. Plus, the longer the line took the more determined I became to be able to see a friendly face. Once I got off the tube (I had to switch) in Camden I couldn't find my hostel but I found Edward in the bar and he helped me look for it. After a quick change I headed right back out again.

We caught up over a few drinks, but pubs close early here and I didn't arrive until almost 11, I was meant to be there at 8! It was really nice to see Edward again after exchanging emails for the past two months. I was also extremely happy to be back in London.

Where She Goes, Nobody Knows

Day 259
My heart was beating quickly and I was out of breath when I took my seat on the plane. Instead of heading back to Bratislava as I had thought I would be doing this morning I was headed to Bangkok via Doha, Qatar. Even though I was the one who had made all of the choices I was still amazed and a bit confused about how it had all happened.

The night before I had mentioned to Katherine that I wanted to do something typical to London on my last morning. She suggested that we head out to an area called Highgate. There was a traditional pub there and a splendid view of London from a park.

We were there early and had to wait for the pub to open. We killed the time by popping into used bookstores and looking at the several small churches in the area. We both drooled over pastries we knew that we wouldn’t buy.

Lunch was fabulous, as we expected. We both got the fish and chips and had a pudding (dessert) to top it all off. Afterwards we walked around the small park and admired a wonderful view of London.

On the tube ride back to the flat I began to worry about getting back into the Schengen area. The Schengen visa zone incorporates pretty much all of Europe. Americans are allowed only 90 days in every 180 day period. I had clearly overstayed my welcome. Things like this aren’t typically noticed and it wouldn’t have been a concern at all if I was exiting Slovakia by train to the Ukraine as I had originally planned. Have the odd exit stamp from the airport though would probably raise suspicions, especially because they had problems with my passport on the way out. If I went there and there was a problem I would at best be put back on a plane out of there and at worst I would be banned from the Schengen area. I really didn’t want either to happen.

A few days ago, just for fun, I had looked up flights to Thailand. They were surprisingly cheap for last minute flights. When I got back to the flat I checked the visa info and bought the ticket. I had about an hour and a half to get a guidebook and snacks for the plane. I also had to repack my bag, Katherine was very kindly letting me keep my winter gear in London.

I said goodbye to everyone and basically ran for the tube. I was a bit shorter on time than I would have liked. Once I got to the airport I was informed that I needed to buy an exit ticket to go to Thailand. I was kinda expecting this. What I wasn’t expecting was having to pay cash for a ticket that could only be refunded in London.I know that I will be back here, I just wish I could have charged it and gotten my money back sooner. Plus, it’s a paper ticket. If it gets lost I’m screwed.

By the time I had the ticket and had checked in I knew I had to move fast. First though I had to change some money. There was no use carrying around Czech and Slovak money for the next several months. After security I looked at the flight board and saw that mine was on its last call. I ran all the way to the gate, I think it was as far away as possible. I just made it and collapsed into my seat. I was headed to Thailand!

No Laughing Matter

Day 258
Katherine had a class so I headed out on my own, but with plans to meet up with her later on.

I had been to the Museum of London before and remembered enjoying it quite a bit. I decided to go back and revisit it. Unfortunately they are completely redoing it so much of it was closed. It did, however, have a really good section on the 1666 fire in London that I didn’t remember at all. It was presented in the context of people, those that lost during the fire, and those that gained in rebuilding the city.

When I got out of the museum I found a bit of the London wall. Further down the road was the first Methodist Church and John Wesley’s house. I visited both about three years ago, but the pictures that I took were lost by Snapfish. Stupid snapfish. I didn’t really have time to go in so I simply took a picture of the outside and moved on.

I was a bit late meeting Katherine, I just underestimated how long it would take to get to Angel. We wandered around a bit and lamented that the shops were mostly closed on Mondays. We both managed to pick up a few things we needed though.

After some time debating we decided to go to a place close to her flat for dinner. This is the same place that she once saw Dumbledore eating. When we had finished we headed to a local pub and laughed at the drunks. Seriously, I overheard one guy say that his laugh annoyed him, the other said that his laugh annoyed him too so they should all laugh together. Weird.

Time to Wine

Day 257
I’m so lazy. I spent the morning watching tv and just laying around. It’s really terrible.

When Katherine returned we got out acts together and headed out to a French wine tasting. It was strange, but some of the most enthusiastic people were the Brits running French vineyards. One of the French guys very rudely told us to move away to make room for the paying customers. When we left we made a point of parading the several bottles of wine that Katherine bought in front of him.
Back at the flat we chatted with her roommates for some time before calling it a night.

Wanderings

Day 256
I was up early but spent some time chatting before getting a move on. My first stop was a pub that I used to eat lunch at on occasion. Unfortunately they no longer serve the sandwich that I liked best.

I then headed down the street to check out London Business School. This is where I would like to go in the future. I was expecting for there to be some sort of campus though. I don’t know why. Instead it was just a big building that looked just like all the other building around Regents Park.

The plan was to head down to Charing Cross road where there are several used book stores. I wasn’t paying attention to my route and before I knew it I was on Oxford Street. Oxford Street is just about as much fun as Times Square is. I was able to pick up a few Clinique things I needed though. When I finally had fought my way through to Charing Cross I did manage to find a few books at reasonable prices. What wasn’t reasonable was the cost of seeing the new Bond film in Leicester Square. Will I never learn?

That evening both Sara and Rebecca were busy. Rebecca was studying, but Sara was out and she lent me her computer for the evening. I have recently discovered how to watch tv over the internet and spent all evening catching up on Desperate Housewives.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Day 255
I woke up around ten and jumped in the shower. I also met Sara and Rebecca, Katherine’s roommates. Right from the beginning I really liked them both.

Katherine had to go home for the weekend so we set off before lunch time. After checking out some Eastend shops and picking up some much needed winter gear we grabbed lunch at a yummy chicken place. All too soon Katherine had to go and we both headed back to her place.

That evening I went out in search of some fish and chips with Sara and Rebecca. We didn’t have any luck and ended up getting a couple of appetizers and having some beers. Rebecca is American and was able to describe to me the turmoil that she had to go through in order to be able to study in London, as I would like to do some day. It doesn’t sound like fun, but still doable.

We weren’t out very late before we decided to call it a night.

Passport Frenzy

Day 254
Christine and I were up rather early and went to the same place for lunch as we had the day before. As I didn't really have anything pressing to visit in Vienna I decided to spend the day wandering the area with Christine and chatting.

We walked to the river and checked out the view from a few different bridges. When we found a pharmacy Christine helped me to stock up on some of the things that had begun to run low. Around this time she got a phone alarm reminding her about and appointment and had to run off pretty quickly. I went back to her apartment and packed my things before heading out.

I just my my bus to the Bratislava airport. I was finally cashing in on the special thing I bought for myself back in Prague, I was headed to London. The bus ride was fine, the chaos didn't begin until it was time to check in. When my bag was scanned they security guy made me pull out my deck of UNO cards and inspected them thoroughly. That was pretty weird. When it was time to go through immigration the first guy couldn't get my passport to do whatever it needed to do. The second person who tried had problems as well, but did eventually stamp it. I've sorta overstayed my welcome in the Schengen area and this was worrying me quite a bit.

During the flight I slept and really forgot all about the whole visa thing. I guess that this is why I wasn't prepared for the immigration woman at Stansted to start asking so many questions. I hadn't bothered to come up with half truth answers and was at a loss. I think she figured out that I had been in Schengen for too long, however, that is quite different from the UK. After about 15 minutes of questions she stamped me in. I ran down to the train, but was disappointed to see that I had missed it by three minutes.

I gave Katherine a call to tell her when I would be arriving. After finally getting on the train and getting to London just walking around the city was a treat. I love it here so much. I luckily managed to find Katherines flat with little effort and we chatted for a bit before calling it a night.

Goodbye Britain

Day 16

I really didn't have much on my plate for the date and I was really slow at getting my act together in the morning. When I finally did get going I didn't go far, only about 10 minutes to the Hunterian Art Gallery. This is on the University of Edinburgh campus.

The first part was called the Mackintosh House. I didn't really care for it. The Mackintosh's were architects and designers that were very much ahead of their time. For some reason the staff was following me around and it made me very uncomfortable. What did they think I was going to do, stick a dining room table in my back pocket?

The museum also has a large collection on James McNeill Whistler. I've always wondered why most of his stuff isn't in the US. It turns out that he spent much of his adult living living in London and Paris. The large collection in Glasgow is attributed to his wife's Scottish heritage and a large following by a group of Glaswegian artists known was the Glasgow Boys.

I regrouped at the hostel for lunch and decided to walk to the Fossil Forest. Apparently there are about 2 dozen fossilized trees in a park. I walked and walked but never seemed to get anywhere. After about 2 hours I decided that I didn't even want to look at a bunch of really dead trees anyway and headed back.

People say that you are either an Edinburgh or Glasgow person. For tourism I would definitely pick Edinburgh. It's just beautiful and there is so much to see and it is very easy to take a large amount of day trips from there. If I had to pick one of them to live in I would choose Glasgow. Its a bit like New York with its diverse areas and I like that.

I'm very glad that I begun my trip with the UK. I'd been to 3 of the 6 cites I used as bases and it was all quite familiar. It was really a good way to get in shape for the trip. I'm very much looking forward to visiting Ireland. It will be almost completely new territory for me!

They Can Never Take My Freedom!

Day 15

I woke up early despite the slightly late night the day before. I was on the hunt for William Wallace and was headed to Stirling to find him.

I got a bit confused when I got to Stirling. The bus stop is in a mall and I couldn't figure out how to get out. I ended up wandering by something called the Bastion and Thieves Pot. Turns out that the oldest building in Stirling was a prison and to save it it was incorporated into the mall when it was built. I checked out the signs there for a bit before finally finding my way out of the mall.

Stirling is a cute little town with two or three main streets that wind their way up to the castle. The town has been fortified since prehistoric times, the current castle dates to the late 16^th century. William Wallace would not recognize the current structure at all. The castle as we see it today was built by James VI for his French wife and their son he hoped would be king of England after Elizabeth I's death. The castle was the first renaissance building in Britain.

One section of the castle concentrated on the Unicorn Tapestry. Apparently this is a seven section tapestry that was made for the castle. I thought it odd that not only were they reweaving each one, but that the originals were familiar to me. It turns out that someone sold them to the Rockefeller's who then donated them to the Cloisters in New York City. New York doesn't want to give them back so the castle is recreating them.

The whole castle was in the middle of a big restoration project. Many of the rooms were really just gutted shells. Only the cathedral, the kitchens and the great hall have been restored so far. They are working on the royal chambers next. It was really cool to see how they were researching and restoring the rooms.

The views from the castle were spectacular, I couldn't stop taking pictures the whole time.

I meandered my way back to the bus station. Along the way I checked out the Holy Rude chapel, but it was closed. I also spent some time wandering around the hauntingly picturesque Stirling Cemetery.

I had just enough time to check out the William Wallace Monument before it closed. The castle is nothing like it was when William Wallace would have visited and I wanted to find him somewhere.

The monument was built on Abbey Craig where Wallace rallied his troops before the successful Battle of Stirling Bridge. This battle was his first big victory. The facts were very much like there were in Braveheart the movie. The English killed Wallace's father and wife. Wallace, in turn, killed the English. Eventually it became clear that more support was needed and Wallace left for the continent to ask for help. A few months later he returned, having failed. In 1305 one of his friends sold him out and handed him over to the English. Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered. He has become a symbol of courage and bravery for many people throughout the world.

The museum has a massively huge sword that is thought to have belonged to the 6'6 Wallace, but cannot be proved.

The next floor had busts of famous Scots such as Sir Walter Scott and John Knox. The next floor described the process of building the monument and other Wallace monuments around the world. There is even one in Baltimore. By the time I reached the top it was growing dark and cold. I took some pictures of the countryside and headed back.

Stirling was a cute little town and I should have allocated more time there. I missed out on several museums and about 6 more Wallace sites.

Goin' To Glasgow

Day 14
My early night allowed me to get an early start on Glasgow. I had been here before, but just for a day and I was sure that there was more to the city.

My hostel turned out to be in a really cool little area full of ethnic food and used book stores. Even though I had taken the bus there, I elected to walk back to the city center. My first stop was St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Art and Life. It was a neat little place. It showed the differences and similarities of world religions and how they affect Glasgow.

I decided against checking out the cathedral and the necropolis because I had been there before. If you come to Glasgow I would recommend visiting them.

What I would not recommend is the Tenement Museum. Agnes Toward moved into the apartment in 1911 and did not leave until 1975. Much of the apartment was as she had kept it in 1911. The place was advertised as small, but it was larger than my NYC apartment. The actual apartment itself was pretty neat to look at. The small museum downstairs concentrated on the role tenement buildings had played in Glasgow through history and their evolution. There was also a section on Ms. Toward. Apparently she was a pack rat and even her WWII ration card was on display.

The museum is sort of interesting, it is just beyond tiny. I think I read every bit of information in there and I don't think I was there for more than 20 minutes. Due to the price (£4) I would recommend not going. If they lower the price to £2, maybe, but even then it seems high.

I was hanging out in the common room when a whole bunch of Croatians came in. It turned out that they were the majority in the hostel and were all there for a Croatia v. Scotland football (soccer) game. Before I knew it there was a party on. Everyone was very nice and spoke great English. I hope to see them again.

Search for the Holy Grail

Day 13

I had contemplated spending about $50 on a tour to the highlands that included Roslyn Chapel. Then a little bird (the girl at the front desk) told me that £2 could get you there and back. She didn't know which bus though and because it was a bank holiday the information desk was closed. I wandered down the main street until I happen to see a bus schedule that mentioned Roslin the town. That was easier than I thought it would be.

As soon as I got off of the bus I could tell how much colder it was. Roslyn Chapel is quite small. To help restore and support the 700 year old structure there is an ugly steel shell around the whole thing. Once you step inside that is all forgotten.

The stone work is amazing, I've never seen anything like it. The main ceiling was covered in flowers and stars. There were angels holding hearts, crosses and books adorning all of the windows. A young couple turned away from an upset looking devil as an angel looked on. There were also various bible stories depicted around the chapel. The 7 deadly sins took up much of an arch. Hidden among the thousands of carvings were the 'green men'. There are faces with leaves coming out of the mouths. It's a pagan idea and its unknown why there are about 130 inside the chapel alone. I was only able to spot about 25 of them.

While the chapel was being built the lead mason went to Italy for inspiration. While he was gone his apprentice had a dream and carved one of the columns. When the master mason returned he was furious, properly because the column was better than anything he could have done. In his anger he hit the apprentice over the head and killed him. In one corner is the head of the master mason forever stars at the apprentice's column. In another corner the apprentice has a gash over his head and closed eyes, his mother looks on tearfully.

Of all of the mysterious and unusual carvings was in the ceiling of the Lady Chapel. Rectangular carvings hang down from the ceiling, there are hundreds of these. Each one has a unique symbol on it. No one know what they mean, but it is agreed that it is some sort of code.

It is rumored that Roslyn may be the resting place of the Holy Grail. There is in fact a room beneath the chapel that has not been entered for over 300 years. The St. Clair family who built the chapel 700 years ago do not feel that their ancestors remains should be disturbed and will not allow any excavations of the area.

Another mystery is there some of the carvings look like corn. Corn is an American veggie. It's odd that it would be in the Roslyn Chapel as the America's and corn were not discovered until 50 years after the chapel was completed. There is a theory that the Knights Templar discovered the Americas prior to the accepted date. It is pretty certain that the Knights Templar did have something to do with Roslyn as Templar marks are found in the carvings and many knights were buried nearby.

There are several hundred niches both inside and out of the chapel that were meant to hold statues. They don't know if the statues were even ever there, and if there were, what happened to them. One theory is that during the reformation they were hidden beneath the alter. I think that would be reason enough to disturb the long dead St. Claire's.

Despite the ugliness of the steel support structure it was really cool to be able to climb up it and get a really good look at the carvings on the roof.

I was pretty shocked to see so many people at this little out of the way chapel. I was happy that they were there though. Until about 10 yeas ago the chapel was falling apart. Green moss covered all of the stonework. There was no money to keep this outstanding chapel standing. With grail lore growing over the past decade more people came and slowly more money was available. Once the Da Vinci Code came out attendance skyrocked. Now there is not just money to keep the chapel standing, but for repairs and research. It's odd to think that Hollywood and legend are keeping the chapel alive.

Unfortunately, you were not allowed to take any pictures in the chapel so you will just have to take my word for it or look it up on the Internet yourself.

By the time I had finished at Roslyn my toes and fingers were ice cubes. I was happy to be heading back to the slightly warmer Edinburgh. I still had most of my day left and headed to the National Art Museum of Scotland. After Roslyn nothing was terribly impressive. Although it was interesting to learn that Rubens often made etching of his paintings for sale to the greater public. It's through these that some of his aging paintings are able to be restored.

I haven't done much by the way of trying out Scottish cuisine and I thought it was about high time that I did. I ordered a deep fried mars bar at a local chip shop. I almost couldn't decide between the deep fried pizza and the candy bar. It was pretty good, I recommend it.

I also recommend stopping into St. Giles Kirk. Most of it is misable, but the Thistle Chapel is amazing. Wooden thistles hand from the ceiling and the choir seats are capped with Scottish symbols that are painted brightly. You have to pay £2 to take pictures in here so I can't share what it looked like.

My ticket to Roslyn had a £5 off coupon for the Edinburgh Dungeon. I'd been to the one in London and wasn't a big fan, but the reduced price drew me in. It was just a cheesy ad I had expected, but it was some good fun. They do actually use historical facts to base the various rooms on.

After this crazy busy day I was ready to just pass out in my bed, but the blog called and I was off to find an Internet cafe were I could upload pictures. I really don't see a point of posting unless I can have pictures with it. When I was done I headed back and collapsed in my bed. I planned on waking up early and heading to Glasgow. I drifted off to sleep dreaming of the Holy Grail and the mysterious room beneath Roslyn Chapel.

White Easter

Day 12

When I checked into Caldonian Backpackers I had to search the 36 bed dorm room for my bed. While I was looking some guy (Italian I think) told me to stop looking, that I could just use his bed. In your dreams buddy.

As it was Easter there wasn’t a whole lot going on. I decided to climb up the hill mountain thing to a point called Arthur’s Seat. After huffing and puffing my out of shape self up the sometimes precarious trail I had finally made it. I wanted to run around and cheer, but then people might have thought I was crazy. It was also snowing a bit at this point and I didn’t want to slip on the rocks.

One odd thing I noticed while I was up there. There were several families throwing hard boiled eggs down the hills. I couldn’t figure out if they were cheering because they broke quickly or if it was when the rolled for a while. Does anyone have any idea why they would do this?

It was afternoon by the time I had come down from Arthur’s Seat. There still wasn’t a lot going on so I decided to go to the movies again. This time to see 10,000 BC. Don’t bother, wait for the DVD.

Back at the hostel I grabbed a couple of drinks with some of the other people staying in my room. It was a quiet Easter, but it was kinda cool that it was a white one.

Long Ride

Day 11
Right after my free breakfast at the Hatters Hostel of bread and jam I headed off to see the world, well, Manchester. I attempted to walk to the Imperial War Museum, but got really lost once I was off the map. So I switched modes and sprung for public transportation.

The first display in the museum was on George Rodger. He was a war photographer during WWII. His first pictures were on pre-war Britain. Right at the outbreak of WWII he was sent to Africa to photograph post-colonial countries. By the time he returned D-day was upon the allied forces. Rodger documented the D-day battles as well as others. He was there when Dachau was liberated. After WWII he continued to document crises around the world. I really don’t know how he dealt with so much suffering, I was having problems just looking at his photos.

The main exhibit was on all the wars that Britain has been in for the last 100 years or so. The exhibits focused more on the long term effects of war than on the immediate ones. For example, after WWII food rationing in Britain continued until about 1954. The section they had on the blitz was also very well done.

Both Imperial War Museums are quite good and I definitely recommend visiting them.

The last place that I wanted to make sure that I saw in Manchester was the art museum. The collection was small, but quite good. There was a large section on local artists that I had never heard of; there was even a local impressionist. The most interesting part was on art restoration. There were tons of before and after pictures, plus you could watch the restorers at work on a very large picture of mermaids.

I had a few more hours of day like so I wandered around just seeing where it would lead me. I ended up at Manchester Cathedral. I think it was an older building, but wasn’t that interesting. However Manchester’s version of the London Eye was pretty cool.

I killed my last few hours at the hostel playing Uno with some German girls. I thought that my bus was at 10pm, but they switched me to another one, a direct bus, that didn’t leave until 1:30 am. It was a very very long wait. The bus ride was a bit long as well, but really quite uneventful. I think I slept through most of it.

When I woke up I was in Edinburgh and it was Easter Morning.

Made in Manchester

Day 10

Manchester is known for its industry and not for its stellar appearance. It’s a good thing too, because this is not a very attractive city. It’s rather dark and dirty.

I was still pretty tired as I got my act together. Some very drunk girls were not quiet when they came back to the room the night before and I hadn’t slept well. On top of that someone had actually taken my pillow. I didn’t want to start anything when the lights were off and people were sleep, but I could tell in the light that it was the girl sleeping in the bottom bunk that had taken it.

Despite my cranky mood I headed off to see Manchester. I had a pretty crappy xeroxed map from the hostel, but luckily there were big colorful maps every few streets to help me get around. It was no problem to find the scant Roman ruins in the middle of the city. After checking those out I headed to the Museum of Science and Industry.

As it was Friday (I asked someone because I wasn’t really sure) and a bank holiday the place was packed and overrun with kids. I tried to check out the displays, but every time some kid would bump me or somehow get in the way. The part that I liked best was the one with old trains and planes. Still, the place was too crowded and I needed to find some quiet.

I had wanted to visit the Imperial War Museum (a branch of the one in London); however I just wasn’t in the mood to fight a crowd over there as well. So I kinda coped out and went to see the Other Boyln Sister. It was pretty good and I would definitely recommend it.

After the movie it was too late to go to a museum so I decided to just head back to the hostel. It was there I met the pillow thief. It turns out that her name was Morgan and she was from Australia. She apologized many times and in the end we went out to grab a couple of drinks. We had a good time.

I called it a day pretty early; I wanted to make sure I would be able to hit all the sites I had missed because of my lazy day.

Rain and Ruins

Day 9

I was happy that I was up early and able to say goodbye to Georgia before she left for Bath. I had one day more in Cardiff and I was desperate to check out a different city in Wales. Wales has more castles per capita than any other country in the world and I headed off to the ruin of Caephilly Castle.

Caerphilly Castle was built in 1268 and was one of the most advanced castles of its time. It was, however, only in one battle before the English declared control over Wales and the castle was no longer nessicary. The building soon became a ruin and was even used as a quary for other local buildings. Around 1850 the Marques of Butte began to restore the castle at the cost of about US $40 in today's money. Tons of research was done to ensure accuracy while most of the castle was rebuilt and the moat filled with water again.

Some people protested that the castle should be left in its ruinous state. But Buttes changes prevailed. Caerphilly does not look like it has been rebuilt. It just looks like it is in a lesser state of ruin than it was 150 years ago. There is one particularly wonky (my new favorite word) tower that give the Leaning Tower of Pisa a run for its money.

When I got back to Cardiff I quickly checked out the National Art Museum there. It wasn't really anything to write home about, with only small exhibits on French and Italian art. The rest was about the natural history of Wales and I found it quite boring.

In no time I was on a bus and headed to Manchester. After traffic and construction delays I was exhausted and was very very happy to finally have arrived in Manchester.

If I only had a Brain

Day 8

While I was getting my act together I met Georgia from Australia. She was travelling around the UK on an itinerary similar to mine. What was very strange was that we were both in London at the Piccadilly Hostel at the same time and in the same room. We just didn’t run into each other.

We decided to check out Cardiff together and headed straight to the castle. The castle dates originally to the Romans, but the history doesn’t get very interesting until about 400 years ago when the Scottish lord Butte, later the Marques of Butte, acquired the land through marriage. Several different of the Marques built on and expanded the castle area.

The 3rd Marques did the most renovations. He had the rooms ornately decorated in the romantic idea of medieval decoration. Every room was full of symbols. The smoking room had the zodiac signs, the children’s playroom was decorated in French fairy tales, and the Arab room looked like it came out of a Moroccan harem.

Also enclosed in the castle walls are the remains of a Norman castle. There isn’t much left, but you can climb up one of the towers for a great view of Cardiff.

Like me, Georgia preferred walking, so we decided to check out the Llandaff Cathedral no matter how far away it was. As it turned out it was pretty freakin’ far away. It took about 1.5 hours of constant walking each way to get there and back. Luckily, it was worth the walk.

Llandaff Cathedral is one of the oldest religious sites in the UK. Unfortunately, it was heavily shelled during WWII and most of the ancient church was lost. The current building is a hodgepodge of reconstruction and older bits. There were several of the older graves that had survived the bombing. One of them was a really creepy skeleton statue.

We were famished by the time we got back to Cardiff and grabbed a quick lunch before heading to the harbour area. Cardiff is a small town and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to do.

I think that the harbour would be a lot better during the summer. It was quite dead when we were wandering around, and the cold and wind didn’t help the situation.

After a cheapie dinner back at the hostel we headed out to find some brains. I don’t mean real brains, I mean the Welsh beer Brains. We each tried a couple of different kinds, and I recommend that everyone get some brains!