The Graveyard, The Mountain, The Castle, and The Whisky: The Tale of Three Days of Travel

I feel really bad because I haven't updated ANYTHING in a while, but school has been busy and I have also kind of forgot to finish writing my other two blog posts. Sorry friends and family.

So the past three days have been heavy travel and adventure days for me. To say I am exhausted is an understatement, but I cannot stress enough just how amazing these travels have been.

I had not yet gone to the Glasgow Necropolis, which is the oldest Victorian graveyard in all of the UK (possibly Europe), and also has the oldest cathedral in Glasgow. So Victoria Cagle and I ventured out "early" on Thursday morning (10 am) before my anatomy class to explore the grave sites, the church, and the view of the city. I have seen and visited quite a few graveyards, but this one seemed to be different. Even though it was old, it felt as though it were telling you a story. So, the best way for me to describe it further is to quote my favorite musical genius Sara Bareilles in her song "Chasing The Sun" - "As the echo of heartbeats, from the ground beneath my feet, filled a cemetery, in the center of (Queens) Glasgow."

It did rain, but that didn't seem to dampen (PUN!) any spirits (PUN AGAIN). It was a great view of most of the city, and also a must-see in Glasgow excursions.

I had also been invited by my friend Michael in my anatomy class to go hiking with him and Austen on Friday at a place called Ben Arthur. "Ben" in Gaelic means "Mountain" or "Hill", so don't think that we climbed up a person named Ben Arthur. I invited Victoria, so I got to be with her 2 days in a row. And then the next day we would have CNU trip #2. So actually 3 days. Great.

(I know sarcasm is hard to pick up on over a computer screen, so I just have to throw out there that I am 10000% kidding.)

We met at the Glasgow Queen Street Station to take the train to Arrochar at 8 am. Austen missed the train, got the later one, tried to find us on our hike, but couldn't. We all felt really bad that he couldn't hike with us, but we should all plan a little better next time.

We arrived at the train station and had a nice little walk to the little town of Arrochar, and we meandered our way to the bottom of the trail that lead to the tip top of Ben Arthur, which was a staggering 3,000 feet in the air. I, at first, did not have a real concept of what that meant, especially since the low clouds were covering about 4/5 of the whole mountain.

Every now and again we would stop and look out over Loch Long and the town, and we would talk about "how high we were". How little we knew.

We eventually entered an area of just cedar trees, which was really pretty, and then after a little while, all of a sudden, the trees cleared and we were in a "valley" in between Ben Arthur and another mountain whose name escapes me. It seemed like we had entered another planet. The open fields with yellow and orange-red grass, the scattered rocks, and the nice stream running right down the middle was stunning. We had long since walked into the low clouds, so the mist made everything look eerie but beautiful at the same time. We could see a faint outline of the top of the mountain if you looked straight up, but little did we know that even what we could see was not all of it.

(pictures aren't uploading so just look at the pictures I have posted on Facebook for reference)

We eventually stopped for a snack on a big rock, and when we checked the time, we had only been hiking for two hours. We seemed to be making good time, but we still had a good 2/3 of the hike left until we reached the top. We trekked on and on until we got to a point where the path split into two. Going left meant trekking up to Ben Arthur, going right meant hiking to the top of that other mountain that I still cannot think of. We set out going up the left trail, which was more steep than anything we had previously done. The only way to travel up the mountain was to follow the path in its zigzag pattern, so every so often we would stop and look out after climbing 5 or 6 zigs (or zags?) and we were actually really shocked just how much distance was really covered. I know for a fact that the slope of the mountain at that point was over 45 degrees. Good thing we were walking on a well-trodden path.

The higher we got, the more snow there was. Thankfully, it wasn't snowing, but the excessive amount of snow (like almost a foot in places) made the trek more slippery and difficult. We saw a dog go up the mountain, and if a dog can make it, damn it so can we! So we persevered and pushed onward until we got to what seemed like the top. However, we did not know that there were two peaks to Ben Arthur. One peak was "small", and the other was much higher and had what was called "The Cobbler", which is a collection of stacked rocks that looks kind of like a boot. But not really.

Michael and I traveled up the shorter one while Victoria rested, and when we met up with her at the bottom, we all traveled up to the top of the larger one.

Once we reached the top, the wind got pretty bad and literally nothing could be seen. You could look down and see the scraggly rocks below you, but there was absolutely no way to see just how far down it actually went. And maybe that was better. But it was such a feeling of satisfactory feeling knowing that you just climbed 3,000 feet in the air. I am not an experienced hiker, and the fact that I did that made me feel very proud of myself and my fellow travelers.

I did want to climb up on the Cobbler as I had seen many people do in pictures, but it was too wet, cold, and windy to risk it. But that didn't hinder me from feeling satisfaction for making it there.

We began our descent down a different path from whence we had come, and this was incredibly steep and rock. It was really slow going down, but we honestly couldn't go much faster because one wrong step would be a not-so-fun descent that could prove to be painful. Or deadly.

After what felt like forever, we finally made it to the bottom of the steep mountain, then the valley, then the treeline, and finally the base of the mountain. Our aching feet, knees, eyes, and just about everything else were telling us to quit, but we still needed food and to get back to the train, so we trudged onward until we found both of those things.

Needless to say, I passed out within minutes of laying down in bed that night.

But there was an 8:30 am wake up call for the CNU trip to Stirling and Loch Lomond. So Day 3 began a lot earlier than I would have wanted, but I have to say, if I didn't go on this trip, I would have been really sad. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to hang out with the CNU group as a whole, so this was a really good bonding experience for all of us. We got a really great tour of Stirling Castle by an extremely energetic and spry old man, and I actually learned a lot about how Scotland struggled to keep control over its country for centuries. It was also really nice to actually be able to go into a castle without it either being closed to the public or too much money.

After Stirling Castle, we traveled to a small town to grab lunch, and then we were off to Loch Lomond for a little sightseeing and a distillery tour. There was a little bit of a hike to get to a lookout point, but it pailed in comparison to the hike I had done the day before. We even went down to a beach, where the sun peeked out for a bit, which was great to see since the forecast was rain all day.

The distillery tour was actually very interesting. I know nothing about brewing, so I expected to be told about things that was out of my realm of understanding, but honestly, all of the chemistry I have been taking really is paying off. They talked about fermentation and the production of alcohol and how distilling works, and I understood it all! It actually made the process of producing whisky engaging and awesome. I also found out that whisky has the second highest revenue out of anything in Scotland, behind oil and in front of Scottish salmon. We got a little dram of Glengoyne Scotch Whisky, which was REALLY FREAKING SMOOTH, and afterward we got to explore their shop. Some things were pretty cheap, but they had a bottle of whisky that aged 35 years that cost a meager 2,850 pounds. They were also in the process of making a whisky that would be aged 50 years and would cost roughly 10,000 pounds for a bottle. Ridiculous. But probably really good.

I know this was a heavy and long blog post, but it was a really rewarding and exhilarating three days. I also know that I have been promising myself a weekend where I didn't travel, and I haven't held myself to that very well, but I swear next weekend I will relax a little!

Glasgow Botanical Gardens (AKA my favorite place in Glasgow so far)

I had heard about the extraordinary place called the Glasgow Botanical Gardens, but I had not had the opportunity to experience it yet. Until one Thursday morning. I didn't have class until 2 that day, and so I decided to go with Claudia to see what all the fuss was all about.

Fuss indeed.

I have been to some beautiful places in Scotland, but because it is still winter, it is likely that things are not in full bloom. But, since the gardens are mostly in greenhouses and tended to very carefully by maintenance, EVERYTHING is in bloom. So many flowers, ferns (yay!), cactuseses, and succulents. It seemed like the greenhouse would not end, and honestly, I really didn't want it to. It was amazing to see just how diverse the world is, because just about every plant you can think of from all across the world was present in these gardens.

It is really easy to get yourself lost in this place. Not like, physically lost, but you could spend all day in there and not get bored. The smell is great, because it smells like life and growth, and it is also quiet. All of the noise of the city that is around you is drowned out by both glass walls, but also your own comfort of being there.

There is a rose garden outside, but it was obviously not in season, because it was just dead bushes everywhere.

There is also a small area that seems kind of obscure, but there is a sign that points to the deep drop that was once a train terminal. It is all fenced in, but upon further research, there is a way to get to it. Trying to climb the fence and drop down could break you legs, but there is a part of Glasgow that has some woods that you can follow down into a short tunnel that emerges into where the fenced in gorge is in the botanical gardens. If I have some time and courage, one day I want to find it.

I will go back to the Botanic Gardens when spring has sprung, but there is not doubt that I absolutely loved my short few hours there.

P.S. Thanks for being my partner-in-crime 

The Luck of the Irish: My Trip to Dublin and the Cliffs of Moher

Now, I've got to put out a disclaimer. Scotland is probably one of my favorite places ever, but since my recent endeavors to Ireland, I have to say that there is some competition. The terrain of these two countries are different, the accents are different, and the weather just happened to be better on the weekend of our trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A couple of weeks ago, Austen, my friend from anatomy class, and his friends Kendall, Katrina, and Briana invited me on the trip they were planning to Dublin. I decided to jump in, because I really didn't know when I would get the opportunity later to go to Ireland, and it was definitely on my list.

When we were planning our RyanAir flights, the website said that there was only one seat left, but one of the group members said that it wasn't true, and we resulted in trying to buy tickets individually. I got mine first, and the others were locked out of the site. Turns out there was only one seat left. Like the website said.

So they bought tickets for different flight times, so we all arrived at Dublin at a different time, but we all managed to make it to our hostel with little to know trouble (except for them telling me to buy a ticket for the wrong bus and giving me directions to go "right right right left" to get to the hostel from the bus stop). We then went out for a night on the town. Now, Glasgow nightlife is fun, but the people of Dublin take it to a different level. We went to the infamous Temple Bar (even though I had never heard of it), and then barhopped for some time thereafter. Alcohol was extremely expensive there no matter where you went, but the dancing and music was really great.

We got back to the hostel really late, something like 2 am, and set an alarm for 9:30 the next morning. We woke up exhausted, but ready to explore Dublin and all it had to offer. We rationed out our shared loaf of bread and jam for breakfast and walked toward the Trinity College, where the Book of Kells and the Long Room Library resided. The Book of Kells is one of the best preserved and oldest book in existence, and the library was a filming site for the Harry Potter movies. It was so wonderful. The room really was long (as the name implied), and every single book was old. It was actually quite impressive just how many books were there. It was quite a remarkable place that can take your breath away.

After Trinity College, we went to a park with lots of birds and a woman who thought I was taking a picture of her but I was instead taking a picture of a gazebo and she was getting belligerent and was saying it was illegal to take pictures of other people and that she wanted to be out of the public eye and almost started yelling at me until I told her that I had deleted the picture. We also went into a really cool and big shopping center, saw the parliament building, saw bullet holes in a column (yes, the columns followed me from CNU to the UK), and a bunch of really cool architecture. We decided to turn in early that night because we had the Cliffs of Moher bus tour early the next morning at 7:30.

Now, this is the point in which I revisit the statement I mentioned earlier about "one of my favorite places". The Cliffs of Moher at their highest point is about 710 feet high, which is about 2/3 the height of the Empire State Building. It faces the Atlantic Ocean, so I got to look homeward for an hour and a half. The wind was really strong, but the sun, which I had not seen for days, was out, and it was incredible. These cliffs were so incredibly unique and breath-taking that I could have spent all day there and been happy. I even got stupid for a little while and hung me feet out over the edge, and while that was cool, it was also terrifying, so I stopped. The cliffs, while the wind is really loud, seemed to have a peaceful quiet that I had not yet found anywhere else, and I don't think I will find that again.

Ireland is a magical place. I'm pretty sure that a leprechaun talked me into buying yet another cliche shot glass, but I'm not really complaining. And the lady at the Cliffs of Moher gift shop gave me a free postcard to top it all off. All in all, this trip was absolutely stunning and probably something I will never ever forget.

Edinburgh: CNU Trip #1

I apologize for the delay in updating. Anatomy class has been keeping me busy (got a 89% on my last test!) and I've been traveling to many different places (updates later). But! I need to write about the day trip to Edinburgh before I forget everything that happened.

So we all arrived at the train station on Queen Street to get the train together as a group, and when we arrived at the Edinburgh Waverley station, the tour guide was already waiting for us. He introduced himself and began explaining how the tour was going to work. Now, before we began the tour, Dr. Carlson said that he was under the impression that we would be taking the historic walking tour of the city and THEN get a tour of the castle, but it turns out that it was totally separate and that we would have to pay 16 pounds just to get inside. But more about that later.

We started the tour talking about the Old Town and the New Town, and then proceeded to hit some of the big landmarks of the city, like the famous statues of Hume and King Charles I, pinpointing the many museums, and even locate some of the places that J. K. Rowling wrote her books (Elephant House, Balmoral Hotel). We learned a lot about how the city came to what it is today, and also how the city is built on a dormant volcano. Also learned how death always comes from the right (traffic). All in all, it was a very cool experience had it not been for the cold and the rain (but it turned into snow!)

After the tour, we were given free reign to go do whatever we wanted. We could stay the night, we could go right back to Glasgow, didn't matter. Amy, Nick, Aggie, and I decided to go grab lunch at the Scotland National Museum cafe and then explore the many floors and exhibits it had to offer. Honestly, if there was something there that you wanted to see, it was probably there. We knew that it got dark around 4, so we decided to try and scope out the castle and get as far into it as we were allowed without having to buy tickets. Turns out you can get through the front gates, but not through the front doors. So we went into the gift shop to look around, and this is where I found out that I lost my student ID somewhere in the city. So this would be the third ID I would have to get, since the first one was inactive when I got it.

We left the castle with about an hour left of daylight, and we stumbled upon an old cemetery, and outside the gate there was a plaque commemorating the many Scottish "celebrities" that were buried there. One of which was the philosopher Hume. Amy bolted inside because she is obsessed with him, so we followed suit, even though I wasn't very reluctant of this. The grave sites were far different than what I had seen before - if you were someone of high stature (which apparently a lot of people seemed to be), you had your own tomb. We found Hume's giant temple, and we also stumbled upon one of the two tombs that Robert Burns had been buried in. It seems that he was first buried there, but was then relocated somewhere else. Not sure why, but it was still really cool.

We finally went back to the train station and made our way back to Glasgow. There is so much to do in Edinburgh that you cannot possibly do it all in one day. I plan on going back there soon so that I can climb up Arthur's Peak, visit more museums, and enjoy the capital of Scotland just a little bit more. And maybe when the weather is nicer.