Finals Week

Blog #5

21st Day in Scotland

     So much for doing a blog post every 2 days, or at least every week! Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to try and condense everything. :) Some of the things I've done in the past week and a half or so have been Lithlingow Palace, Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle, climbed Arthur's Seat, went to the National Portrait Gallery, eat at The Elephant House, visited The Royal Bank of Scotland, gone on a 10 mile hike in the Pentland Hills, attempted to visit some of the gravestones that inspired characters in Harry Potter, and went to London. So its been pretty packed lately!
     Some of my favorite attractions were The Elephant House, and surprisingly both hikes. The Elephant House was so cool because you could definitely see how J.K. Rowling was able to write the first 3 Harry Potter books there. From the corner booths in the back there is a great view of Edinburgh Castle, which definitely resembles Hogwarts in some aspects. As for the hikes Arthur's Seat had a great view of the city. The weather was nice and waited to rain until we started walking back to the flat. As for the hike in Pentland Hills we got a good vibe of what our 3 day Highland hike will be like at the end of our trip. The hike was extremely tiring, but probably the worst part was being scratched by a nettle. My arm stung for about an hour. It was almost as if my arm was boiling because of the bubble that slowly grew on a few places on my arm. Other than that the hike was really cool. We got to see a lot of rural farms, and tons of sheep. We even got to see Robert Louis Stevenson's old summer home which was really cool.
     My weekend in London was probably one of my favorite weekends yet! Although I didn't get to go to Wimbledon with Megan she still brought me back an awesome keychain. We did get to go to Madame Tussaud's though which was nuts. There were hundreds of people there, and we waited for about an hour and a half to get it. It was super cool, and I even got to take a picture with a wax figure of Leonardo DiCaprio. ;) Megan's favorite part was definitely the One Direction exhibit which was new to the museum given the fact that its a traveling exhibit. Its only been there about a month so everyone wanted to get in. Some people even tried to budge in line, but some of the staff came by and kicked them out. I can't remember another time where I've seen so many people pushing and shoving. Or little girls having public meltdowns for that matter. I'm pretty sure the parents were in awe of the reaction these young girls were having. I didn't see anyone cry, but that's not to say that they weren't close to it.
     After Madame Tussaud's we headed to Harrod's. I'd never been before and really wanted to see what all of the hubbub was about, and I have to say, it was fantastic. The best way to explain it is the grandest display of clothes, accessories, food, and architecture all in one huge store. The food and chandeliers were amazing. I wish we had had more time so we could have sat down and had to something to eat there, but we were running late to get to Spamalot. I was a little unsure of how Spamalot was going to be in the first 5-10 minutes, but it really proved itself. It was fantastic and I would definitely see it again. I laughed hysterically, and everyone there loved it. One of the best parts was that the guy who played Arthur was fantastic at improvising. Also the woman who played Guinevere had an astounding voice. She had ridiculous pipes, and was spot on the whole time. Overall Spamalot was fantastic, and probably my favorite part of the weekend.
   
I skipped out on a lot, but I've got to get some rest tonight given that this week is finals week! Time really does fly. I'll do my best and blog again at the end of the week seeing as it'll be my first weekend in St. Andrews! I'm really going to miss Edinburgh, but St. Andrews should be amazing.

Until next time!
-Bryn