BEARS ON THE ROAD

We got to Edinburgh late, so the first night, we went straight to the hotel.             In the morning, I was shocked to learn that we were not even going to Loch Ness, we were instead traveling around Edinburgh. However, I decided to let it go. We began by walking to Edinburgh Castle, perched on top of a steep cliff. Luckily, this is not the way up. We dodged a military event and wandered around the fortress-like structure. Several monuments were blocked by a huge arrangement of bleachers, presumably for an event that night. We saw multiple large cannons, St. Margaret’s Chapel, and the Cemetery for Soldier’s Dogs. We also viewed the Crown Jewels of Scotland, featuring a large scepter, and a sword that was easily as tall, if not taller, than me, with a hilt as wide as a usual doorway. Among the Crown Jewels was the Rock of Destiny. At the gift shop, we got some tablet, traditional Scottish candy that turned out to be sugar and condensed milk. It was delicious.             Next, w

We arrived in York, and after ditching our bags, headed for the Jorvik Viking Centre.             When you walk in to the Centre, you immediately find yourself on a thick glass floor that looks down at an archaeological site that shows the foundations of two Viking houses. Around the room were videos about Viking conquests, and artifacts that had been found on the site below.             From there, we went on the Disney-like ride, a slow moving car that drove around a model Viking town with life sized figures that spoke in another language (I presume it was some form of Nordic) as our audio headset helpfully translated, as well as giving insightful information on everyday Viking life.             After this, we went through the rest of the exhibits, which featured several skeletons, one of which had a hologram-like device that not only outlined various health concerns, but then reconstructed a Viking woman from the bones. It was quite impressive.             For some reason,

We arrived in Hexham, a small, quaint town whose main feature is the large abbey. We could not go in, sadly, because of a wedding featuring some really spectacular hats, but we were able to wander the grounds of the impressive abbey anyway.             We boarded our bus to Hadrian’s Wall, which took us to several places along the wall that have particularly interesting features. My parents had originally intended for us to hike the entire wall, but (luckily) that wasn’t going to happen, so instead we went to some key sites. The first of these was Vindolanda, a series of low walls that were once a Roman auxiliary fort. There is little left of the original stone used, and many of the charming little cottages we passed appeared to in fact be made of ancient Roman stone. Waste not, want not, I suppose.             Part of Vindolanda is an active archaeologic dig site, but we were able to walk around the parts that had already been excavated. I enjoyed meandering around the daisy-cove

We returned to London and began, per usual, at the hotel to drop our bags .             From there, we walked to the City of London Museum, near a part of the old Roman walls . The exhibit showed the hundreds of items that had been excavated, which pointed to how much history London is sitting on top of . There were flint arrowheads, pieces of pottery, and skulls, human and animal alike . There are so many ancient societies resting under the current metropolis- it is truly astounding! It's a clock. The cannons fire at the hour. Next, we went to the British Museum, possibly so any void of my soul NOT yet filled with history could be jam packed with priceless ancient artifacts. We began with the oldest part of history, viewing many statues and the gigantic arm of a pharaoh (held out so that, if not for the sign that said ‘Do not touch’, I would have been tempted to fist bump it) before coming to probably the most recognizable object in the room- the Rosetta Stone. After g

We arrived at Stratford-upon-Avon, and after leaving our stuff at the hotel, decided to wander around the small town. The entire place seemed to be made out of charming buildings and quaint parks.             We wound our way to the Holy Trinity Church, the site of Shakespeare’s grave. Through the mass of people, I was able to indeed see the worn tomb of the Bard, so faded that you can’t read the inscription. In addition, there was a baptismal font that Shakespeare may have been baptized with, and a lovely organ.             Next, we wandered over to the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and stayed in the shop until it was time for the performance. I was sorely tempted by the mug that was a facsimile of the Underground train lines, except the different colored lines represented fools, lovers, and many other categories. Where the stations would have been were characters that fit into the categories. Sadly, the thought of carrying a breakable object for weeks on end trumped my wish

We arrived in London and, after looking at the trolley sticking out of the bricks at King’s Cross, took a tube to our hotel. From there, we headed to the National Gallery, walking through a park full of swans, geese, and ducks.             We began in the exhibits featuring art from the 1200s-1500s. As you can imagine, there was quite a lot of religious art, but also depicted were Greek stories, such as a painting of Helen being carried off by Paris while her companions stare after her dispassionately. Another featured the hunter who had the misfortune of running into Diana, who promptly turned him into a stag and had him torn apart by his own hounds.             After methodically going through every room, we felt the need to get some food at the café, and after a refreshing “fairy cake”, we began our journey to the next part of the museum, the wing of art from the 1600s-1700s. After seeing the two pieces of art we most wanted to see- a Vermeer and a Sassoferrato. Once we had

We left our hostel, and after several long train and bus rides, got to Pooh Corner.             We perused the awesome merchandise before inquiring if we could leave our luggage so we didn’t have to drag it through Ashdown Forest (the Hundred Acre Woods). The lady at the desk allowed us to put our heavy bags in the office and then gave us directions to Poohsticks Bridge.             We collected sticks along the road before we reached the first of many gates we would have to climb over. The walk started pleasantly enough, shaded by tall trees with a wide path. We went up for a bit before turning right onto a narrow trail full of brambles- and bugs. I survived, however, and the next bit of our walk was a wide grassy meadow full of flowers, with an open view of the surrounding land. We then traversed along a road, stopping to admire the small door in the side of a tree, before we reached the bridge.              We played Poohsticks multiple times. For those not familiar with th

We got a train to Salisbury, and after leaving our heavy luggage at the Cat Tavern, we got on a bus to Stonehenge.             We reached our destination a while later and took a second bus to reach the site. I’m sure I don’t need to describe what Stonehenge look like- it’s quite famous, you know- so I will settle for pontificating about the various theories surrounding the site.             There are endless ideas as to why Stonehenge was constructed. Many people think it served as some sort of calendar, as the stones are aligned with several auspicious events. However, there is evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, or (my favorite) a place of healing, made so by the bluestones, rocks from Wales said to have power. This theory is strengthened by the skeletons of people who had severe medical conditions. It is possible that these unfortunates traveled to Stonehenge with the hopes of ridding themselves of ailments.             We marveled at the site for quite a w

We caught an early train to Oxford, and began our journey by leaving our heavy bags at the hostel.             Our first stop was the Bodleian Library, but since our tour was not until 12:30, we took this time to wander around the courtyard and shop. Once I was dissuaded from buying a large print of Hobbiton-across-the-water, I took some time to admire the collection of Shakespearean insult magnets and a whole set of merchandise that said “Silence please.”             When we were done gawking at all the things we wanted to buy and had taken enough pictures of the large courtyard and impressive structure all around us (where parts of Harry Potter were filmed!) we went to University Church.             There were lots of stone monuments on the walls, and someone was playing the organ. Something I had not seen before in a church was the book of martyrs, which was what it sounded like, telling the life and death of brave faithful, some who had died here in Oxford. The front of the

We began our day by taking a train to Bath. Once we set our stuff at the hostel, we went in search of the Sally Lunn House.             Here we ordered traditional Sally Lunn buns about this size of the plate they were on, toasted with a variety of toppings. We also got tea. My bun was toasted with cinnamon butter, and it was easily one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Sadly, I couldn’t buy any of the cinnamon butter, so after exploring the kitchen, we left.             Our next destination was the site of a Roman bath house. The main pool was full of water from Bath’s underground steam pools. In addition, we were able to traverse a series of old baths, such as the tepidarium, or warm room, the frigidarium (cold room) and the hot room. There was a museum as well, housing rubble and pieces of the temples, including the head of a statue of Sulis Minerva, the patron goddess of the bath. There were also many artifacts in the museum, such as curse tablets. These contained the offens

After breakfast, we left the hostel to get into Cardiff Castle.             Our first stop was the Keep, a spider-infested structure with a high tower that gave us a panoramic view of Cardiff, including the ducks sitting on the high walls. We climbed down for our tour of the house, one of the Bute family’s many vacation homes. The tour started at the bottom of the clock tower, an intricately decorated room called the Winter Smoking Room, with a theme of time, from the zodiac on the ceiling, to the seasons on the walls, to the days of the week pictured on the windows in the form of Norse gods, as well as the small decorations depicting sunrise, midday, sunset, and nighttime. The only thing not centered on time was the decoration over the fireplace, with an inscription that read, “Love conquers all, so let us give in to love.” Under this were a series of pictures showing couple winter activities. Since the Winter Smoking Room was a men’s only room, above the door leading to the room,

We woke up early, packed up our stuff, and left the hostel to catch a ferry to Wales. However, we were only driving through, and from Wales we got on a train to Chester, England. Since there was no place to put our bags, we carried them through the town, and took ourselves on a self-guided tour of the city.             There are walls around the city, and on these we viewed the charming old buildings, several towers, gates, and a Roman amphitheater and pavilion. The city was a beautiful mix of medieval, Tudor, and gothic architecture. All of the buildings were wonderfully designed, which made it surprising that these were being used to house ordinary shops and restaurants.             After our walk on the walls, we went over to evensong at Chester Cathedral, to find that evensong had been cancelled for a scout ceremony. We were only able to get a small glimpse of the inside of the cathedral, but we were able to roam the Remembrance Garden, which had several tombs marked by stones

We left the hostel and immediately headed for the bank, where we would be picked up for a tour of the Bru na Boinne (the Boyne valley), a UNESCO world heritage site containing many Stone Age relics and buildings. We boarded the bus, and in the time it took us to get there, the guide went through the Stone, Bronze, Iron, and Golden Ages of Ireland, which was quite interesting.             We reached the information centre, and at 9:30 we got on a second bus, which would take us to Newgrange, our first stop. The ride offered a view of the charming landscape and many farm animals. The structure at Newgrange is a passage tomb. Essentially, it is a mound of rocks with a tiny passage into the middle, where the tomb is. The entire thing is decorated with spirals and rhombi, for no known reason. The tomb at Newgrange is unique because for 17 minutes on December 21, the passage to the tombs aligns with the sunrise, and the entire inside is filled with light. Unfortunately, the only way to vi