I did not have much time to rest and recuperate following the Borussia game. The rest of the week flew by, although I was feeling under the weather until Thursday evening. But as soon as class ended Friday, Spring Break officially began.
That evening, I caught a flight from the Cologne airport to London-Stansted and spent the night in a hotel. I made my way to the city (the airport was about a forty minute train ride from downtown) the next morning, purchasing my first of what seemed like a million public transportation tickets that were outrageously priced compared to the rest of Europe - I would learn soon that everything in London was ridiculously expensive. Madyson and I spent the rest of Saturday hitting the major tourist highlights. We saw the London Tower and Tower Bridge (I thought it was called the London Bridge, oops), grabbed some Starbucks, and made our way to Parliament/Big Ben. They must have heard I was coming though, because Big Ben was under construction and closed. We walked around Westminster Abbey, and then rode the "tube" to the Natural History Museum. Afterwards, we walked around Hyde Park before grabbing dinner and swinging by Buckingham Palace to say hi to the Queen. We found our AirBnB early so we would be well rested for Sunday, but not before finding the old location of the Embassy of the Republic of Texas to the UK.
Surprisingly, a friend of mine from College Station (my freshman year prayer-teamer from Impact) saw on social media that I was in London and invited me to her church the next morning. I made my way to Real Life Church in downtown London and got to experience my first church service in English since January. It was a great service, and I enjoyed seeing an old friend from home again (talk about Aggie Network*TM). Madyson and I spent a large chunk of the day at the British Museum of History, which was probably the best history museum I have ever been to. They had exhibits and artifacts from nearly every period, age, and civilization, including the famous Rosetta Stone.
Afterwards, we grabbed some fish and chips, rode a double-decker bus, and explored one of London's famous markets. We then started walking around the city, visiting Trafalgar Square and Chinatown, which I enjoyed because I had never been to a Chinatown before. On our way back to our AirBnB, we visited King's Cross Station to see Platform 9 and 3/4ths from Harry Potter. That night we visited an English pub to end our time in London with a completed experience.
The next morning I caught a plane to Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon arriving, I quickly realized I may have found my favorite city in the UK. Edinburgh is surrounded by hills and mountains, on the coast, with lakes dotting the countryside. The city itself surrounds a large hill dominated by Edinburgh Castle, the very center of Scottish history. Nearly every building has a grey stone facade, and the variety of buildings and architectures on display is reminiscent of an ancient European center of culture. I began exploring the city once I met up with Ryan, who had also arrived that morning from Switzerland (Madyson was staying behind to explore Oxford and Bath). Our first stop was Edinburgh castle itself, which can only be described by a picture:
Unfortunately, we could not go in that day, so instead we visited the gardens and some of the other famous sites in the city. For dinner, we tried traditional Scottish haggis (sheep's organs cooked inside the stomach) and whiskey...I hate to admit it, but we actually liked the haggis. It tasted like shepherd's pie. We explored the city some more and visited some local pubs before turning in for the night.
The next day we cooked breakfast before hiking up a nearby hill to see the city from above. I was surprised by how high we were, and the wind was howling at that height. Sean arrived shortly after our hike, so we met him and the three of us went back to the castle to explore the inside. I enjoyed learning about the history of Scotland from the castle, which has been a center of most of the political events of the country/region. I don't know if anyone else would find it as interesting as I did, or if I am just biased by my love for the movie Braveheart....
After touring the castle and the Scottish Art Gallery, my time in Scotland came to an end and I caught a flight to Dublin. There, I met up with my old buddy Park, and we prepared for our journey, which I was sure would be the highlight of our spring break.
