Scotland

I spent the last two days in Scotland - one in Edinburgh and one in the Highlands. The BAP crew (minus James) and I left on a Wednesday night bus to Edinburgh and returned on a Friday night bus so that we were back by Saturday morning. Surprisingly, it's over an 8-hour bus ride from London to Edinburgh (would've thought the two cities were closer). Anyway, it was a ton of fun, mainly the guided Highlands tour. We didn't cover all the tourist sites in Edinburgh like I did in Paris, but we had much less time and still managed to meet some interesting people.

The Royal Mile from the top of Camera Obscura.

Princes St and the River Forth from the top of Camera Obscura. The heart of Edinburgh didn't seem large, but it extended for quite a bit when we took the Highlands tour.

The Edinburgh Castle at the end of the Royal Mile. The history between Scotland and England is fascinating and the present relationship surprising at times. In my EU class, we're learning about how technocratic the government is and how separate it is from the people's national identity. This phenomenon probably applies even more so to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. They're sovereign countries, part of the UK, and part of the EU, all of which have a significant, sometimes conflicting, role in their governance and policies. Maybe it seems more confusing than it is from the untrained American eye (after all, we have federal and state governments with their own interesting relationships). Anyway, I wish I'd gotten a chance to talk to a Scotsman about politics and national identity (quite the conversation starter, no?)

So much cooler than the musicians in New York. People were taking pictures with him, but I felt bad since I only had 30 p in change. I've never seen anyone take a picture with a street musician in New York, but it happened here and in Bath.

A Chinese restaurant with a sign saying "Can a billion people be wrong?" Offensive but amusing.

A Highland cattle named Hammis. She (?) didn't respond much to outstretched hands or camera flashes but seemed to be enjoying the moderate sun behind her.

Glen Coe near where the massacre occurred in 1692. I was surprised by the number of cars parked on the sides of the highway. Apparently, "hillwalking" is a common activity, roughly similar to our "hiking". The scenery was gorgeous and would've been fun to explore.

The Highlands. There were tons of amazing views (people kept shifting from one side of the bus to the other) so these two pictures are just a sample. I highly recommend the tour (even though it's a tad expensive) for both the history and the views.

Spean Bridge War Memorial to WWII veterans. If you look closely, the engraving reads "United We Conquer", which struck me firstly because I thought it had been an American phrase and secondly because of the word "conquer" in reference to UK during WWII. WWII seems much closer to the hearts of the British than Americans (obviously they bore the brunt of it more and we came out as the world's superpower afterwards), but it's interesting to note the way it's presented and collectively remembered. I may devote a post to this subject since this one's already quite long.

The waters of Loch Ness. Its surface area is 21.8 square miles, while Manhattan is 23 square miles. Obviously, it' s huge! Nothing unusual though. The boat ride we took was mediocre without the expected spooky Nessie stories. It does offer some great views of the hilly banks and the sunset. Maybe you can tell from this picture, but the water seemed strangely sheet-like, as if it was computer-generated, according to Kevin.

Urquhart Castle from the boat on Loch Ness. We didn't check it out since it cost extra, but it may be worth it. Not quite sure of its significance, but apparently a lot of Nessie spottings occur near it. Also interesting, in the gift shop, I found a CD by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

Eating a deep-fried Twix before we left. Some of my friends actually liked it. I thought it was over the top, but you've got to do it once.

We walked past Elephant House, the cafe that inspired J.K. Rowling, but we didn't go in. In terms of cafes, Chocolate Soup was incredible with its brownies and hot chocolate. However, near Elephant House, there's a cemetery where a friend said you can see the gravestones of Tom Riddle and McGonagall (apparently Rowling took these names for her characters), but it was too dark by the time we got there to read names. It was spooky too.

I'll end on two jokes our bus driver told us about how "mean" (roughly meaning frugal or tight about money) the Scottish are. 1) Copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen. They were fighting over a penny. 2) The Grand Canyon was dug by a Scotsman. He dropped 50 p and just kept digging for it. At the time, we found these jokes hilarious since our bus driver was on a roll. The bus ride was long so he kept making fun of his wife and referring to her as the Loch Ness monster.

Stonehenge and Bath

On Sunday, NYU woke us up at 7:30 am and threw us on a coach bus for the next twelve hours. First stop, Stonehenge. As we sleepily stepped off the bus, we noticed the sheep as much as the stones. All of them were just lying on the ground without much visible action. Then again, I guess that's what you do as a sheep. Someone did point out that these sheep got pretty lucky in the sheep lottery - I mean they get to live right next to Stonehenge, they're probably in more people's cameras than Gordon Brown.

Anyway, the stones were what you expected, nothing more, nothing less. They were roped off by about 25 feet. Apparently, some of the other stones were used in building houses and roads, which is part of the reason why the perfect circle doesn't exist anymore. Also people started chipping away souvenirs (That would totally be me if I could) so they had to put up the rope.




Second stop, Bath. The architecture and history of Bath are incredible. Apparently it's one of the World Heritage sites, meaning it's protected from modern development and destruction by UNESCO. Today the city has modern spa facilities if you want to enjoy the historical pastime in contemporary fashion.

Our tour guide took us to the Royal Crescent, though I didn't get any good pictures. All the doors of the expensive houses are painted white except one. Apparently a while ago (think 1800s) the lady living inside was opposed to the yellow lines the government painted on the cobblestone streets for no parking. Therefore, she painted her door yellow in protest and took the case to Britain's highest court. I don't remember if she won, but the door is still painted yellow today in commemoration. Our tour guide was pleasant, although she kept trying to convince us to come back to Bath, especially if we wanted to get married. She even showed us the perfect room in one of the halls in town where Keira Knightly filmed some movie.

Bath Abbey is in the background. The Roman street level is 18 meters below current street level so you need to take a staircase downstairs. It still astounds me that you can build on top of ancient cities and have the modern city be structurally sound.

I could have been a war hero and emperor like the statues above me, no?

There was a Roman guard saying "Salve" to the passersby. He refused to hold the ale that the group in front of me had bought, claiming that his general would be most upset if he engaged in enemy drink. Four years of high school Latin for this one moment, well worth it.

Stomach Virus

Yup, unfortunately it happened. I was in linear algebra on Wednesday when my stomach felt queasy and my foresight told me to feel unlucky. I threw up in the public bathroom, on the walk home, and in my own bathroom. I slept the rest of the day, waking only to drink water and to massage my sore joints. Thankfully a friend bought me Gatorade-like drinks and pita bread from Tesco since I felt like I could barely move.

However, by Thursday morning, I felt much better, even though I was incredibly weak. I continued the liquid regimen and slept away most of the day, without any of the vomiting this time. I had booked a trip to Edinburgh for the weekend but decided to skip it given my recovering health.

A couple friends had also contracted stomach virus earlier in the week. We thought it had to do with going to Paris last weekend, but apparently it's a British trend. The doctor who one of my friends saw said that she's seen a lot of similar cases lately and contracted a stomach virus herself. Unfortunately for my friend, he got a shot in the rear to take care of it.

Anyway, I'm glad to have the weekend to rest. NYU's taking us on a Bath/Stonehenge trip on Sunday, but I'm taking it easy until then.

Paris

Just came home from an amazing weekend in Paris. Six friends and I took the Eurostar, stayed in a hotel from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning, and managed to survive in a country where none of us knew the language (fortunately some of the French are more worldly than us). Without a doubt, I ended up going over budget, but it was well worth it. I'll post some pictures for now, but I'll probably follow up with a post or two about the experience in words.

A heated towel rack in our hotel bathroom. A nice touch that works wonders. I had a good impression of France already.

The Notre Dame Cathedral. The interior was astounding, and the architecture intricate the entire way around.

A view of Paris from the Notre Dame Cathedral. Not sure where I was pointing lol.

The quintessential inverted pyramid of the Louvre. It was raining that day so I didn't get a picture of the outdoor pyramids. Now there's an Apple and Virgin store on either side of this pyramid. Interesting juxtaposition, as Jack Martin would say.

The Mona Lisa, duh. She was her own wall in the middle of a room of spectacular art, including The Wedding Feast at Cana, and her own three bodyguards. High maintenance, if you ask me

The people around the Mona Lisa. I apologize to any art buffs that I'm going to offend, but I personally found this aspect more interesting than the painting. Someone in the art world said this was one of the greatest paintings in the world, and now everyone has to have a picture with her. Of course, the painting was well done in that I could never make it even in a lifetime, but what makes it the greatest?

The Arc de Triumph. It's in the middle of a traffic circle, and there's a tunnel that goes below the street so you can access it. We didn't know that little fact so we ran across all 8 lanes of traffic. My friends were stopped by the police when they made it to the Arc, who just shook their heads and pointed at the tunnel. I saw oncoming traffic as my friends ran so I waited for my own clearing. A couple was laughing as I waited for my opportunity, and they promised they'd videotape me as I ran across (they probably knew about the tunnel, those jerks). Anyway, we weren't the only clueless ones since five people followed my friends, which meant there were over ten people running at once, which is why the police saw them.

The Champs Elysses from the Arc de Triumph. We went into the Louis Vutton store (think six guys with jeans) and were blown away by the decadence. We found a watch that cost 65,000 euros. Anyway, I'm sure when the trees have leaves, this shot makes for a nice view. They had the same squared-off trees here as the Luxembourg Gardens. I still can't understand why squared-off trees are appealing, I guess we have our squared-off bushs so I shouldn't be talking.

The Eiffel Tower, another duh. We waited in line for nearly 2 hours (?), but the view from the top was well worth it.

The Seine River from the Eiffel Tower during the evening. It was so cold that everyone's hands were shaking after the long wait. This picture is only one of two good ones that I got.

I took over 200 photos in Paris in four days. I've only taken around 75 photos in London in the three weeks I've been here. Granted, I haven't visited the West End and Big Ben yet, but London's got some catching up to do. Ohh geeez, as Carl would say

Tate Britain

It wasn't drizzling today! See in London, that's the sign of a good day. Most days I wake up to a gray sky and an ubiquitous chilly mist. In New York, you're happy when it's sunny, but in London, your standards are much lower; you're happy as long as it's not drizzling. It can be cold, overcast, earthquaking, but as long as it's not drizzly, consider yourself lucky.

Anyway, seizing this once-in-a-week phenomenon, I went to Tate Britain, apparently one of the best collections of historical and contemporary British art. I woke up at 10:00, and no one seemed to be awake, so I decided to enjoy the excursion alone.

The historical art was excellent, with an extensive exhibit on J.M.W Turner along with noteworthy pieces by William Hogarth and John Everett Millais. I'm sure the others were good too, but they weren't worth remembering (just kidding!). The contemporary art was eh; I'm not a big fan of it anyway, and it didn't do much to convince me otherwise.

The museum didn't allow pictures so the only shot I got was the exterior. Although I think the sign at the top ("Everything is going to be alright") is awesome, especially juxtaposed with the elaborate architecture.

I hate the people who are so steeped in their life goal - whether it be art, finance, fashion, whatever - that they can't step back and take themselves less seriously, even for a minute. I'm sure the director of the Tate has devoted his whole life to studying art and to obtaining that prestigious position, but he still felt comfortable "dirtying" (as I'm sure some art connoisseurs would say) the museum with that sign. Nonetheless, it's awesome. It's similar to the time on the Daily Show when Tim Gunn of Project Runway said something to the effect of "Fashion is my life, but for some people, it's nothing more than putting clothes on your back every morning, and I understand that." Unless you're the President or the prime minister (I suppose I'm in the UK now), the world will be fine without you and your mediocre accomplishments. I hate the people who don't realize that lesson. Sorry for the rant. It came out of nowhere; as hard as it may be to believe, I'm in a pretty good mood right now lol.

Anyway, let me end with today's highlight, or actually low point. I was talking to the tour guide at the Tate before her tour, and I told her I was from New Jersey. In response, she did her best New York accent, scrunching her entire face to pronounce "coffee". Granted when I try a British accent, people say it sounds half-Jamaican so I shouldn't be talking, but then she proceeded to ask if everyone in New Jersey is like the Sopranos. I immediately said "No" before the tour started. However, as we started walking, I realized that people from other states think NJ is as stupid and vain as the Jersey Shore characters while people outside the States think it's as swaggering and lawless as Tony Soprano. At this point, McGreevey makes our state look good.