Escape to Edinburgh

Bagpiper with the city of Edinburgh behind

The Stover Senior family came to visit last week and we got to see many sites in the UK (some again, some for the first time).

They arrived tired and weary of a long flight, but our adventure was just beginning.  We took them on the usual first day round to the British Museum to see the stolen art (none of it is actually from Britain...), to the National Gallery to see the paid for art (at least Britain legitimately owns these works of art!), and treated them to their first British pub (but certainly not their last!)

Following our busy day in London, we boarded a train at King's Cross and took the four hour journey to Edinburgh, Scotland. While there we learned a lot about the city and wanted to share a few interesting facts with you!

Eight things you (probably) did not know about Edinburgh:

1) The town is not flat - steep climbs, lots of steps, and stops to take a breather dominated our trip.  Here are some examples of the Edinburgh landscape:

 2) J.K. Rowling spent some time in Edinburgh with her sister following her divorce.  It was during this time she wrote most of the first Harry Potter book and was known to frequent The Elephant Cafe - which has a wonderful view of the Edinburgh castle.  Perhaps this is where her inspiration for Hogwarts came from!?!

Outside The Elephant House

Enjoying breakfast at The Elephant House

The view of Edinburgh Castle from The Elephant House

3) Speaking of the Edinburgh castle, historically it has been a stronghold for Scotland in many battles for independence.  Ironically, Scotland is currently trying to once again gain independence and will soon be having a referendum vote to become independent of the UK.

B and E at the castle

The Stovers in front of the castle

View of the city from a cannon window

Edinburgh castle is located at the top of a steep hill

4) 'Arthur's Seat,' the highest point in Edinburgh, is located within the Holyrood park - a park of grassy hills situated in the center of town.  It is believed by some that this hill was the site of Camelot, in which King Arthur reigned.  I don't know if that is true, but it does provide spectacular views of the city, as well as the ruins of a 15th Century Abbey.

At the top of Arthur's seat

The Stovers at the top

Ruins of a 15th Century Abbey

5) The Queens Royal Yacht Britannia is docked in Edinburgh and you can tour it!

The Royal Yacht Britannia

On the Yacht

The main dining room, which is still used today for those with enough money to rent it out!

The royal sitting room

6) Scotland has a proud history of distilling whisky, which is where the term Scotch Whisky comes from.  The largest collection of unopened whisky bottles is housed in Edinburgh at the Scotch Whisky experience.  If you visit, you even get a sampling of Scotch whisky, and a demonstration on how it is made.

Jean and Jeff in the Whisky Collection

Sampling Scotch Whisky

The largest collection of unopened whisky bottles in the world

7) Edinburgh has its very own Parthenon, or at least half of one.  In 1823 construction began on what was to be The National Monument of Scotland - dedicated to Scottish soldiers and sailors who died in the Napoleonic wars.  However, by 1829 funds has run out and the building was left unfinished.  It is now known by the locals as "Scotland's Disgrace."

You can see the half finished Parthenon just right of center, behind the dark bell tower 

8) Brandon was lucky enough to celebrate his 29th birthday in Edinburgh, so we treated him by eating at a fancy restaurant, where he received a very special dessert.

Check back soon to hear about our day trip to Bath, England!

Man Bieau P'tit Jèrri

Jersey is a channel island near France that has a unique political identity.  It is a crown dependency (protected by the United Kingdom) but has the power of self-determination.  It has a population of about 90,000 and is about 9 long and 5 miles wide.  It is about 14 miles from France so on a clear day you can see the coast of France and a lot of their architecture is french. 

Emily and I visited Jersey recently to visit a friend (Kit) who is a local musician and is working to help save the native language, Jèrriais.  

After arrival we went with Kit to The Crab Shack and got fresh seafood. 

 

The meal was lots of work, but when on an island, you have to get fresh seafood.

 After a relaxing night we went out on our own to Mont Orgueil Castle.  It was built over 600 years ago and has defended Jersey from the French ever since. It has lots of nice history, and everywhere you turned there was another passage way with something new to explore.  We also really liked how they integrated art into the castle from local artists in order to help you better interact and learn on your visit (see the knight for example).

The castle and the beach

Inside the lower ward

 

Some art in the castle

A little dress up for us older kids

After the castle we walked along the coast to get a geocache and then Kit took us on a driving tour to various historical sites in search of dolmen, neolithic grave sites. We spent most of the afternoon outside in the sun and searched (sometimes in vain) for these sites labeled on our map.  This wondering around the island, however, showed us sights many people don't get to see.  We walked along the north east coast and saw the dramatic cliffs and ancient battlements.  

 The Dolmen, with some semi-modern changes to how it sat for hundreds of years

Our second day we were off to the north west of the island to explore the beaches, bunkers, and ruins.  The Nazis controlled Jersey from 1940-1945 and Hitler was very proud that he controlled part of the UK.  So much so that he was not ready to give it up without a fight.  He set out to make the island a fortress.  Over 40 Nazi bunkers and fortifications still exist on the island, with miles of tunnel and other ruined battlements.  The most impressive is near an ancient castle and the spot of our hike.  We set of on a quest to find a geocache that ended up taking us 2 hours to find and in the end, the gps was out of batteries but we managed to make the final find and sign the log.  (See pictures below)

 

Our adventure began with an impromptu tour via construction workers

 

The castle ruins

 

The Nazi ruins, such an impressive bunker.  It has 5 floors.

 

In the middle left of the shot you can see another bunker, they were everywhere!

 Signing the log of the Geocache

We spent our evening eating fish and chips in "town" (what the locals call St. Helier) and took the bus home as Kit was going to a political rally.  Once again, taking public transport outside of London makes you appreciate how frequent and convenient public transportation is in London (as we waited 40 minutes for the next bus going our direction!) 

Our final full day in Jersey found us in the Jersey War Tunnels (built by the Nazis to hold ammunition and later turned into a war hospital).  It was a great vision into the past, a look at occupied Jersey.  Kit talked about how his father and other locals were around for the occupation.  It was some of the only British soil taken over by the Nazis.

The rain was coming down for our final day so we drove around the island in search of things to do inside.  The afternoon found a bit of sun so we decided to search for more historic sites.  We found a nice old Dolmen that was unlike any other on the island.  However, on our trip back to the car, the wind and rain picked up and we got hit by mother nature.  

 

This was said to be 6,000 years old!

We spend our final evening downtown listening to the band Kit is in, Badlabeques.  They are a band of local musicians that sings in the local language of Jerriais.  Kit is doing a similar masters degree as me (MA in Ethnomusicology), he is trying to revitalize the language in Jersey using music and Ethnomusicology.  You can check out their music at www.badlabeques.net (you can download their Christmas album for free).  

 

The Band (Kit in the middle playing Guitar).  

The accordion player in the left of the screen is actually a local politician who gave us a little history on the politics of the island.

Stay tuned for the next installment, the visit of the Stover Sr. family.

Brandon

Pirates, Dinosaurs, and Internships...Oh My!

Pirates
Last week Brandon and I saw Pirates of the Caribbean Live, at the Royal Albert Hall (he found half-off tickets thanks to Groupon!). This is where the movie is played on a large screen while a live orchestra performs the background music.  It was a very cool experience, totally different than a regular orchestra concert.

The Stovers at Royal Albert Hall

Pirates and the Orchestra

Dinosaurs
Earlier this week Paige, a friend of mine from college, visited London with one of her friends, so I got to spend a day with them at the Natural History Museum.  While Brandon and I have been to this museum before, we totally missed out on the best part - the Dinosaurs! 

Rawr!

Paige and I

Interships 
Last Friday was my final internship day.  For the past three months I have been working three days a week for the Communications/Marketing Team at the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE).  This has been a great internship for me to gain hands-on experience working in an arts administration position.  Throughout my time I have:  written and sent-out press releases, promoted OAE concerts and events, contributed to OAE's social media and blog, and other various administrative tasks.  To see some of my blog posts for the OAE click here.

But what I've enjoyed most (and will miss the most) are the people who worked in the office with me!  They have been so helpful and friendly and wonderful.  For my last day they brought me lovely flowers, champagne, and a precious silver necklace.  Overall it has been a great experience and I will miss everyone dearly!

Me with the some of the office staff

Carrot Cake Cupcakes that Brandon and I made to bring on my last day

My final day presents, flowers, champagne and a necklace

Close-up of the necklace

Oh My!
Although I am sad to be ending my internship with the OAE, I am looking forward to having a bit of free time again. While I plan on spending most of it writing and researching for my final dissertation, I am also looking forward to more London explorations, now that the weather is brightening up!  London in the spring is so lovely and I plan on enjoying it as much as I can before leaving in August.

Much Love,
Emily

A Beautiful Weekend

At Holland Park

The weather this weekend in London was absolutely lovely!  With bright sunny skies and a high of 68F (20C), it was a great weekend to be outside.  And that's just what Brandon and I did.  We ventured out to the west side of London to the Notting Hill area. We explored the charming Holland Park, which has a giant chess board, Japanese garden and Ice Cream shoppe.  We even packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed lunch on a park bench.

Waterfall in the Japanese Garden

Japanese Garden

Cherry Blossoms in Bloom

Giant Chess

Rose Garden

Following our jaunt through the park we stumbled across an American Food Store.  They had all the items we've been craving this whole year, that you cannot find in the UK.  Items such as: Chex Mix, Velveeta cheese, Kraft mac and cheese, and Ranch dressing.  So we walked out with a nice variety of food to remind us of home!

We also had a special surprise earlier this week.  My friend, Megan, whom I know from college, and her husband Chad visited London this week and we got to have dinner with them one night, before they headed off to Paris!  As you can see, it was quite a bit cooler that evening (my hair being crazy in the wind), but here are Megan and I in Trafalgar Square.  I hope they had a great trip and it was so lovely to see them.

Friends reunited in Trafalgar Square!

Boy, I sure wish more friends would come visit us!  We are great tour guides!!!

Wishing you all a lovely spring!

The Beatles, Irish Pubs, and Sea Shanties

Liverpool City Center

Brandon and I had a chance to visit Liverpool this past weekend, in order to attend an ethnomusicology conference at the University of Liverpool. For those who are unfamiliar with the geography of the UK, here is a map, so you can see that Liverpool is much farther north than London, and was therefore much colder than the fantastic weather we have been experiencing here.  As you can see, it is also close to Ireland and therefore has a large Irish population.

The conference we attended had a theme of 'Trans-Atlantic Journeys' and focused mainly on preserving and researching old sea shanties, so one evening we had a special pub experience, listening to an Irish band, and singing sea shanties along with other ethnomusicologists.  Watch a short video here:

Liverpool is also known for being the hometown of the members of The Beatles, so of course we had to visit some famous Beatles sites.  We actually forgot to bring our camera when we went out to visit some of these places, but we were lucky enough to meet a nice young man from Brazil while on the bus and he kindly took our pictures for us, then sent them to us via email.  He was on a whirlwind tour of the UK and Ireland, and was a die-hard Beatles fan so he was on a mission to visit all the famous spots. 

At the Strawberry Field gate

In front of John Lennon's childhood home

"Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes..."

John Lennon statue outside the Cavern Club

Liverpool is historically a sea port, and was the home of the White Star Line, which was the company that built and owned the Titanic.  Although the ship never actually docked in Liverpool, there is a memorial to all the workers who lost their lives on its famous voyage, and we also saw the historic building where the White Star Line had its headquarters.

Titanic Memorial

Plaque at the Memorial

The building that used to be White Star Line Headquarters

And here are a few more pictures from the trip.

City Center

World Museum

At the docks

Panorama of the docks area

It was nice to stay in a hotel in a big bed and take a little time for ourselves.  Now we are quickly preparing for hand ins at the end of April and the arrival of the Stover family in mid May (with a trip to Edinburgh and Bath). 

Nostalgia and other things we miss

Our days in London  are flying by.  Emily is interning in the communications department with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (oae.co.uk) and Brandon is interning in the Marketing, Outreach and Recruitment department at Goldsmiths.  Each of us work at these positions three days per week and our studies take up the other days.  Our days are slipping by quickly and our dissertations are due in only 5 months!

Living in Europe is nice, don't get us wrong, but there are a few things we miss. 


1. I miss my telescope (Brandon).  Back in Princeton our house was in a small town with a big backyard and a field behind it.  Light pollution was low and I had a fancy telescope.  I could take wonderful pictures like this.

(My version of the Orion nebula)

You can see with the below picture, astrophotography has come a long way (This photo is what spawned this blog post). 

(The first photo of the Orion Nebula (Left) and one taken by an iPhone (Right)!)

2. Food - Shrimp chips, Tacos, and all the things that are outlawed in the UK (like velveeta cheese, chex mix, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese...)  They are banned in the UK because of dangerous chemicals and such, but sometimes they just taste so good.  No tacos because that's a Tex-Mex thing, without the Mex (or the Tex) you just have  -  (Blank).  (However, we just found an oriental food store down the road from our flat that sells shrimp chips!)

3. Road trips - Road trips don't happen for us because we don't have a car.  Instead we have rail trips, but they aren't quite as fun (less work than driving, but also less fun).

4. Paper Crafts - Emily misses making cards and scrapbooking. For the past two Christmases we have created our own homemade Christmas cards to send to friends and family, however we could not do that this year, due to all of our supplies being left in Illinois.  We even sold some of our cards once at a craft fair and made over $100!! 

5. St. Matthews Church - Although we have found a good church to call home while in London, we really do miss our church family at St. Matthews.  (Emily especially misses the handbell choir and playing with the church praise band!!!)

6. Lastly, We miss our friends and family - We made new friends, but we have not forgotten our old friends.  Emily's parents have visited and Brandon's parents are getting ready for a trip over in May.

Stay tuned for our next post after we journey to Liverpool.