bloc post- sorry!!!

hey guys, sorry, i haven't been able to connect my lappy to the internet, so i've been saving my blogs, and here is the blocblog post. read it if you have lots of free time.

Sat, March 28- Edinburgh
Today was exhausting, for no apparent reason. I slept reasonably ok in our dorm-style hostel, and actually slept in until about 9, a tribute to just how tired I was from the previous two days. Woke up, took a shower, and went down to breakfast. Karen and I decided to go on a guided tour through Edinburgh, and so we left to go to that. On the way there, I stopped at a cell phone store to see if there was any way to switch my second cell phone over to a UK number. They told me no, but a SIM card is free, so I bought myself some minutes, and got a card. Turns out T-mobile isn’t really international, because my German cell wouldn’t take the UK card. Instead of paying the 15 pounds it would cost to unlock the German cell, I bought a 9 pound prepaid cell. Sean’s cellphone count: 3. Why am I dragging 3 cell phones around?!?! So rude. In any case, the sales guy was very helpful and very Scottish, which means: we couldn’t understand what the other was saying most of the time. We stared at each other with blank stares while the other talked. Then, after we got that all squared away, Karen and I headed off to the tour. The tour was about 4 and a half hours long, outside most of the time, in the 30 degree weather, plus 20-30 mph winds. I didn’t take too many pictures during the tour because sean-sicle fingers don’t point or click very well. After the tour was over, Karen and I headed to a restaurant we saw on the tour, called “oink,” and got some fantastic pulled pork sandwiches. Mmmm…. After that, we headed to the “Scotch Whisky Experience,” and got the process of scotch making explained to us, before we got to taste it for ourselves. Warms you right up, lemme tell you… these Scots sure know what they’re doing. After that, we met up with Vroni, a mutual friend, and hung out for a bit, before Karen jetted off to say hi to god. After mass, we grabbed a quick bite to eat (at pizza hut, where apparently you can reserve tables for Easter Sunday!!!) We then wandered around the city after the sun set, and walked up to the castle, to get night pictures of Edinburgh. There was a film crew at the castle, so i took some pics of the castle from the outside, with the bare-sliver of a moon behind it, before suddenly the film crew and the crowd started counting down, and when they hit zero (or, shortly thereafter,) the castle went completely dark. Apparently all of the famous sites in the UK went dark for an hour tonight, to signify something with the G20 conference going on in London next week. (during which time we’ll be in London, oh joy!) We didn’t walk into the castle, because we would probably get lost and die. Ended up attempting to look for a quiet pub for a pint or two, but because of a soccer game (Scotland against Norway,) all the pubs were packed with screaming fans. No dice. Made it back to the hostel, had a drink at the bar here (after wandering around most of the downtown area trying to find said pub.)
Miles walked since arriving in Edinburgh: somewhere around 25, not including incline.
Calories eaten since arriving in Edinburgh: somewhere around 250,000.
Joints in pain since arriving in Edinburgh: all of the ones that move.
Number of times Karen has gotten us lost: every time she has the map.
Number of times Sean has almost gotten hit by a bus/car/bike because he looked the wrong way before jaywalking: somewhere around 10,000.
So far, so good!

Sun, March 29- St. Andrews
Today, Karen and I decided to go up to St. Andrews, which is a really old historic port city north of Edinburgh. It is home to a really old cathedral ruin, and accompanying cloister. It is also apparently the Mecca of golf. We hopped on a train north, took a nap for an hour, and then got to the city. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud visible for most of it, and so I deluded myself into thinking that since it was sunny, it must also be warm. Thankfully, I wasn’t completely wrong. Although warm in the sunlight, the wind brought quite a chill to the air, so it was a battle to find a protected, yet still sunny spot to sit down and enjoy. We wandered around the town, visiting the castle ruins, the cathedral ruins, the old graveyard, and the harbor. We then wandered down one of the main drags in the city, and eventually made it to St. Andrews Links, which is one of the best golf courses in the world. (yippee?) Stopped for some fish and chips along the harbor for lunch, and then after the golf tour, stopped for some afternoon tea in the sun. It was really quite lovely, and the town was very quaint. St. Andrews is also home to a ridiculously old university. There was a memorial to one of the first martyrs of Lutheranism, who was a student at the Uni, who had been executed in 1420. Strange to think that people were arguing over religion before America was discovered. (is that self-centered thinking??) After that, we headed back to Edinburgh, where we met up with Vroni and James, some mutual friends, with whom we’re gonna be staying for the next couple days, had dinner, and a great conversation, before finally deciding to settle down to bed. Tomorrow will be either the highlands, Stirling castle, or something, but there will definitely be hiking and pictures involved. Stay tuned!

Mon, March 30 Stirling
Today we went out to Sterling. On the way out, on the train, Karen and I both decided to write out our postcards, and were discussing what we were writing when the couple across from us asked us where we were from. Turns out, its an American and his English girlfriend, and we quickly got acquainted, and learned that they, too were going to Sterling. We toured around the castle together, and had lunch, before splitting up, and going to do our own things. We exchanged phone numbers as she is from Liverpool, and offered us a place to crash, and he’s going to be in Belfast about the same time we are, and offered to come around with us. Sterling itself was really pretty, an old town with a castle on top of the mountain it’s built on, surrounded by battlements and all the fun castle-y things. It was the childhood home of Mary, Queen of Scots, which is pretty cool. We got to explore the grounds and play around a little bit, running around on the grass, exploring the old kitchens, and going into a tapestry studio, where this lady was weaving a GIGANTIC tapestry in the old style. It apparently will take 10 years to finish. I would never ever ever have the patience… After we wandered around the town, Karen and I headed up to the William Wallace memorial. One of the big battles he fought against the British was right outside the town, so they’re very proud of him, and there are statues everywhere. The memorial is on top of a bluff outside of the town, and offered a great view of the surrounding valley as well. We wandered around town a bit more, had a coffee/carrot cake break, and then hopped on the train to go back to Edinburgh. We met up with one of the teachers from Karen’s school who studied here for dinner, and went to “the bad ass” for some haggis. Its pretty good, for those of you that haven’t tried it yet, I def recommend it. Afterwards, we headed over to a pub where they were playing some great music, and had a pint before heading back to Vroni and James’. Now, is bedtime. Tomorrow, we’re going to tour the cathedral in Edinburgh, then head off to Glasgow for the day.
Tues, March 31- Glasgow
So today was definitely more misadventure than food. Karen and I started out visiting St. Giles Cathedral with Vroni, and touring around. She gave us a great tour of all the little things that we normally wouldn’t have noticed, and we got to explore a little bit. The thistle chapel off the side of the cathedral was amazing, and so intricate. Its hard to believe it was built in only 2 years… After that, we headed to Glasgow, and were excited to explore a new city. We got off the train, found the tourist center, bought an entirely useless map, and then set off to explore everything that looked interesting. What should’ve been a 2 hour tour ended up taking about 6. After our first stop, the barras market, we headed towards the Glasgow cathedral, only to have to go about 2 miles out of the way because one intersection has been completely blocked off. We eventually made it to the cathedral, after much accidental exploring through some not-so-great regions of Glasgow, and wandered around that cathedral for a bit as well, taking pictures. After that, we went to the performance center, of which we could see absolutely nothing, then, to Willows Tea room, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Glaswegian. It was a gorgeous little shop, and so we had some tea and scones (Karen,) and a caramel shortcake (me, obviously….) After that, we headed back to the train station, slightly annoyed with Glasgow, after previous misadventures, and only being able to find one bank that we could use, with a broken ATM outside, and no till inside. Lovely. We had to kill 90 minutes before we could use our train tickets back to Edinburgh, so we stopped at the local borders, and I picked up some books, and we did a little borrowed researching on the lake district, which is where we’re headed tomorrow. We made it back to Edinburgh and met up with Vroni and James, and two of their friends for dinner in the Grassmarket, before going out for a pint at ------Bells, and then heading home to organize and pack everything in.
Weds Apr. 1- Lake District
Woke up this morning at 6, and headed off to the Haymarket train station to catch our ungodly early train to Windermere. We arrived at Windermere at around 930, and the sun was just starting to peek through the clouds. After asking the info people where to go, and where we could leave our stuff, we climbed up a little hill behind the town that provides excellent views of the lake, and the surrounding countryside. After that, Karen and I walked down to Bowness, in order to catch a ferry up to ------- . When we got there, we grabbed some lunch at a café (I had a venison/black pudding burger… so good!) and then headed off to explore the town, and surrounding nature. We came across the ruined foundations of an ancient Roman fort at the top of the lake, which I found really cool, and Karen probably thought was boring as hell, I’ll have to ask her opinion on them. We followed one of the tributary rivers up into the hills and mountains surrounding the lake, and almost made it to one of the waterfalls, before having to turn around and head back, to make the last ferry. We got back to Windermere around 6 pm, and bought some quick food to eat on the train, and hopped the train to Liverpool. Got in here around 9, and went to find “the Cathedral,” which is where our friend Helen lives. Turns out, in Liverpool, there are two cathedrals. We went to the wrong one first. Thankfully, they’re not too far away from each other, so we eventually found Helen, and are crashing in her amazing apartment just off the cathedral grounds. It has a great view of both the cathedral, and of the city beneath it. Tomorrow is going to be beatlemania for Karen, and it’ll also be pretty exciting for me, as long as Karen doesn’t cry. She has been warned that I will abandon her on the streets if I see hero-worship tears. More on that tomorrow, most likely.