Dunfermline & St. Andrews -- July 29

Dunfermline Abbey and Palace, St. Andrew's Castle and Cathedral

Dunfermline Abbey

E: In the Dunfermline Abbey we saw where Scottish King Robert the Bruce is buried except for his heart which is in an abbey somewhere else. When they renovated the cathedral and abbey they recognized the body as Robert the Bruce because the body was wrapped in a gold cloth and the rib cage was pulled apart to get out his heart. They moved the body and reburied it, and now it has a fancy cover.

E: The monastery and palace were in ruins. We climbed around them. Lots of Scottish royals were born there and visted there.

S: The abby at St. Andrew's started out as a small church but got bigger over time. It’s a ruin now. Originally there were 5 towers but only 4 survived. The oldest tower is the simplest but most intact. We got to sit in some ruins where monks sat hundreds of years ago.

St. Andrew's cathedral, headquarters for the Scottish medieval church

A: St. Andrew’s castle is on the coast. It has a tunnel that was used by attackers to get into the castle. There were counter-tunnels where the defenders tried to find the attackers’ tunnel drive them away. We got to go into the tunnels, and they were interesting. The castle had a dungeon shaped like a bottle. You had to drop prisoners into a chamber through the neck of the bottle.

E: We ate at a pub in St. Andrew’s that was on the famous golf course. It had the nicest bathrooms of any pub we have been to.

Another landmark in St. Andrew's

Team U.S.A -- July 28

Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland for the U.S. Women's Olympic Soccer Game



Someone knitted decorations like the teams' flags and put them around the stadium.

E: It was so fun to watch the U.S. women’s soccer game because it was the real Olympics – not just tv – and we got to see the real players. When we watched the players warm up, we got to get really close to them.

Abby Wambach

E: I felt kind of sorry for Hope Solo because she did not get that much action during the game, but that meant the U.S. was playing a good game. It was great to be there to watch the U.S. win. Sometimes the crowd would chant USA. The food at Hampden park was not that good. They only had a few things on the menu, and they weren’t good. They had mostly pies (the Scottish meat kind) and crisps (potato chips). We saw some drummers at the front of the stadium. They were really good and loud.

On the train to the game, I was named an Olympic winner

A: At the game I liked standing down by field when the players warmed up. It was fun watching everything close up. The Olympic park had seats in different colors that made the Scottish flag in the end zone.

S: Being at the Olympics was so cool. I like watching the U.S. women’s soccer team on tv, and watching them live was awesome. It was cool seeing Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, and Alex Morgan.

The Columbians

York, England -- July 21

National Railway Museum, York Castle Museum, York Castle/Clifford’s Tower, The Shambles, City Walls, York Minster

The York lions

S: I really wanted to go to York, so I found a book at the library and researched it and convinced everyone to go.

View of York from the old city walls

S: My favorite thing in York was Clifford’s tower, which was the big tower of a castle. A lot of people think it is called Clifford’s Tower because of someone who owned it but really it is called that because of someone who was executed there.

S: A tour guide at Clifford's tower made us knights. They were doing a program to promote old English sites.

A: Clifford’s Tower was a medieval tower used to protect the city. I liked the way it is small but could see all of York from it.

S: York Minster is the biggest gothic church north of the Alps. When you get inside the ceiling seems to tower above you.

S: The Shambles is a bunch of old, medieval streets. There are shops in the buildings now. It was fun to walk through them. We saw a guy on a unicycle juggling knives.

E: In York I liked the York Castle museum because it had a street that was like an old town with shops. There was a toy store, candy shop, school, jail, and apothecary. You could go into the shops. In the jail you could put people in prison, and I got locked up.

A: The flying Scotsman is a famous train that ran between London and Edinburgh, starting in 1862. We did not see it because it was being refurbished. 

A: The railroad museum has the Japanese bullet train. It also has old royal trains. We saw Queen Victoria’s coach and King Edward VII's coach, and they were fancy.

A: We walked on the medieval city walls, and we see could around the old city.

Climbing the steps to the old city walls

The York train station

The Scottish Highlands -- July 13-16

Inverness, Glen Affric, Loch Ness, Cawdor Castle, Fort George, Castle Urquhart, Corrimony Cairn, Blair Castle, and Stanley Mills textile mill

Fly fishing in the Highlands

Our cabin in Glen Affric

E: We went to a 4,000 year old cairn, which is burial place. It’s a mound of rocks with a hole in the middle. We went in the middle by crawling in a tunnel. Around the mound were stones about 3 feet high, and they looked like a mini-Stonehenge.

E: When were in the Highlands there was a shinty field right by our cabin so we got to see a game. Shinty is kind of like field hockey and lacrosse put together. It’s fun to watch. I found a shinty ball after the game, and I got to keep it.

No age restrictions on shinty referees

S:  At the Loch Ness exhibit we learned that Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, is probably not real. The pictures that are supposed to be of it could easily be something else. The exhibit was fun. It had smoke come out in one part.

S: I really liked Castle Urquhart because it was a very big, interesting castle. In different periods different things were added on and taken away. It was on Loch Ness with really beautiful views. On the high tower you could see across the loch.

Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness

Hiking in Glen Affric natural area

Blair Castle

S: At Blair Castle there was a fancy room with stuffed birds with fancy hats. The guide told me that a bride who had a wedding at the castle did not like flowers so she used the stuffed birds for decorations. She made the hats. After the wedding they left the hats on the birds for the tours.

Relaxing by the super old trees at Blair Castle

A: Fort George was an English fort made to stop the Scots if they rebelled after the Jacobite rising. The fort had a few walls and was very defensive. It’s on the coast, and from over one of the walls we saw dolphins leaping up.

Entrance to Fort George

Watchng dolphins

Fort George

Bagpipe-playing angel in the Ft. George chapel

A: At a pub in the Highlands I had haggis and really liked it.

Castle Clawdor

Outside the old textile mills

Learning about water wheels in mills