Summer Wrap-Up

As fall closes in on Edinburgh, with the light disappearing earlier in the evenings and the orange and red leaves blowing in the wind, I've found a few minutes to try to summarise some of our summer adventures in preparation for an equally busy few months.

2.5 Canadians?

I may need to change the title of the blog one of these days. Not only do we plan to move to Glasgow at some point this school year, we are also expecting a little Scottish Canadian to join us in a couple months. We found out the exciting news on April 2nd and are due December 7th. I'll go on leave from work a few weeks beforehand, so I'm now working very hard trying to complete as much work on the thesis before I take a break. It's looking good! I'm so thankful to have felt great through much of the pregnancy (at least after week 15 or so) and have even been able to do some traveling...

Off to See the Fjords

Derek and I fulfilled a very big dream of mine back in June -- going to Norway to see a fjord. It was a really wonderful trip. We went for a week and it ended up being divided into 3 very different sections. I went on my own on a Wednesday evening and spent two nights with a friend from school over here who is from Oslo. I ventured around the city, seeing the major sights (Parliament, the Royal Palace, the opera house, the fort, etc.). Then Derek flew in on Friday night and first thing Saturday morning we took a train into the mountains to Flam and from there hopped on a ferry part-way through the Sognefjorden to the picturesque town of Balestrand, where we stayed for two nights. There we did some hiking, waded in the fjord at a rocky beach (terribly painful but a great experience), and enjoyed picnicking on our balcony at the hotel.

On Monday we caught the first ferry out to Bergen and tried to do a bit of sightseeing in the pouring rain before catching our train back to Oslo. We then succeeded in completing another dream of mine that I'd held since Grade 5: seeing a Viking ship. In fact, at this one simple museum I got to see 3! The weather was lovely -- mid-20s, sunny, and just so much nicer than in the UK -- so on our last afternoon Derek, my friend and I all had a barbecue in a big park overlooking some of the city. And after picking out the perfect Norwegian sweater (my third wish for the trip) we headed home happy and tired.

Family Comes to Visit

Derek and I hadn't had many visitors before this year, but in May I was so happy to have two of my aunts and my cousin come to visit us and the wider UK. They made the wise decision to rent a holiday flat in Edinburgh for 2 days at a time, alternating between being here, seeing our lovely city with us, and seeing some of northern Britain's prettier areas. They took a trip up to Inverness and the Isle of Skye (which I'm determined to see at some point while we're here), and a second trip down to the Lake district (another beautiful area I have yet to see). It was so nice to be able to stop by their place and just hang out, or have them over for a truly Scottish meal of (vegetarian) haggis, neeps, and tatties. I certainly missed them when they flew home, and look forward to having more family come up early in the new year once the baby comes.

The (Other) Royal Wedding

While it sure didn't get the press coverage or all the hype of The Royal Wedding, Edinburgh did get to host its own royal wedding in July, when Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Phillips, married England rugby player Mike Tindall at Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile, about a block away from Holyrood Palace. With all the big-name royals planning to attend my good friend and I knew we could not miss it. But the wedding was not a public affair (even though the British public paid the half-million pound cost for security on the day), the time of the ceremony wasn't made public, the crowd numbers allowed to line the street were severely limited and the church itself is small and along one of the narrowest sections of the street, so this created a number of potential problems to overcome. But we made it! We stood for five and half hours just down from the entrance to the Kirk, where we could see its front doors clearly, and watched as the cars quickly drove by and the guests quickly made their way inside.

We got to see the groom and his groomsmen pose for photos, William, Kate, and Harry who arrived together, Princess Anne, Edward and Sophie, Andrew and his daughters (in much less outrageous hats and outfits), Charles and Camilla (looking drab but with a wild headpiece), and the Queen and Prince Philip, and then the bride herself, who looked lovely (although from our angle she appeared to be all veil -- I had to rely on the magazine photos to get a good look at her dress). So there we had it, all the royal watching one could ever want in one afternoon, and they had come to us. Amazing.

Those were certainly the highlights of my summer, although I could have left something out accidentally in my haste to put it all down. Edinburgh's weather overall was just awful this summer -- cold, damp, windy -- we could probably count the number of summery days on one hand. Fall is somewhat of a relief because at least the weather feels fitting now. But I sure miss having daylight light the living room past 10pm!

Royal Wedding Prep

The Big Day is almost here! I can't turn on the news without seeing a reporter in front of Westminster Abbey or having to listen to a 'Royal Correspondent' speculate on what they couldn't possibly know about the details of William's and Kate's big day. My personal preparations have involved buying bunting (a 5 metre string of little Union Jacks to hang up in my living room) and deciding to wear my Garden Party and make scones with Derek. I'm having a good friend over, and we'll be spending the morning nibbling on British foods, glued to the television. I'm looking forward to it.

I certainly don't envy everyone back home who would have to wake up at 3am to watch the entire coverage, or at least 6 to watch the ceremony. Here the wedding starts at 11am, a very reasonable time for a wedding if I do say so myself :) We've been getting tons of informative and fun resources on the day and I thought I'd pass a few of them along to my non-British-resident readers.

The most important for following the wedding would have to be the day's schedule. For that I've turned to the couple's blog. It's amazing how precisely the day has been planned out. I'm sure with many millions of pounds being spent on security, weeks of bomb checks, days of police-lined streets and bodyguards and policemen disguised in other ceremonial uniforms throughout the processions that everything will go amazingly smoothly.

The government has been trying to encourage Britons to hold big street party's in honour of the occasion. I don't think I'll see any around here. Scotland just doesn't seem to be getting swept up in Royal Wedding fever. Glasgow was actually on the news this morning for having not put in a single request for such a party. But if you were to have a party, of course you'd need appropriate food. Where better to turn than BBC's own selection of Royal Wedding recipes? I can't stomach coronation chicken myself, but that's just me.

Finally, Derek caught an interesting news clip this morning of all the betting on the Royal Wedding that's been taking place. I would never have thought of such a thing! People are betting on everything from what time Kate will arrive, to whether Harry will forget or drop the ring, will Philip fall asleep during the ceremony, and what colour hat will the Queen wear? (My guess is turquoise, as I've been seeing her in a lot of blue lately). It looks like all the major betting firms are taking bets on these and more. Crazy.

I'm excited about seeing the big day. I'm sure Kate will look beautiful, and I hope absolutely nothing happens to spoil their big day. This means that the rain showers that are threatening London had better hold off! I'm also looking forward to Edinburgh welcoming its own Royal Wedding this summer, on July 30, when Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips will marry England rugby player Mike Tindall. They're planning to have their reception at the Palace of Holyrood House, where Derek and I attended the Queen's Garden Party last summer. So there's another wedding to look forward to in the near future, but I don't think it can compare on scale, excitement, or international interest. I'll be looking for it though :)

Winter Wrap-Up

It's been a very interesting couple of months, with time just flying by. So here's my attempt at a recap in order to capture it on the page.

A winter storm rocked Britain at the very end of November. Government officials said that due to the 'unprecedentedly' early date they couldn't have been prepared. And they sure weren't. Everyone had a good chuckle about in hindsight, as if the snow had begun a day or two later, once it was December, we doubted they would have suddenly had enough snow plows, shovels, salt and grit to deal with the snow. There were a number of factors that made handling the snow difficult. It snowed day after day for several days in a row, leading to a foot of accumulation in some areas of Scotland. However, the temperature stayed fairly warm by Canadian winter standards, which led to the snow being heavy and damp, hard to clear, and prone to melting in the day, freezing over night, and then ending up as a layer of ice under the next day's snow fall.

The infrastructure just isn't in place here to deal with continual or large snowfalls. There just aren't enough snowplows in the cities, along the main highways or at the airports. This led to many airport closures, dangerously icy city streets and the closing of the highway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The trains in some areas stopped running. Between Edinburgh and Glasgow trains were officially reduced to 2 an hour, making every stop rather than alternating and turing the 40 minute journey into about an hour 20. City buses gave up on following any schedule and would suddenly change their routes due to road conditions (and/or hills). One day they were suddenly cancelled at noon, then slowly reinstated around 5, even though it was barely snowing. People are not required to shovel the sidewalk in front of their homes or shops, so people don't have shovels, the pavement isn't cleared, and huge stretches of sidewalk became dangerous slippery ice rinks as the snow was packed down by boots in the day and freezing over at night. I felt so bad for older residents of the city who would no doubt feel trapped by the snow and ice. I took the bus a lot more often than normal because it seemed a lot safer than walking on ice or along streets with dangerous drivers. People here don't know how to drive in slippery conditions, leading to countless vehicles getting stuck at the bottom of hills. On the no. 2 bus we came across the previous 2 that had gotten stuck at the bottom of a hill. Our driver briefly pulled over to heckle the other's driver... For me the worst consequence of the dangerous roads was the lack of food staples reaching grocery store shelves. We went days without being able to find milk or bread in the grocery stores in our area. The few deliveries that did make it in were snapped up quickly. I was so happy to come across a well-stocked Tesco's the one day that I scooped up two containers of milk on my way to school, stuck them in the office fridge, then carried them home again.

We were very lucky really during the bad weather. Our flat is decently insulated, has double-glazed windows and good gas central heating, so we were warm. Derek couldn't get to school much during the last week before we travelled home for Christmas, as inter-city buses were completely cancelled and the trains were few and sporadic. Concerned that we might miss our 9am flight out of Glasgow (the plan had been to take the first train out of Edinburgh in the morning, but we knew we couldn't rely on them to be on schedule anymore), Derek booked us a room at an airport hotel for the night before, and we took a mid-afternoon train the day before. The train was slow and late, and the main transport routes (both road and rail) still weren't running at full capacity even though it hadn't snowed for 3 days. It was really nice getting to spend a night away, and we made our flight with no problem (except perhaps the inconvenience of having to pull our luggage along the snow-covered streets between the hotel and the airport).

Scotland's transport minister was interrogated about why the country was allowed to shut down for day after day. People had been stuck on major roads for up to 14 hours at a time. Dairies had to dump expiring milk because their trucks couldn't transport it to the waiting cities, and city dwellers in Scotland's capital couldn't get milk and bread. He said the snow was unprecedented. Really? It's snowed every winter we've been here, and that's three in a row. It might be worth investing in a few more snowplows. Britain's GDP growth for the last quarter of 2010 was negative 0.5%. They blamed it on the weather.

Now that we're back in Edinburgh our lives are dominated by schoolwork, as it should be. I'm hoping to have handed in the final product by the end of 2011, and that goal has me reading a lot right now. Most of my reading is of journal articles found online, so when I'm done work for the day usually the last thing I want to do is is stare at a computer screen for another few hours, hence the decrease in blogging and other electronic communication. Derek's gone for over 11 hours a day during the week, and is enjoying his work, research and teaching in Glasgow, so that makes both of us happy. A concerted effort over Christmas to find a couple good board games and other games has resulted in more evenings spent away from the computer and tv screens, which is a good thing. We've been playing Scrabble, Scrabble Upwords (very fun -- we highly recommend it!), Yahtzee, cribbage, The Game of Life and Boggle (both on my iPod, so still a screen but lots of fun). And of course there's socialising here with friends and chatting with family back home. In all I think we've settled into a somewhat new routine for 2011 and are feeling very optimistic about this unfolding year :)

Rome!

On October 3rd we took the train from venice to Rome. It stopped a few times, including in Florence (although in the station was in such a sketchy area of town that its hard to believe the city is actually beautiful), where it then reversed out of the station and travelled the second half of the journey backwards. Not great for those of us who get motion sick.

When we arrived at Termini Station in Rome we were prepared for large numbers of people, and we found them. The first thing we did was look for a travel agent to buy a Roma Pass from, a tourist pass that combines 3 days of public transport with free and discounted entry to sites around Rome. Then we picked up a few groceries at the grocery store in the station's basement and made our way down to the subway (a long, confusing, winding journey down). The subway line to the hotel (which was on the far side of the Tiber River, near Vatican City) was nice and new, and not too busy. Way nicer that Toronto's. The other subway line that we'd end up taking to the Colosseum and Forum, on the other hand, was crazy packed. When we emerged from the subway station we went the wrong way and walked a few blocks in the heat and sun before turning around and having to wait outside the office building where the hotel was located.

The hotel, Caesars Rooms, was more like an apartment, but with 3 or 4 separate locked bedrooms. There was no staff on sight except the cleaner in the morning and the owner whenever a guest was due to arrive, and since we'd made it there early we had to wait outside. It was nice to have the use of a kitchen and a computer with internet access, as well as being able to come and go without having to hand your keys in or get them back from the front desk. We'd both stay there again, and highly recommend it.

Our first destination was the Spanish Steps. They were full of people, tourists just like us who wanted the perfect photo, and to say they'd sat on the steps and walked to the top. During a photo op halfway up Derek got pulled into a conversation with a guy wanting to sell him a bracelet. The rather protracted encounter concluded with two very ticked off guys and Derek sticking to his guns. We decided not to get pulled into any more conversations with opportunists. At the top of stairs was a beautiful church, the Trinita dei Monti, which we checked out.

Next on the list was the Trevi Fountain. I was really looking forward to seeing it. It was just so beautiful that it really left an impression on me. It was also very, very packed with people, making it difficult to make it to the water's edge for a photo and a good opportunity to throw a coin in (and therefore ensure a return to Rome). We did make it up to the front, and just as we were posing for a nice photo of the two of us Derek got hit with a coin missile from somewhere up in the crowd. He was hit so hard that it left a pink circle on his upper arm! (which I took a photo of :) ).

We walked to the Pantheon and walked around inside. Despite the numerous signs asking people to be quiet, as it is a religious building, there was a constant drone of loud voices. The domed ceiling was really amazing, and I liked seeing the bronze plaques that depicted scenes from Jesus' life. I've read these about in history texts as a common method of sharing the story of Jesus to largely illiterate populations, and before the Bible was widely read or published in the vernacular. But I digress. We walked to Area Sacra, ruins of a sacred area that archaeologists aren't sure what it was and I believe its also where Julius Caesar was killed. But now its a cat sanctuary, so there's kitties all over the place! In the beautiful, bustling Piazza Navona we sat in the square, saw a number of buskers, looked at the fountains and went into the church (which had very cool marble statues and its relief walls made to look three dimensional, as though the room stretched out the sides when it was really just a wall. A great trick of the eye using fake columns on the walls.

On the walk back to the hotel we walked around Castel Sant' Angelo, past the Vatican City's walls, and up to our room. No luck trying to find any grocery stores on Google maps, we walked to a Spar (a convenience store), but it was closed, so we wandered around a bit a came upon a market. We also took some money out (the hotel owner hadn't told us until we got there that we had to pay cash, so that caused a bit of unnecessary stress and currency exchange costs as we had two use two different ATMs two different days). We went back to the hotel to eat, I had some coconut and banana gelato, and Derek found a grocery store on a map for the next day. We watched BBC news and then a funny Italian game show where the contestant has to guess the professions of a line up of people. To cap off a very busy, fun day we saw an Italian ad for long distance phone calls starring John Travolta.

On our second day in Rome we decided to go see the Colosseum and the Forum. On the subway a woman came on with a microphone and speaker on wheels, sand a song, went around asking for money, then moved down to the next car and sang again. Very odd, and definitely annoyed those with ipods. Waiting for the second subway at Termini was crazy. It was packed, the train was late, and the train platform was longer than the train so we almost didn't get on.

The Colosseum was amazing, even better than I'd hoped. I love stadiums and places for shows, so to see something so massive and so old was really impressive. We walked all around the inside (having gotten in quickly thanks to a fast lane for Roma Pass holders) on two different levels. They're rebuilding the floor, which seems a bit odd. I'm all for restorative work that keeps an ancient building or monument up, but I understand rebuilding part of a structure that covers up other original features. But I'm pretty traditional about things -- I like to see the real thing.

Even though it was lunchtime by the time we left the Colosseum, we decided to go on to the Forum which was just across the street. I didn't realise just how large of a site the Forum is, although if I'd thought about how the site was the centre of Roman life and politics, I probably should have had some sense of the scale. We saw many ruins as we walked around the ancient city centre, saw the circus maximus, the Roman forum, and fought through what felt like a sand storm. I didn't know a lot about the forum, so at a great lookout point we paused and listened into an English tour guide's talk. We were tired and hungry by the time we left around 3, although well hydrated thanks to the many fountains that we'd come across. We hopped on a bus which we'd hoped would get us back towards our place, and it did, so that was fun. A stop at a nearby BILLA grocery store got us set for lunch and dinner: pizza, meat, cheese, wine, apples and pears. We had lunch (at 3:40!), then went to walk around a local mall which turned out to be a large department store -- the BILLA took up the basement. We stayed in for the evening and ate pizza, open-faced sandwiched cooked under the microwave's grill, and wine for dinner.

On our last day in Rome we joined hundreds of people in line to enter the Vatican Museums before they'd even opened. At £15 a head they must take in a fortune every day! Luckily they have a great student discount, so we had money left over for a nice dinner of pasta. Once inside we followed my travel guide's advice and went straight for the Sistine Chapel, which is at the end of the route. What an amazing, impressive, beautiful building that took my breath away. I was studying the ceiling so intently that I almost fell over backwards I was leaning so far back to take in as much as I could. Luckily Derek managed to find the path back to the start of the route, and we spent the next few hours going through wing after wing of the various Popes' collections. Each was unique, focussing on different types of artifacts: Greek pottery, Egyptian sarcophaguses, Roman statues, metal fragments from wooden medieval items like bed frames, helmets and chariots. Plus the halls themselves were each different and beautiful. There was so much stuff there! I found myself feeling bad that its all so closed off and expensive, so that its not accessible to the general public the way the British Museum is. Perhaps its the Vatican's main source of funds.

We went home for lunch, then came back to St. Peter's Square in time to queue halfway around the Square as we waited to go through security and be allowed in St. Peter's Basilica. We did our best trying to hold off those inevitable queue-jumpers (although no one minded the little group of nuns who were in the wrong line going ahead). Inside the Basillica a service was going on, so we could only visit half of the building, but the choir music made it a very nice atmosphere. There were some amazing sculptures everywhere of the different Popes, whose similar outfits really transcended time, but I didn't like seeing the lit clear coffins of a couple Popes. They were different colours. Afterwards we stopped in the Vatican's international bookstore (lots of John Paul II memorabilia!), then went back to BILLA to get dinner. I had my last gelato of the trip: raspberry, chocolate and kiwi. If the chocolate hadn't been in the middle between the two fruity flavours the kiwi would have been a bit more enjoyable :)

That's the basic run-down of our whirlwind, 5 day trip to Italy. I had a great time, can't wait to go back to Venice, and it reassured me that you really don't need to know the language in order to communicate and get along in a new place. A great trip, lots of a good memories, and over 500 photos to make me smile :)

Venice, Italy

Derek and I flew down to Venice on the first of October, and were there for two lovely days. It wasn't really what I had expected. I mean, there were canals and little bridges everywhere, and my professor wasn't kidding when he stressed the need for a good, detailed map (which we didn't have). It was just so hard to really wrap my head around the idea that Venice is a fully-functioning town without roads or cars. Crazy. Yet really quite calm and peaceful, even in areas with a lots of people.

Venice is spread out over many many little islands, tied to each other with tiny little bridges, and with the large Grand Canal winding through. The train and bus station are at the north west end of the town, with the only rail and road link to the mainland stretching across the water. Flying there was simple. We went with Jet2, a discount airline that flies direct Edinburgh to Venice two or three times a week. A short 20 minute bus ride and we were stepping off the bus and into Venice. Derek thought to stop me on our first bridge over a canal and we took our photo :) Then we made it quite quickly and easily to our hotel, Casa Peron, which was only a few minutes away. That was probably the easiest trip to the hotel for the whole of the two days we were there, and I was constantly losing my sense of direction.

There were two things that I really wanted to see while we were in Venice: the Piazza San Marco, a beautiful square with a large church, the Basillica di San Marco, and tall brick bell tower, and the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, a church I was told by my professor that we just had to see on an island across from the Piazza, with its lovely painting of the Last Supper by Tintoretto and beautiful views of the main island group of Venice from the top of the bell tower. Heading out of the hotel after settling in and having a few sandwiches (which we'd brought from home), we set out to find the Grand Canal. We ended up walking through a square full of locals, with a few market stalls (some selling freshly caught fish), university students and a really neat atmosphere. Only a couple bridges span the Grand Canal, and the Piazza was on the far side from us. We walked along what we thought was the Grand Canal for ages before coming to a point and realising that it hadn't been the right canal afterall (which in hindsight made sense, as it was far too wide to build a simple walking bridge across). And from this point we could kind of make out where the Piazza should be, but it was going to a bit of a walk along the actual Grand Canal to get there. This was the first indication that we were going to have some serious difficulties finding our way anywhere.

The whole day it drizzled on and off, so there were many times that one of us would be taking a photo while the other is holding an umbrella above the camera. But it wasn't too bad, and certainly didn't get chilly and damp the way it does in Edinburgh, or humid and damp like it can back home. We did find the Piazza and watched the tons of tourists milling around under their umbrellas. Hearing all the church bells and tower bells all ringing on the hour was a pretty neat experience. Then we walked through the fancy shopping areas, with all their expensive brands, and then came upon the Rialto bridge, with tourist shops all around it and on top. Another packed area, but smartly designed with paths for walking along the outer sides of the bridge (and the backs of the stores). Wandering around we came across a BILLA grocery store, and picked up a couple pears and two Cokes (excitingly they were caffeine free but regular, not diet, making them my second favourite food find of the trip). With these groceries we headed back to the hotel for a rest, and decided to go get a few slices of pizza for dinner. We walked back to the a pizza place near the Rialto and enjoyed two slices, one pepperoni and one prosciutto et fungi (ham and mushroom) -- so good! -- in a square near the Campo San Giacomo di Rialto. with our Coke. There was a definite lack of benches which made eating outside a bit difficult, but we managed. That evening we went for a walk through Dorsoduro (one of Venice's Sestieres) and along the water, seeing a glimpse of San Giorgio in the dark. Then to cap off a great day I had my first taste of gelato. I went with two scoops in a bowl: lemon and tiramisu. The tiramisu was amazing, with pieces of lady fingers and streams of espresso in the mix, and was actually so good that I decided to get it again the next night, but this time accompanied by strawberry, with real strawberries mixed in. Delicious.

Our second day in Venice began with breakfast at the hotel. A bit disappointing, mainly white buns with jam and two fruit-filled croissants. Not the greatest for those of us who avoid white flour and breads. We went to San Marco and were in line by the time it opened at 9:30am. The church is set up so that visitors walk around the sanctuary in an orderly circle that is roped off, and we had to keep moving, so it was hard to really take it all in, although I suppose one could always go out to the back of the line for countless trips around (as its free to visit). Then we went over to a vaporetti (waterbus) stop, got our tickets for the no. 2, and went on our first waterbus ride over to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore was lovely and quiet, practically deserted, and we were able to wander through it, taking in the lovely paintings and architecture at our own pace -- the complete opposite of San Marco. The painting of the Last Supper really struck me, as it was so beautifully detailed, and massive, and also taken from a different perspective (from an angle rather than straight on), so as to be quite different from the familiar image. While visiting the church was free, it cost a couple Euros to take the lift up the bell tower, but it was worth it for the lovely views of Venice and the surrounding area. It was a sunny clear day so I got a few great photos of the city. Afterwards we walked along the dock to the edge of the islands public space, then hopped on another waterbus back to the main islands of Venice.

For lunch we'd decided to pick up some bread, cheese, meat and fruit at the BILLA and haed back to the hotel to make and have our sandwiches. Unfortunately we took so much time getting lost that we finally decided to sit down on the nearest bench (in Campo S. S. Apolstole), washed our hands in the water from our water bottle, and I made two ham and cheese sandwiches on my lap. I will say, Italian wholemeal bread is lovely! I miss it. Recharged, we headed back to the hotel, had our fruit, and dropped off the rest of the groceries.

We timed how long it would take to get to the train station in the morning via two different routes and tried to look for clues to remind us of the right route in the morning (ie. this bridge, not that one). Planning for dinner, we checked out Pizza Del Volo, a pizza place highly recommended and crazy cheap as listed in one of my guide books, located in Campo Santa Magueriti, but wow had the prices gone up in the year since the book was published, so much so that it wasn't for us. We wandered around the residential area of Dorsoduro, went inside San Rocco Church after a bit of people watching, then went back to the hotel for a dinner of sandwiches, an apple, some Pringles (brought from home due to their great traveling abilities), and Coke.

In the evening we sat on the steps in front of the train station down by the water of the Grand Canal as the sun set, watching the boats and gondolas go by as loud popular music, mainly corny love songs from movies it seemed, was played by a couple Native Americans selling cds to tourists (I've seen the same sort of thing here in Edinburgh down on the Mound). Other than the music it was a really relaxing was to pass the time, and a great place to people watch. I should say something about the gondolas I suppose. They were a frequent sight, long and black with drivers in striped shirts steering tourists along the biggest and smallest canals. There were groups of them all lined up together in a organised state, and individual drivers on the smaller canals trying to strum up business by charging slightly lower rates. When I say lower, I mean perhaps 80 Euros for 45 minutes rather than 100 or more that they would charge at the major centres. Either way, they were out of our price range, but I didn't really have a desire to go in one, and much preferred being able to take photos of them docked along the canals, or floating by.

As night fell we peaked our head in the large church next to the train station, but mass was on so we didn't go in, and then walked along the north side of the Grand Canal, not along the Canal itself much because its built up right to the water's edge in many places, like buildings all over the city, but through the touristy areas. I took a few nice photos from the Rialto bridge of the lit facades in the evening before grabbing a slice of pizza and some gelato. We went back to room, snacked, and packed for the morning's early trip to Rome.

I loved Venice. I loved the small-town feel of the place. I loved how safe and comfortable we felt as we wandered around. I had gone there with the hope of it being a relaxing trip, with only 2 things I specifically wanted to see, and the plan of walking around getting lost with Derek and seeing beautiful, unique sights, and I got that all. While I occasionally got a little tired and frustrated at getting lost on our way home after hours of walking, overall it was a lovely, peaceful time. The buildings were so amazing, often built right into the water, sometimes with little bridges going right into their doors, or with a backdoor (or maybe front door?) opening out to a docked boat. The bridges were so cute and so varied! I took many, many photos of them, and of us on them. Everyone I know who'd been to Venice had told me that I'd like it, and they were most definitely right. I can't wait to go back.

Quick Catch Up

So much has been going on the past few weeks! I've seen the Pope, flown down to Hampshire for a conference, and travelled to the continent with Derek. I've decided to give you a quick run-down of the first two events in this post and keep up the suspense about our trip. It should be worth the wait!

As I wrote about last time, Pope Benedict XVI started off his state visit to the UK in Edinburgh, and a friend and I had long ago agreed that we had to find a way to see him. It was too amazing an opportunity to miss. I mean, how often does the Pope ride down the street a few blocks away from your house? But it turns out that not a lot of people thought that way. Determined to get a good viewing spot along Princes Street, we agreed to meet at 8am. Watching Breakfast on BBC I saw from the live shots that the street looked deserted except for those heading to work, so I texted my friend to let her know that it looked pretty empty and we likely didn't have to worry. We met at 8 and there was absolutely no one along the barriers, so we headed up to a first floor Starbucks and sat at one of the windows overlooking the street and the Castle to keep an eye on the 'crowds'. We saw one group of about 6 guys and girls about our age, but like us they kept coming a going.

Around 9 we decided to do a bit of shopping, as there was still no one around. By 10 groups were forming, so we found a great spot across the street from the art galleries and the Mound. We were right at the corner of the barrier, so that not only would we be able to see everything in front of us, we could also look down the street towards where the Pope would be coming from without a line of people obstructing our view. At one point a number of black cars with black windows sped along escorted by police cars and the crowds got a bit excited, as in one of those cars was the Pope on his way to meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Holyrood Palace. About 45 minutes before the Pope arrived was the St. Ninian's Day parade. It consisted of a number of bagpipe bands, groups of children from St. Ninian's schools across Scotland, and people dressed up as important figures from Scotland's history, including Scottish saints, Robert the Bruce, Mary Queen of Scots, and many others. Then came a long break and we all waited. Derek and my friends boyfriend texted us updates from news programs as to where the Pope was and what he was up to.

Suddenly we could see the flashing lights of the police escorts, and there was the Popemobile traveling not terribly slowly down the street towards us. I took two photos, but also tried to take the time to look at the Pope. We were lucky that he turned towards our side of the street right before reaching where we were standing. It felt really special seeing him. Crowds of about 3 or 4 people deep cheered as he passed by, so the atmosphere was really exciting. And it felt like he looked at us, saw us, and then just as fast had passed by. In my photos I could see men in suits walking fast alongside the Popemobile, but I never noticed them. I did see that he was sitting in a comfy looking white chair and had two men lower down in front of him in the glass pod. That was pretty neat, seeing that he's not alone in there.

So that was a really neat experience. We're so glad we went, but the 5 or so hours I spent out in the sunny but chilly, windy Scottish weather had me sick in bed within a day, and Derek and I were both on antibiotics by the next Monday. But I think it was worth it, and am really glad we went.

Much less exciting was my trip to a conference in Hampshire. It was like nothing I've ever done. I flew down to London from Edinburgh on a 7:05am flight, and we landed around 8 at Heathrow's Terminal 5 (the new one). I then hopped in a car I'd booked earlier, driven by a very nice and funny guy, and headed down to Jane Austen's neck of the woods about an hour away. The conference was located in the Chawton House Library, part of a sixteenth century manor home and estate, in the middle of nowhere a down the street from Jane Austen's house. It was a beautiful sunny day, nice and warm, and made it difficult to want to head back north.

The conference was pretty good. I arrived in time to do a bit of mingling with the 2 dozen or so other attendees before the programme started. The conference was on West Indian planters, a topic so closely related to my own research that I felt I couldn't miss it, even though it was so tough to get to and took half my year's research budget. I made a very good connection with a prof from the University of Houston, who told me I could email him anytime. Unfortunately another individual with a similar topic as my own who was supposed to speak at the conference dropped out, so I didn't get the chance to meet him or hear about his latest research, but he and I have an emailing relationship so I can always email him for info if I need it.

At the end of the day I was picked up by the same driver and headed out before the dinner began (which would have cost me £40 to eat!), but not without realising I'd left my jacket (with my passport in it) on my chair and needing to be driven back to pick it (thankfully we were only about 4 minutes away when I realised it!). I had lots of time to explore Terminal 5, where I strolled through Harrod's, checked out the menu of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant (which sold little lunch boxes for people running late for a flight!), and looked longingly at the stretch of posh shops (Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., etc.) before hopping on a 9pm flight back to Edinburgh. I'd left Edinburgh and came back in the dark, which felt a bit odd. It was good to be home and felt a little unreal that I'd been to the south of England and back in a day. What an adventure! But I didn't know then that within two weeks I'd be on another plane!...

The Papal Visit

This Thursday Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Scotland where he will conduct an official state visit to the UK from September 16th to 19th. He will start his trip with a visit with the Queen on Thursday morning at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh (the same palace where we had tea in the gardens). There will then be a large St. Ninian's Day parade down Princes Street through the heart of Edinburgh. St. Ninian was the first Scot to be named a saint. Apparently there will be a thousand school children dressed in blue to turn Princes Street into a sea of Scottish blue, with the help of 'thousands' of Saltires (flags with St. Andrew's cross). Should be quite the sight! There will also be bands of pipers which I love. During the parade the Pope will ride down the street in his popemobile for everyone to see him. After the parade the Pope will go to Glasgow to conduct an open-air mass in a park (which one of the guys in my programme will be attending!), and will then fly down to London. So he'll only be in Scotland for the day.

My one friend and I are determined to attend the parade and see the Pope. We still can't believe that we have the opportunity to see him not only outside of Rome/Vatican City, but in our own town. Don't worry, I will definitely have my camera on me. We've been trying to decide how many hours early we should be to get good spots on the side of the road. I'm very much looking forward to Thursday. What an experience!

The general British public's reaction to the visit seems to be not so positive. Some people are concerned about Britain paying for the Pope's visit with the current state of the British economy. The British government (and British taxpayers) pay because it is a state visit, with Pope Benedict XVI as the head of state in Vatican City meeting Britain's heads of state. There are also concerns about what Pope Benedict XVI represents, some of his personal views, and the legacy of and on-going investigations into sex scandals involving Roman Catholic clerics and British and Irish children. These have sparked serious debate as to whether the Pope will be welcome in Britain. Whatever my personal opinions may be as a Christian and not a Catholic, I've decided to stay focussed on this amazing opportunity to see His Holiness in his popemobile (a word I will never get tired of saying or writing, as it always makes me smile) in my beautiful city, and hopefully one of these days I'll be able to visit his.

To find out more about Pope Benedict XVI's visit, here's a couple useful links:

The official website of the Papal Visit includes live video coverage while he's in the UK and day-by-day itineraries (as well as the official souvenir shop, which was a bit surprising):

http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/

Additional information on the St. Ninian's Day Parade which my friend and I plan to attend (who knows? maybe you'll be able to see us on the live coverage, either on the news or the above website, in amongst the thousands who have flocked to Princes Street):

http://www.stniniansday.co.uk/

And for a quick run-down of the Papal Visit, visit BBC's 'At a Glance' coverage, which also has links to the recent news items on the controversial elements of the trip I mentioned above (a quick sidenote: I'd never heard the term 'Pope stalker' before):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10927162

I'll be sure to tell you all about the parade. Fingers crossed for a dry morning!

Villains, Rogues and Deviants

A friend (and fellow second-going-on-third year History PhD student) and I have been putting together a one-day conference for postgraduates and early-career researchers to present 15 minute papers, receive feedback and share their thoughts on current scholarship. We began planning this day about 10 months ago, after a seminar for postgrads on funding and CV building. Organising, running and presenting a paper at a conference are all important skill and experience-building exercises in our field, and we left that day determined to run one of our own. The tough part was trying to figure out a theme on which we could both present.

My friend studies Unionism in Ireland and America in a later time period than I study. I study the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the British Empire. So we came upon a compromise after recognising that the bulk of the people we study would be considered 'bad people' by today's standards. This opened up a wide range of possibilities. Instead of focussing on slavery history, or Irish-American history, we could open up the conference to anyone researching 'bad' people, groups, or ideas, and those who have been considered good then bad, or bad then good, etc. It also meant that we could look beyond history departments for possible participants, and include students of law, classics, english, politics and so on.

Then came the logistics. We met with several professors to get advice and ran the idea past them. They gave us some very positive feedback, as well as advice on everything from budgeting and funding, to advertising, to the title of the day. We had to come up with a budget, which meant finding out about catering, printing, and estimating how many people we felt we could handle. We put together two funding applications, but as time went on we decided to be brave and send out the Call for Papers before securing funding. Happily we secured the full amount of funding we'd requested from the Edinburgh Trust, a fund supported by university alumni.

The Call for Papers was pretty successful. Over 30 students from across the UK applied to give a paper, inspiring us to double the number of participants we'd originally intended on having, to 12, and shortening the individual papers from 20 to 15. We also secured a keynote speaker, a professor at our university who is studying a relevant topic. Next came a room, initial catering enquiries, a poster advertising the conference, and a webpage on the school's website. Now that the webpage is finally up, I can share it with you here. So if you're interested, check out the details of Villains, Rogues and Deviants: Writing the Histories of People We'd Rather Forget.

Things are starting to get more real, and a bit more nerve-wracking. So far we've found it impossible to get hold of the university's caterers (who have a monopoly -- only school caterers can cater university-based functions). I'm a bit nervous about the day staying on time, especially now that we've got so many speakers, and having to be more assertive about keeping to the schedule and leading discussions after each panel has spoken. It should be great experience giving a paper, introducing speakers, running discussions and keeping the day running smoothly. There's just so much involved that I've more than once told my friend that this planning really reminds me of planning a wedding. She in turn remarked, 'But this doesn't have to happiest day of your life.' Thank goodness!

Under Attack

Edinburgh is under attack, but at least this year we were prepared. It's festival season again, and with hundreds (thousands?)of shows and events playing at several hundred venues across the city, tens of thousands of tourists from across the country and overseas have descended upon Edinburgh, crowding the footpaths, stopping every bus that goes by wondering where they're headed, and ticking off the locals.

Last year our lives were quite affected by the festival. By being only two blocks away from Edinburgh Castle, the noise of the Edinburgh Tattoo's fireworks was scary-loud. It was particularly bad on Saturday nights, when the special late show included a five minute firework display. In our bedroom it sounded like the place was being bombed. Now we just hear a rumble every evening between 10:37 and 10:40pm, and I have yet to hear the Saturday night fireworks. We also lived in a much more central location, only 2 blocks away from the Royal Mile, between the very busy Grassmarket and the popular bars of Tollcross. As a result hundreds more people would walk by our window every night. And there was no chance of forgetting about the special closing times for bars and clubs during August. The festival goers who took advantage of the 3am bar closings and 5am club closing sure would make a lot of noise on their way home! But now that we live off to the west end of the city on a back street, there's no party-goers walking by (unless they're heading home), and since we're up on the third floor they're no longer walking by our window.

We're staying away from all the festival stuff this year actually. Last year we went to a couple shows, including the tattoo, a musical, and a comedy show. This year Derek's been heading to Glasgow all the time, and I've been working on a new chapter. I'd been completely focussed on my work and barely noticed that the festival had begun until I went to a pub near campus and saw the extent of the traffic jams outside. We now put off shopping until a day in the middle of the week, because on the weekends the main shopping area around Princes Street is absolutely packed. Walking anywhere that requires going near or on the Royal Mile? Give yourself an extra 20-25 minutes! There's buskers, show-goers and tourists stopping all over the place to take photographs, plus the annoyed local trying to get places. And if I don't allow myself enough time to get to school for a meeting, then I become one of those annoyed locals trying to get somewhere! The problem is, if I ever need to speak for any reason then the locals think I'm one of the problem-causing tourists thanks to my accent and in turn find me annoying. So I just try to look like I belong, like I've got places to go, people to see, etc. :)

I can't believe that August will be coming to an end quite soon, but we've gotten a lot accomplished this month. Derek is onto his second stage of training and is enjoying the work and the people in his programme. I've written the rough draft of a second chapter for my thesis and am feeling really good about becoming a PhD-3 shortly, plus a friend and I have a great-looking conference in the works which I'll tell more about once we've got our webpage up. It's been a very busy month, but a productive one, and in truth I'm rather glad that we've been able to stay away from the craziness of the festival, instead staying focussed on home, work and friends.

Little Furry Animals

There is a little black cat who lives on the ground floor of our apartment building, down one of the sides of the building so that we can see the bay window of its apartment from our kitchen window. Almost every evening, and at different times of day throughout the week the cat's owners open the window. Keep in mind that windows here don't have screens, as there are few bugs and flies compared to back home. At some point the kitty will appear on the window sill, cautiously place her front paws down on the outside of the wall, and jump down into the grassy courtyard. Sometimes she runs immediately for the bushes (when she's in what I would call her 'jungle-cat' mode), but most of the time she just saunters a couple steps and sits down in the middle of a brown square of grass a few feet from the window.

There's a man who frequently comes out the back door for a cigarette. We call him 'Mr. Depressed Smoking Guy,' because he generally looks really down and and lonely, although one time last week he had a lady friend with him. (Can you tell we don't have a dishwasher and thus spend a lot of time washing dishes while staring out the kitchen window from up on the third floor?) If he's out when the cat is out the cat keeps him company, which I think is so cute!

Derek and I keep an eye out for the cat, telling each other when we spot her (FYI I tend to assume all cats are female), if she's climbing down, or being a jungle-kitty, having a nap, etc. When it's time to go in (whether she's decided so or one of her owners is sticking their head out the window calling her), she stands at the base of the wall, prepares and jumps up into the window, disappearing into their dark living room. She seems like a nice, fit, well-behaved kitty to be allowed out on her own here, staying within the little grassy area by the parking lot and coming home when she's called. We like to keep an eye out for her. We'll be off an a walk through the Meadows or looking out over the fields in Holyrood Park and Derek will remark on how much Sneaquers would love it here. Sometimes we see little white puppies that remind him of her. The cover story on a recent Historic Scotland magazine was about dog-friendly historical sites in Scotland, with favourite places to visit for the whole family. If only his puppy wasn't a 7 hour flight away and from a country with rabies (a disease the UK doesn't have).

We miss our pets. We also just miss pets in general. I long for having a friendly animal around to pet and cuddle. Part of that is because I grew up with a big friendly kitty in the house, and anyone who knows me somewhat well knows I'm a total cat-person. Derek's used to having his cute little puppy around back home, and even though he didn't grow up with a dog, their family dog has been around for 10 years now and is a big part of the family.

We both love Skype (free video-conferencing software that allows us to see and speak to others with webcams and the programs back home or anywhere in the world). It's great to see our families, and it's also great because we get to see his puppy Sneaquers and my big fat cat Lucy, as well as my Grandma's cat Jimmi if she's in the mood and Derek's sister's cat Alexis (who we're quite close to, having cat-sat her for a few months before moving to Edinburgh).

A lot of friends here report how much they miss their pets, or just having an animal to pet occasionally and say 'hi' to. At our last flat, there was a big friendly dog who spent most days lying outside the door of the used bookstore next door. He was a great sport about accepting doogie-noogies and a 'hi' or a scratch on the chin. A couple of my fellow pet-deprived friends used to take him for the occasional walk in the Meadows, or having found neighbours' dogs to walk. I just love days where I'll walk around a corner and there is a cat who's willing to let me come near, and maybe even let me scritch her along the chin or et the top of her head. There's a black cat who hangs around campus on occasion, and she's been known to flop right over for a cautious belly-rub. There was also a cow-patterned cat that would hang out on a doorstep on my way to school from our old place, and it was always great to see her.

I don't know how people can feel comfortable letting their cats loose outside without supervision here, to be honest. I don't think I'd want my cat to be outside back home if I lived in a city, because of all the traffic. Then add to the fact that here dogs don't have to be on leashes, and in my opinion you have a very not-cat-friendly environment. Plus there's so little grass anywhere, that the tend to have to stick to cement doorsteps, windowsills, and hiding under bushes to avoid the rain and mist.

So to celebrate all these great furry animals of ours back home, I thought for today's images I'd put together some favourites of our pets (and those of our families', mentioned above). Enjoy!

My Cat Lucy (who can look deceptively small)

Derek's Family's Puppy Sneaquers

Derek's Sister's Kitty Alexis

Grandma's Cat Jimmi

A Weekend Away

While I may never be able to top blogging about having tea with the Queen, we're still having other, somewhat smaller, adventures here in Scotland that I think are worth sharing. Like last weekend. Derek suggested getting away on his long weekend (Glasgow celebrated a holiday on the Monday), so we decided on two day trips: Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Linlithgow.

Berwick-Upon-Tweed is a small town about 45 minutes south-east on the train on the border between England and Scotland. For centuries the two countries battled for control of the town, as it lies on a strategic point with the North Sea to the east and the River Tweed to the south. England has had possession of the town since the 1600s, when its Elizabethan ramparts were built surrounding much of the town. These high, thick walls were built to withstand cannon fire, and while they were never used in such a way, they provide a great way to walk around the town and see the sights. They were our first stop.

After circling much of the town and coming across some of the original medieval walls, we walked down to the beach and out to the old lighthouse. A number of people were digging in the sand with pitchforks and buckets as the tide was low. I think they were digging for clams, but we're not sure. We picnicked looking out over the harbour during a break in the misty rain.

In the afternoon we walked along the River Tweed in search of Berwick's picturesque mid-19th century railroad bridge. It was pretty amazing -- certainly an amazing feat of engineering for the time, and it's still used by the railway to this day, so it's held up well over the years. Past the bridge was the bottom of a set of stone breakneck stairs that went up the side of the cliff to the old site of the castle. The castle was all but demolished in the Victorian era to put in the train station. I guess the Victorians didn't have the kind of appreciation for history and historic sites that most of us do today. It's quite sad really. From the station you can see an existing castle wall, and on the platform is a sign telling visitors that there once stood the castle's Great Hall in which Robert the Bruce was denied the Scottish Crown in 1292. But the hall is gone.

On Sunday we went on a much shorter trip to Linlithgow. Linlithgow is the next stop on the train from where we live, about 15 minutes west of us. Derek passes through it on his way to Glasgow every time he heads to school, and from the station you can see St. Michael Parish Church with it's distinctive metal sculpture on top, and Linlithgow Palace behind it.

Linlithgow Palace is the site of Mary, Queen of Scots' birth and her son James', who becomes James I and VI, uniting Scotland and England in the Union of the Crowns in 1603. The palace is in ruins but most of the stone walls, floors, towers and staircases remain intact. There was so much to explore and discover! So many large rooms and halls, small rooms in the basement, the kitchens with their large fireplaces, beautiful stone windows, all surrounding a large stone courtyard with a beautiful fountain in the middle.

On top of the one corner tower was a small platform to walk around, in order to view the grounds and a high up tower room. It was pretty windy up there! But there were some great views of the royal park surrounding the palace and the small lock below the grassy grounds. We had the added bonus of visiting the palace on the morning that Mary Queen of Scots happened to be visiting, accompanied by the husband of one of her four Marys, her main ladies in waiting. We were able to chat with her for a short time, finding out why she's called 'Mary, Queen of Scots' (because she officially ruled with the consent of the people, rather than as their dictator), and how much time she would have spent in the palace (they moved around quite a bit once each place got dirty and/or all the food was eaten, but she liked Linlithgow Palace because her horses could be housed in the building and it's in town so the rest of the court didn't have to stay with her).

After thoroughly checking out the many floors, rooms, hallways and towers, we went outside and had a picnic at a table in the palace's grounds overlooking the loch. After lunch we went for an hour long walk along the loch, seeing lots of little duckings and even a nest of tiny furry swans with their parents. The so-called 'Heritage Walk' looked like a bit of a let-down (not as history-filled as a walk through Edinburgh tends to be), so we walked along the main street, back up the train station and headed home in time for dinner.

It was a great weekend. We walked and walked and walked, and saw lots of nature and country-side, as well as a lot of water. Two excellent day-trips a short train-ride away. What a great idea!