Edinburgh, Scotland

By Cadie Walsh, "Upon arrival, Scotland was amazing, but the journey there was a bit of a fiasco. The initial plan was to take a sleeper train from London to Edinburgh, but there was an issue with powerlines that fell on the tracks. The train people didn’t disclose this until very early the next morning after we had traveled all night. Turns out we had gone forward and then gone straight back to London. However, once we finally arrived in Edinburgh, it was a fantastic few days. Unfortunately, we lost a day of touring due to the train issue, but it was still very fun to explore the Royal Mile that evening. Colton was too tired to move, but my parents and I had the best time touring Edinburgh Castle, and generally sightseeing in town. Before heading back to the hotel, I suggested it would be fun to visit St. Giles Cathedral, and it was a beautiful building. It was the first Presbyterian Church. 

We started the next day bright and early with a tour of Loch Lomond and the village of Less. I might have some of the days confused since we packed so much in and saw so many castles, but some other main attractions were Stirling Castle, Doune Castle, Blackness Castle, and Linlithgow Palace (birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots!) The Wallace monument was a highlight for Dad because he is very proud of William Wallace’s fight for freedom (and the movie Braveheart haha)! There were quite a few stairs, and we were all a bit out of breath upon reaching the top, where Mom proceeded to be very panicky whenever any of us stood too close to the edge. It was also quite fun to visit a farm shop with homemade goods, and adorable highland cows outside. Driving past the kelpies statues was a fun thing to do each day, and we even rode the Falkirk Wheel, which was an interesting replacement to the typical lock system that votes used to travel up and down canals. 

Our time in Edinburgh also included an underground tour of Mary King‘s Close, which used to be a thriving place full of many families, but has since been built over. It is still well preserved beneath the street level buildings, and it was a fascinating place to explore. Another highlight of the trip for me was when I visited a candle shop on Victoria Street. The owner had a wall where everybody can write on sticky notes, one kind or positive thing, but I was unsure what to write. My solution was to make a paper crane, and the owner loved it so much that he gifted me a free chapstick in exchange for it! Overall visiting, Scotland has been one of my favorite trips, and I definitely think I’ll be back someday to visit (perhaps a study abroad during college). It is a country with an extended and rich history that I loved learning about, but there is so much more to discover!"

Spring Break: London

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We are all sporting our green today.

We are at the Euston Train Station on Tuesday, March 17th waiting to get onboard the Caledonian Sleeper car to Edinburgh. Our 5 days in London have been packed and we covered a lot of ground.

Thursday: Flight departed from DFW at 6pm. Thankfully, Grant and Cadie were upgraded which was a gift since we all rolled into the trip very tired. While Colton and I weren’t comfortable, we were grateful to sit together as we weren’t originally going to be by each other which would have made the flight even harder.

Friday: Arrival with a black cab straight to the hotel. I crashed for 3 solid hours of sleep and Colton wasn’t far behind me. I was so grateful that one of our two hotel rooms was ready when we got to the hotel at about 9:30am. We had connecting rooms at the London Hilton Bankside and I loved the hotel. It was convenient, clean, had a great Executive Lounge, and a complimentary full service breakfast. After the naps, we headed to our river cruise on the Thames. After the cruise, we went straight to Starlight Express. We were all really impressed with the high energy show and Colton has been singing “It’s not a matter of it, it’s a matter of when for Hydrogen.” We were pretty impressed with ourselves for staying awake!

Cadie and Colton had a room with 2 twin beds and Grant and I had a lovely room with a king. Cadie was thrilled to be sleepover buddies with Colton. Well, maybe not thrilled, but it worked out great.

Saturday: Grant had 10:30am reservations for the Tower of London. It is incredible how long the Towner of London has been there! Afterwards, we went to see The Producers and it was a funny and great production. After the show, we went straight to The London Eye. After watching the sunset from above, Grant and Cadie went to see “Oh Mary!” and Colton and I went back to the hotel, swam in the pool, and lounged.

Sunday: We started out the day at Hampton Court which was incredible. There was a half marathon that day on the castle grounds, but it didn’t effect our tour at all. I especially enjoyed sitting with Grant and Colton in the dining hall for King Henry VIII and Grant walking Colton through the history. Cadie mostly explored at her own pace. After Hampton Court, we got a quick bite at Vapiano’s and then Colton and I went to Stranger Things The First Shadow while Cadie and Grant walked around in the rain exploring the Mithraeum, an underground roman temple, and other historical sites. We met back at the hotel and Grant and I got a drink at a pub around the corner. Colton and I LOVED the Stranger Things show, especially since we just finished watching the TV series just about 2 months ago.

When Colton and I were navigating back to the hotel from Stranger Things, I was using chatgpt to get tube recommendations. The directions didn’t appear to be great, and Colton then busted out with, “We need to get off at the Waterloo Station, then we can get on the Jubilee Line which will take us to Southwark station and I can get us to our hotel from there.” WHAT? How does he know these things after 48 hours?

Monday: Tour day with Darius. First stop was Windsor Castle, next was Stonehenge, and then we wrapped up at the Roman Baths in Bathe. Colton succinctly describes this day as, “the first castle, the pile of old rocks, and the bubble water.” Darius dropped Grant and I off to see Cabaret and then he took Cadie and Colton to the hotel. Darius was a great driver and we laughed a lot throughout the day.

Tuesday: We rested in the morning and then checked out of our hotel before rushing to catch the 12:15pm shuttle to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studios. The studios tour was extensive and we all liked learning about the special effects and process that went into making the movies. Grant still hasn’t watched them! But he still appreciated the technical aspects of the movie production that we learned about during the tour.

Colton’s favorite things in London included the trains, Stranger Things The First Shadow, and the Starlight Express.

Cadie’s favorite things on this leg of the journey included Roman Baths and she really liked the tech elements of Starlight Express. Cadie also agreed this hotel was better than the one she and Grant stayed at a few years ago.

Grant is working while we wait for the train, but Cadie says she thinks he really liked all the theater and also St. Dunstan in the East Church Garden. This is a church that was destroyed during WWII and is now a memorial to the destruction of the war. Cadie and Grant went to the church while Colton and I were at the show on Sunday afternoon.

I loved seeing Stranger Things with Colton, mostly just to have the memory with him. I personally loved seeing The Tower of London, Hampton Court, and Windsor Castle. The royal family and the history of these places is fascinating.

There is so much more we could have done! We ran out of time for Westminster Abby and the British Museum, and Natural History Museum. We’ll have to come back!