northumberlands and edinburgh.

{along hadrian's wall in the northumberlands}

this past week was what they call "reading week" here at bangor uni. reading weeks are set up as weeks off from modules (classes) according to separate courses (departments). students here only take classes within their selected course, unlike me who is taking classes from all over. thus, i didn't get quite a whole week off, due to conflicting reading weeks amongst my modules. blah blah...the point is that i did however get to travel a bit.

{historic, hadrian's wall}

{taken while standing on hadrian's wall, the view goes on for miles}

{houseteads roman fort, along hadrian's wall}

my friend melanie and i visited a family friend of hers in northern england. we spent the next few days in various villages and towns in the northumberland province. we arrived in the prudhoe train station, then walked about 10 min. to the small village of novingham. that night we were taken to our host's local pub for dinner and drinks. we spent the following day, traveling along the historic hadrian's wall, more specifically visiting a roman fort called housesteads situated along the wall. hadrian's great wall was built by the roman emperor hadrian around 122 a.d representing the northern limits of his empire, keeping out the caledonians (scottish). it ran/runs from the east coast to the west coast of britain, even now you can see strips of it here and there, including along highways, and even in random english suburbs. now, the line between scotland and england is much further north.

{speedy trees}

{art installation inside a castle in the northumberlands}

that night we traveled in a fully packed train to the town of hexham, england for a night of fireworks and the largest bonfire i've ever seen. these were both in celebration of what the british call bonfire night and guy fawkes night. named after a failed attempt by a man named incidentally, guy fawkes, to blow up the british parliament on november 5th 1605. traditionally, they now place a fake figure of a man on top of a huge bonfire, and shoot off fire works in celebration that he was not successful in his attempt. here's an anonymous poem i found that rhythmically explains it's history:

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,

'Twas his intent

to blow up the King and Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow.

By God's providence he was catch'd

With dark cantern and burning match.

Holla boys, holla boys!

Let the bells ring!

Holla boys, holla boys!

God save the King.

another surreal experience.

{bonfire night/guy fawkes night}

{wee lad swingin' a glow stick in front of me}

{silhouettes on bonfire night}

{fireworks}


the next day was spent exploring newcastle, england. we saw a bit of the university, walked along the river tyne, went to a small flea market, crossed the swing bridge, experienced the center for contemporary art (which was really neat), and saw the inside of the sage theatre (also called the slug). the night ended with exactly what melanie and i needed, while our gracious host was off at choir practice, we made our selves some dinner (french toast) and watched an old classic (when harry met sally). followed by a bit of british tv, and then fell fast asleep in anticipation of the next days events. {it was very pleasant to be in a proper home again}

{downtown newcastle}

{the swing bridge, on the river tyne in newcastle}

{view of the sage theatre, and the tyne bridge at sunset, newcastle}

{inside the baltic: center for contemporary art}

{top floor of the baltic}

{night reflections of the swing bridge, baltic, sage theatre, and tyne bridge, along the river tyne}

after an early train we arrived in edinburgh late morning, leaving a whole day to explore and experience. i can confidently say that scotland was what i'd always imagined and hoped it would be. the scenery, the people, the ACCENTS, all wonderful. despite the heavy construction that takes up a significant part of the city center edinburgh is majestic. from the castle that sits above the town on a rocky cliff, to the beautiful buildings and streets through out the city, all of it, majestic. we first found our hostel/hotel that was potentially one of the nicest places i've stayed, and is made even 100 times better by the fact that we only paid 12 american dollars. after setting our bags down we set off to the castle. due to it's massive size we spent a couple of hours walking around, through, up and down the castle. the best bit was getting to hear our scottish tour guide tell his tales and jokes with a heavy scottish rhythm. we continued down the infamous royal mile filled with shops, pubs, street vendors and classic scottish closes (alleys).

{where we stayed in edinburgh}

{taken along a side street near our hotel in edinburgh}

{edinburgh castle}

{inside edinburgh castle}

{the oldest bldg. in edinburgh, the castle chapel}

{view from the castle}

{cannon, inside edinburgh castle, looking out to the city}

after eating delicious scottish steak pie at a pub along the royal mile, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our loot. only to turn around and head back out to yet another pub, advertising traditional scottish music. there, we were to encounter the guitar, banjo, moothie playing, plaid pants wearing, tam o'shanter sporting, thick scottish accent singing greame e. person. also known as the only person to do musical walking tours of edinburgh. he was more than we could've asked for in a scottish experience. he sang and played for nearly 3 hours intermittently telling jokes (frequently about us being american and my being texan), telling historical tales, and successfully involving most of the audience in his performance. we were all singing along, lifting our drinks with smiles as wide as we could manage. the most surreal moment, being as the whole bar sang, swaying and smiling "bye bye miss american pie...". and i'm pretty sure everyone else there knew the words better than we did.

{down a scottish close (alley)}

{the royal mile, in edinburgh}

we started the next day with a scottish breakfast from our hotel. however with the absence of haggis, it was actually just an english breakfast. it did however include black pudding, which i am glad to have found out what it consists of only after the fact. (thanks thom for the insight) our last day was spent exploring some areas we had yet to see, some old bookstores, shops, and cafes. luckily, we stumbled upon the very coffee house that j.k. rowling is said to have written harry potter. i must say i could feel the inspiration as i sat in the elephant house and ate my bacon and brie pizza. ha. after having a bit of a chat with a couple of really friendly locals working at a tea shop (who also "took the mick" out of my being from texas) we ended our trip gliding through the edinburgh modern art museums, and taking a last stroll around the city. i can say that i already look forward to my trip back to scotland, even though it'll probably be years from now. but i will be back. now for some rest.
until next time.
cheers.

{the coffee house j.k. rowling is said to of written the first harry potter}

{old scottish bookshop}

{taken inside edinburgh museum of modern art, art installation}

{to see more photos from this trip feel free to click on the link below}
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theafterglow/