Snotty in Scotland

Last week I spent a few days in Scotland (for the first time!) to visit all the lovelies that I met in Paris and Berlin.

My journey began from London King's Cross on Wednesday morning, where I completely forgot that Harry Potter had been there and accidentally found Platform 9 and 3 quarters! I couldn't really get near it as there was a biq queue for photos but it was still pretty awesome to see it.

The train ride up was lovely! The scenery really was something- from rolling dales with sheep to cliff faces and sparkling sea!

Hilary and Sophie surprised me (more like gave me a heart attack) at the train station, and we walked back to Sophie's house which would be my crash pad for the next few days. We went out for dinner that night at Tuk Tuk which did authentic Indian street food. It was so yummy, After that, Sophie and Hilary went to help at their Buddies (for the incoming international students and of which Blythe is the president) meet and greet. Naturally, I decided to help out too since I was there, but in reality all I really did was hold some papers and tell people to move on... We took Sophie's buddies to Revs but after a pint they decided to go clubbing and we went to the pub. I also tried chips and gravy for the first time that night and I have to say that it wasn't as terrible as I imagined although I am still very much a salt n vinegar kinda gal.

The next day was sightseeing time! Sophie took me to the top of the David Hume Tower at the uni, a tower which I have heard many tales about from Joe and Niamh, so it was a must-see. The view of the city was pretty decent up there too, apart from the mistiness.

Misty view of the castle

After that we met up with Hilary and had lunch at The Elephant House, where J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter! The toilets were covered in quotes from the books, and someone had written 'THIS WAY TO THE MINISTRY' above the toilet. I had an excellent lamb pie there, followed by a peppermint caramel (!) shortbread.

The sightseeing continued and we walked down the Royal Mile, stopping at St. Giles cathedral and an incredible fudge shop. 

St. Giles Cathedral

I'm still chuckling

We walked to the end of the Royal Mile, where we went inside the Scottish Parliament building. It was quite something to be there amidst all the referendum talk. People from the BBC were interviewing people outside and they came over to us too, but we didn't speak to them. The atmosphere in Edinburgh was pretty intense, with Yes supporters on the Meadows everyday and stickers or posters in nearly every window we went past.

The Scottish Parliament and the crags in the back

The Debate Room

Holyrood - where the Queen stays

We still had some time to kill before dinner so we walked up Calton Hill. It was actually really warm and sunny, but still the view was obscured by the weather! I also got very grumpy when I realised I couldn't climb up on the monument because I was wearing a skirt. Grumpy indeed.

Eerie

Dinner was at Hilary and Blythe's place, where we all made pizza. It turned out more like bread with a LOT of cheese on, but was still bloody good. Sophie, Hilary and I then got changed and headed out with her Snowsports Society group. The room they had set aside for Snow Soc was horrendously hot and sticky and just awful, so we escaped outside. Joe made an appearance then with a couple of his friends from home (one of them I had already briefly met in Paris). We spent the rest of the night playing drinking games and, after being told to go inside, ridiculous dancing and Sophie playing DJ...

I met Joe and his friends for a full English in the morning which hit the spot wonderfully, to sort ourselves out for the day, and Sophie joined us afterwards. We went up to the roof of the National Museum of Scotland for some air and pictures.

Museum roof

Excellent advertising

Joe went to a meeting so Sophie and I went for a wander in the Grassmarket, stopping for coffee and cake at Hula, where Hilary met us. I bought a new purple shirt in Armstrongs (biggest vintage shop in Britain or something) and then dragged them into Mr. Wood's Fossils where, as they put it, I bought some 'rocks'. We walked around the Greyfriars graveyard (here I go again). Greyfriars is quite legendary as back in the 19th Century, a man was buried here and his faithful dog Bobby guarded his grave for the next 14 years until he died himself. Bobby has a little statue outside the pub, named Greyfriars Bobby, and is buried at the entrance of the graveyard.

Grassmarket

Bobby!

Sophie and I went to the chippy for dinner, and then we all went out to a bar for one of their friend's birthdays. That was a good laugh and after that we went to a place called Cav, which, quite frankly, made me feel fucking ancient. It was full of freshers. Joe then dragged us to the dreaded Hive, which I have heard too many stories about. It was absolutely rank. I mean, one of the rooms literally smelt of semen. I rest my case.

Saturday was a little more leisurely. I met up with Niamh for an hour which was lovely! We had coffee and croissants on the Links and had a good old natter. I've missed Niamh and hopefully I'll back in Edinburgh for a few days at Christmas. It was so good to see everyone again.

Ma Berlin gals

Not long after noodles with Hilary and Sophie, they were getting me on my train and saying goodbye! It went far too fast, as these trips always do and as a lovely memento of the trip, I have caught some flu thing. I'm blaming Hive.

Peace
xxx

Lest we forget

On Monday, my mum and I set out for a daytrip to Péronne and the Valley of the Somme. It was an early start, as all our Lodges daytrips are, but we managed some sleep and woke ourself up with Starbucks before the tunnel.

Then, when we had arrived en France, our guide stood up and I realised it was one of my old teachers from high school - Mr Ford! So odd! But he was an excellent guide the whole day, even handing out sketch maps of the Battle of the Somme so we could follow his explanations and see where we were. I found it all fascinating as I never learned so much about World War 1 at school, and especially not in such detail. The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916 and ended on 18th November of the same year. The first day of the battle remains the worst day in the history of the British army, with 60, 000 casualties and 20, 000 dead. I can't even imagine what that amount of people looks like.

Our first stop was Péronne, where we visited the Museum of the Great War. It was well done, really informative and displayed not only war-time artifacts but also artwork. The cabinets were organised in a way I hadn't seen before too, with French, British and German objects on separate shelves, for each topic and theme.

I've never seen exhibits laid out like this, this is the British Front Line

This made me cry, the last line says "I will mourn you all my life."

After the museum, on our drive to the mine crater at la Boiselle, we stopped briefly at the South African Memorial and cemetery. It is actually the only memorial dedicated to the South Africans who served in the war and is located at Delville Wood - where they were almost completely annihilated by the Germans in 1916. You can read more here.

And then we came to the Lochnager crater, which was terrifyingly big and is in fact the largest man-made mine crater created on the Western Front. It's a really moving memorial, albeit quite unsettling. I had been thinking of the thousands of missing dead all day as I walked on the site of their grave, and at the crater there is a separate memorial to George Nugent. He was found at the crater in 1998(!) by a man from Colchester. As you can probably imagine, and if you've been to any battlefield before, the presence of death is palpable. You can see more pictures and read more about George Nugent on the official website.

We then headed to the Thiepval memorial, which is the largest British war memorial in the world. It remembers the 72, 195 British and South African soldiers that died on the Somme battlefields, who have no known grave. What is also interesting about Thiepval is that both French and British soldiers are commemorated and buried together here, representative of their alliance during the offensive against the German front. 

I also found the names of several O'Dwyers and Dwyers in the cemetary register, and I couldn't help wondering if any of them are my distant relatives. I know that my great-granddad fought at the Somme and survived, so perhaps others were there too. 

After Thiepval, we drove to the Newfoundland memorial at Beaumont Hamel. This was a really impressive memorial, and the trench system had even been preserved to an extent. They were completely grown over but just walking through them for a few minutes was enough. On July 16th 1916, pretty much the entire Newfoundland Regiment were wiped out, with 710 killed, wounded or missing.

The caribou

The trench network

The Newfoundland Memorial Park was our last stop for the day and we headed back to the tunnel to find out there was a 6 hour delay .... luckily, our drivers got us onto a ferry but that there was an hour delay for that too. We crawled into bed at half past 3 in the morning, but it was such an interesting and moving day. I understand that some people are not interested in war itself but I refuse to believe that anyone could visit these battlefields and not feel so incredibly indebted to these men. The First World War was an absolute atrocity and these memorials will serve as reminders to generations and generations to come of the sacrifice that was made here, and that it must never be allowed to happen again.