Alright, so I may not be able to go into as much detail about Scotland as I had hoped. Internet in the u.k. And probably the rest of Europe will not be as convenient anymore, and quite expensive. Two pounds an hour, which is over three dollars an hour. Scotland is incredible. I learned a lot about the history will all the tours that I did. After a bus tour, the tour to the highlands, and a free walking tour I'm pretty sure I have all the famous stories of Edinburgh, the Scottish highlands, and the quick overview of Scottish resistance, and eventual unification of the united kingdoms, yes brought together under the Scottish king James, son of Mary of scots, cousin to the virgin queen Elizabeth, leaving no hierarchy, contrary to popular belief, pretty much memorized. Not to mention the story, that I'm nerdily, if that's even a word, obsessed with, of Braveheart. Actually somewhat historically accurate. William Wallace was however, not a kilt wearing highlander, all though he rallied many highlanders to his cause, but he was a resistant Scotsman who was motivated by the murder of his wife by the English
Sherrif of Lemerick. He skinned him after he was killed and made a belt from his hide, which he wore in every battle to follow. The Sherrif was trying to teach William a lesson. This Ended up leading to the persistent movement to eradicate the English from Scotland. He rallied an army and marched from Abbey Creek to Sterling in September of 1296, where the river Forth " ran red with English Blood". His strategy was seizing one English stronghold or occupied castle at a time. A price was put on his head however and his campaign would not last long. He was betrayed, not by Robert LeBruce, Scotland's most renowned hero, but an Earl, which is the major upset amongst the Scottish with the movie. William Wallace also would not have painted his face blue, as the farthest northern Pictish pre-Christians had done 400 years before William wall aces time. After wall aces brutal execution LeBruce, who had before cooperated with the English, was moved and picked up where william left off. He is considered one of the most brilliant military strategists. He ended up killing his competition to the thrown in a dispute in a church, so had to get crowned before the pope gained knowledge of this. Once it was learned of however, he was excommunicated from the church making it very difficult to the lead the country. He lived like an outlaw rallying those to his cause and eventually, Defeating the English, now under Edward the second, Edward the first's pussy son, as portrayed in the film, at the last battle at sterling castle. This story, historical factual story, is a source of extreme nationalism, and is truly awe inspiring. Scotland is still an extremely nationalistic and proud country.
The highlands were remarkable. I hope to one day, soon, come back to hike the 90 mile west highland way. There are no trespassing laws in Scotland, under the right to go country code or something like that, so you can camp the entire distance. It is one of the world most renowned natural wildernesses. The rain, which rendered picture taking impossible, was the source of some of the most beautifully enchanting waterfalls I've ever seen, they ran down the tall steep sloops of the highland mountains. Truly a sight that one must see with there own eyes. The trip all together was about thirteen hours, almost covering the entire country, well worth it, and there was not one minute I was not in awe. We went all the way to Loch Ness, along the way passing four other major Lochs, which have actually been connected by a canal. In the town before a boat trip I saw how they flood a section to raise the water lever then pull the boat along, dam it off again, raise the water level until you can take it up to the next loch, levis I believe. I've never seen it before. Brilliant enginering, at least for me. I had signed up to go out on a ferry to see the lake, which is massive! You can fit every major body of water including every Lorre on the shelfs of drinking water, in Europe into Loch Ness. The water is very clean, but there is this mineral called peite, idk how to spell it, which washes into the water, making it almost black. As the ferry flooded with people, I heard the wild highland man with dreads, sexy, advertising for a speed boat ride, like those military inflatable ones. A French couple was on there honey moon and really wanted to do it so they needed one more. No one was interested because of the rain, I was in. I made a deal that if they could make it an hour instead of one and a half, so I could be back on time, I would go so that they had enough people to take the boat. Well worth it. We could cruise right up to the coast, and cover almost the entire lake. The northern western side, I believe, is ancient Forrest, completely preserved, because the terrain can only be accessed with rock climbing gear, asthere are slopes everywhere. Little waterfalls ran down the bank, which made the black water look like bubbling cappuccino. There were caves along the remote shore as well. When taxes had been put in place by the king that overthrew James, they had placed a tax on whiskey, or the Gaelic ushgabe meaning water of life, it made it nearly impossible to drink. Highlanders could use these caves like distilleries, supplying the highlanders, specifically the Macdonaugld clan with there water of life.
The highlander culture is extremely fascinating, and completely unique. It is the longest existing tribal system in the world, lasting up until the mid 1700 s, and many highlanders still identify with their clan, even though it was outlawed by one of the lowlander kings that came after James. The highlanders were considered jacobytes, which is Latin for his followers and supporters. This resistance to the new rule of Scotland in the early to mid 1700s led to horrible persecution of the highlander tribes. I don't have enough time or battery space to go into anymore detail, but it an extremely fascinating history. Of all the ancient tradition I have always found the ancient Celtic tradition the most interesting, and mysterious. Celtic history is also my favorite eurpean history, so I was thrilled to be in Scotland.
Once I returned to the hostel, Aleks, the girl from Poland had left me a note to meet her at 8 for a pub crawl. Being that it was eight, I changed out of my soaked sweater and ran to meet her. It was a lot of fun, and the first week for student coming back to Edinburgh university. We stayed out until 5. I'm still recovering. That night, I wish I could remember in more detail, she shared some of her family history. She isn't Jewish but her step father I believe she said was, who is like her real father. She had a set of grandparents who had actaully gone into the Forrest to hide from the nazis in Poland. Her one grandfather had been imprisoned as well and chained with his hands up in chest high water for months on end. Her grandmother sold all of her belongings and lived on the streets with her two small children, with the smallest hope that what she earned would win his freedom. When he was finally released and found her, she burned his clothes and had to wash the worms and parasites that were living on him. He never recovered his hearing from the infections and sickness and she had to learn a form of sign language to communicate wi him. This family history was recorded in a. Photo album including pictures of her family, and written accounts from her grandmother, and passed down to Aleks. I was a bit stunned and overwhelmed meeting someone that has personal experience with the impact of the war, which many Americans can much more easily cognitively remove themselves from, especially with the lack of knowledge we have on the subject limited to the brainwashing of the u.s. Carriculum. She has had to keep having a German boyfriend, whom she met a Cambridge, a secret, because her stepfather is still very bitter about the persecution his relatives had received. She said it is strange to think that so many people she is close friends with, had grandparents who would have been Nazis persecuting her distant relatives, but it is a new generation, and people her age just try to move past it. I hadn't ever really taken that concept into consideration before.
Well as if I couldn't get enough history, which I couldn't, I dragged myself out of bed for het another tour, this one a free walking tour, around Edinburgh. Where the stories of the city were yet again ingrained in my mind. It was about three hours. The stories of the great writers like Scottsdale and Robert louis Stevenson were told. Also the story about Deaon Brodie, who by day was an outstanding citizen, and by night robbed the city vaults and people's homes. He actually was the one hired to catch the thief, he was though of as such a good citizen. The real life Jekyll and Hyde, which was put into fiction by Stevenson. Edinburgh, actually had the world first skyscrapers. The wall built to keep out the English was very successful but it also kept the Scottish in. As the population increased over the hundreds of years, the city built upward. There was no Plumbing or sanitation. People threw their waste out the window. This is where the term shit-faced actually originated. Charming I know. When the drunkens scots were to intoxicated at night to yell back for those yelling out the window Gaude Lou, French for watch out for the water, they would look up and literally get a face full of shit. On the tour we went to the graveyard which was overlooked by j.r.Rowling, from the elephant room where they let her sit in the window to write her books, because she couldn't afford heat and her fingers were too cold to write in her home. On the tomb stones you can find her ideas for names. Also it over looks the private school that someone named goerge something, had built for the homeless boys of endinburgh, which still takes in fatherless children and educates them for free, and Edinburgh castle. If you take the dickons, maybe idk, school and put it onto of endinburgh castle, which sit on a high volcanic rock overlooking the whole city, it looks exactly like hogwarts. Rounded four towers and all. There are so many stories and too little time. Edinburgh takes pride in it's cities stories and you can find the names of it's characters littered throughout, as the name of pubs, shops and hostels, brodies backpackers, where I stayed for example, on the royal mile. Which the mile between the new palace and Edinburgh castle. The Scottish are very simple when it comes to naming things. I doubt another city will top Edinburgh for me, but we will see.
I flew to stagnated today where I was goi g to take the bus I to London to sight see, then come back because I. Have alight at seven. I took a nap and decided to relax instead. I will take the tunnel back from France the last day of my eurorail. Get a hostel in London for a night, just one because, as the English say, it is bloody expensive. Sight see, go to stone henge, then go meet up with Aleks for a weekend at Cambridge. Munich tomorrow. We' ll see how I fare in a country, were English is not the language. I've already got in contact with Magdalena from my first night in Cork, so hopefully she can show me the ropes. Off to find my bench for the night. Take care. Love you all...and goodnight.
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