Stirling Castle

Last Weekend we had our first weekend adventure in Scotland. We had met some friends at the University who were going to Stirling castle and invited to tag along with them. We set out early saturday morning and caught the Subway to Queen Street Station. From there we took a short 26 minute train ride and arrived at Stirling's train station. Once there our group of 4 set out by taxi to the Wallace Monument. Once arriving we took a short hike up to the monument itself. It is set up on a hill and while climbing we stopped at a short viewpoint and took some photos of the start of the highlands. After taking a few photos we finished the short hike up to the monument. Once there we went in and viewed the small museum and climbed the 256ish steps to the top of the tower. From there we saw some fantastic rainbows as well as a view of the battlefield for the battle of Stirling Bridge where William Wallace got his start of fame. After staying at the very windy top of the monument we went back down the spiraling steps and took a shuttle back to the bottom of the hill. Once arriving at the bottom we took a second taxi to Stirling Castle. At the castle we bought our Historic Scotland passes for the year which will allow us to get into most Scottish Heritage sites at no additional cost. Once we had our tickets we took a short break at the castle cafe to refuel for our exploration of the 15th century fortification. We spent about four hours at the castle exploring as many of the buildings as we could possible get to as well as some of the smaller, lesser known areas of the fortification. My favorite part of the castle was the walls. I enjoy looking at how the architects of the middle ages tried to make their structures invincible by geographical placement, as well as how they decide to build the walls and create strong and weak points. I really enjoy looking to see if they might have created a "perceived" weak point which actually creates a trap for enemy forces to fall into. But unfortunately I did not get too much time to do that this time, plus the structure has been modified a bit more than other original medieval castles I have been to. After working up an appetite while walking around the castle we headed back into town and ate at a local pub called Baker Street No. 2. We really enjoyed the food and then walked back to the train station and caught a ride home. We had a great time and we look forward to our next weekend adventure!

 Us at the Viewpoint

 Wallace Monument from the hiking trail

 Stirling from the hill which the Wallace Monument sits on

 Rainbow from the top of the Wallace Monument

 Battlefield for the Battle of Stirling Bridge

 The moat of Stirling Castle

 Cannon which use to sit on the castle walls

 The Castle Gardens (notice the elevation distance to keep the castle safe from attackers)

 Stirling Castle Inner Gate House (shortened during the 19th century)

 Castle Graveyard

 View over the Armory and over the country side

 View from the Outer Wall with a corner of the inner wall and an amazing landscape

 North Gate remains

  Old building on the way to dinner

Week 1

Hello all,

     It has been just over a week since we left the US and it has been an exhausting and very busy week. We first arrived at Glasgow to be greater by a very nice immigration agent who after finding out our cats were arriving a week later told us of a women who snuck a cat into her purse and was caught. He went on to explain that the cat went to quarantine and the women was fined and detained for most of the day. After getting through customs we we used the University shuttle system to get to Campus. Once we arrived on campus, and picked our jaws up off the ground from the picturesque views and buildings, we completed our Visa check-in process and collected our Student ID cards. We then asked some friendly staff to contact us taxi to take us to the hotel. While waiting for our taxi we told the visa supervisor of our cats flying in next week. This immediately brought up in his mind the story from just the previous day of a student who tried to smuggle a kitten into the country. We all gossiped about it till our taxi arrived to take us to a nearby village called East Kilbride.
     We arrived at our hotel 4 hours early electing to just wait in the lounge when they informed us that a room was ready and we moved in straight away. We were extremely fortunate and took advantage of the showers and the king size bed. The rest of our first day in Scotland was taken up with sleep and a venture to the Hotel Bar to eat dinner before retreating for an early night.
    Our second day in Scotland had us starting at the East Kilbride shopping center. We were on the hunt for sim cards, which quickly turned to a hunt for cell phones to put said sim cards into. We met a fellow Expat named Bruce who moved to Scotland 6 years ago from Wisconsin and he helped us fined cell phones, and we eventually set up the internet for our flat with him as well. Wanting something quick for lunch we went to the food court at the shopping center and ordered two spuds. The restaurant had very interesting potato toppings such as, Tuna and Corn, Cheese and Pickles, and a few other not so appeasing combinations. We asked for just butter and cheese on ours and they really must have thought we loved it cause that was pretty much all that was in there. The restaurant scoops out the majority of the potato to put the filling in. So after our lighter than expected light lunch we went to the bus stop and jumped on the bus to go back to the hotel.
   After resting for a bit in the afternoon of day 2 we travelled to Glasgow to meet our new Landlord and the current tenant we had met through Reddit. We looked at the apartment, which we loved, and then signed some papers and paid the deposit and we had a flat. Grant (previous tenant) let us come along that evening to a pub with some of his friends to try and introduce us to the city. We had a great time and arrived back at the hotel a little later than we thought we would.
   Over the course of the next few days we moved into the flat, opened our bank accounts, met with directors of our graduate programs, and finally welcomed the cats to Glasgow. The cats seem to have traveled just fine although they were very hungry when we got them home. They seem excited to be here and both really love the view out of the apartment windows. They even got a little internet fame with their pictures being posted on the intake companies webpage.
   Finally, this week is the start of our courses for our MLitt programs. We both have classes at various times throughout the week, but are really excited for them to begin. We are also quickly meeting fellow students in our programs and we hope to get a chance to hangout with them outside of course work. I am hoping that my next post will be able to include photos, but so far we have not had much time to take the camera out to snap some good photos. Also I am hoping to tie a bit of food blogging into this since we have such an assortment of flavors right outside our door. Talk to everyone soon.

Mia Culpa

Hello everyone! So it has been far too long since this blog has been updated. I can throw plenty of excuses out as to why we quit posting and how busy we got but I see no point in pointing fingers and declaring who quite writing and posting photos. So to make up for this travesty we will be starting this blog up again since we are now moving to Glasgow. It has been a crazy process and we are still in the middle of the move (typing this on my phone at gate A18 in Philadelphia.) so any ways to serve our penance for dropping the ball last time we are gone for a full year, and I am making it my goal to do at least 1 update a week. If I can do more I will, but at least 1 a week is mandatory. So I hope everyone is ready to see pictures and read stories of all the adventures we have in Glasgow, Scotland. Until my next update I hope everyone has a great week and talk to you all soon! 

The Leepers

A Birthday in Amsterdam

For Jessica's 25th Birthday we traveled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  We took a train to Lille, France and then we traveled via Mega Bus from Lille to Amsterdam. The bus ride is only about four hours long making several stops in ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, and Rotterdam along the way. The only issue we had with the bus service was that it was almost an hour late picking us up from the bus stop in Lille. This was because the bus came from London and got caught in severe traffic at the channel tunnel. Once we were on the bus we were really excited to get to Amsterdam. We met a few people on the bus who were traveling during their school break as well and the conversations made the miles go by quickly. We arrived at the bus drop off point right next to a tram stop. We immediately got onto a tram which took us right to the heart of the city center. We met up with a very nice native who showed us to our connecting tram and we got on and it dropped us off only a block from our hotel. We stayed at the Apollo Museum hotel by Best Western. It was right across the canal from the Hard Rock Cafe and the Holland Casino in the museum district. Our hotel room was small, but nice and because of the central location we did not spend much time in it.
Some of the things we really enjoyed about Amsterdam was the massive amount of historical sites a person can see just walking around. I am usually skeptical of tour books and websites that tell you to just stroll around, but in this city I can say that is mandatory. One of the things that stood out to me was the blending of 18th century buildings and very modern amenities and business inside. For instance, one fast food restaurant was completely run through vending machines. they had cooks in the back cooking but had no front house staff to speak of.  Also the city really seems to embrace the tourist industry, but manages I think quite well in balancing the creation of attractions while keeping intact the integrity of the buildings and surrounding neighborhoods.
Out of all of the european cities we have been to we  both agree that unlike other cities were you want to return because you didn't see everything, this city you want to return to just because you enjoy the atmosphere and you just feel comfortable. I am hoping we get back to Amsterdam at least one more time before we head home.

A day in Lille, France!

     Hello all! So we had a very busy week this week. Jessica was off from school for the week, so we took the time and spent it traveling! Our first stop was a simple day in Lille, France. It is one of the most northern cities in the country and it is also the precinct capital of the north of France. It is a fairly large city with about 225,000 people or so. It is somewhat a cornerstone of North europe. Almost all bus travel from the UK comes through Lille. In addition the city has two train stations! The older one, Lille-Flanders, is the one we arrived at. It is a nice looking station, but obviously fairly old. It was originally constructed from 1869 to 1892 and has roughly 18 lines. The front of the station is actually the original station facade from Paris Gare de Nord, the northern train station in Paris. It was dismantled and then moved. When the facade arrived in Lille the architects added a second story to the facade as well as the large faced clock.

Lille-Flanders Train Station:

 Lille-Flanders Train Station 2:

The second train station in Lille is Lille-Europe. It is a much more modern train station built in the 90s. It is only 500 Meters from Lille-Flanders but is much larger having roughly 56 lines coming in and out from all over Europe. It is not as nice looking nor did I manage to take any pictures of it. Although this is were we met our bus. But back to Lille.

     So during our layover in Lille we hiked out of the train station and headed to the nearest sites so we could see what Lille had to offer, and I have to say the city did not let us down. First we came across the Church of Saint Maurice. The history of the church is just as interesting as the saint who gave it its name. Saint Maurice is one of the earlier Saints from the Catholic Church. According to the history, Saint Maurice was a legionnaire who denied to give up his christian beliefs and was therefore martyred for not giving up his christianity. The church is built in a very different style than most Northern French churches as well as most churches in Western Europe. It has the center aisle, but instead of two side isles it has four side isles which all create a large grouping of five chapel apses around the ambulatory section of the church. This design makes a very startling and spectacular looking church from both the inside and the outside. 

Church of Saint Maurice chapels, Exterior Views:

Church of Saint Maurice's five Isles:

     Another amazing feature of this church is the center chapel at the back of the church. It contains two busts, one of Saint Maurice and one of Saint Peter, as well as a beautiful gilded carving. As well as having the walls painted. 

     After we left the church we walked to the city center where the Opera house and the newer government buildings that surround it. This area has substantial historical value. It was the area in which the Duke of Flanders lived and his palace is still partially standing and is used as the tourist information center. 

The Duke of Flanders Palace:

 

Lille Opera House:

So After we walked around this area we headed back to the mall in between the two train stations. We discovered an awesome shoe store that sells hand made shoes from Brazil. They are unique because of the colors are picked out and designed once per shoe size and style making each pair unique and one of a kind. After we bought some shoes we headed to the bus stop and waited. The bus ran about an hour late, which made us really nervous that we might not get to Amsterdam. After the delay we got onto the bus and rode for almost five hours to our final destination, AMSTERDAM! Our next post will be about our few days in Amsterdam. Until then safe travels!

  

One Month Update!

     Well it has been a while since we last updated our blog, but due to the start of the semester, illness, and finalizing everything since our move it has been difficult to find time to write a blog entry, or even doing something worthy to write on the blog. So first off Jess has been sick since around week two or so and she was really feeling under the weather. She has since made a full recovery but not without the sickness taking 8 days or so to leave here. After she was feeling better she continued finishing her school schedule and starting to attend her very busy semester. Also during this time we planned and booked our first vacation while in Europe. On Jess' first break from school at the end of February we are going to go to Amsterdam for 4 days. We are traveling by bus as well as train to get there. We also decided to stay in a bit more of a familiar hotel chain, Best Western. We will have blog posts and plenty of pictures coming up from that visit. In addition, we have started making plans for our 1 year wedding anniversary and the weekend trip to Paris we are taking to celebrate! Of course pictures will come with that event as well at the end of March. Another idea I have recently had for writing on the blog is to go to a few history sites and take photos and do some light research on the area and write a post about the historical location and include pictures. I think this will start this week since we will have a little bit of free time.
     One of the things we have really enjoyed and have explored quite a bit already is the culinary world here in France. We have really tried to expand what we normally eat and try plenty of new things just in the short time we have been here. This includes new sandwiches and toppings on sandwiches we never thought of. All of the sauces France has to offer for the french fries, and of course fresh seafood. One of our largest forays into the culinary unknown was making our own mussels in a white wine sauce. It was very delicious and quite an experience. We bought the mussels fresh so in order to prepare them we had to de-beard them, scrub them, and let them sit for a few minutes in fresh water in order to filter out the sand and salt from the mussels themselves. It was an exciting experience and one we will get to look back on frequently.
     In total, I think our first month here in France has been great. We have had to learn an amazing amount of things as well as had to make a lot of changes to our lifestyles. Overall, we are starting to settle in and have begun to explore our surroundings both by ourselves and with other international students from the university. We went to a gathering a few days past where we won first and second place prizes in a pop culture quiz as well as met some fellow Americans we went out with the following night. I think as time continues we will only become more involved with the community from the school as well as in our neighborhood. Until next time, safe travels!

Starving in France!

   Hello all, this entire post is going to be about one thing, food! So we're still trying to get used to the time schedules of our new home, and it's taking some time. However, one schedule that we really need to get used to and quickly is the times in which the French eat. Breakfast does not really exist here, which is fine because we really sleep through the earlier part of the morning. Lunch time is around two hours spanning from 12:00 to 2:00. The issue with this is that with our busy schedule and trying to get school schedules figured out we eat shortly after this 2:00 o'clock feeding time. Thus, we're usually eating at a weird time of 3:00-4:00 PM. Therefore, when we go back home by 8:30 we're snacking and I'm sure people back home know how that goes. Today we decided to break this bad time keeping and eat dinner at regular time. What an adventure this turned into.

    First, I should say that we tried eating dinner the other night around 4:00. I know that is early and we look like tourists, but we were hungry and wanted some food. We found a nice restaurant and walked in and tried to order. We were told that it was not possible they were still only serving drinks. Tonight we set out a little later around 5:30 to head into the town center to find a place to eat. By 6:00 in the evening we reached the town center, and much to our dismay still all of the cafes were filled with people drinking and smoking cigarettes with absolutely no food in sight. Meanwhile, we headed to the Saint Leu district. This part of town has plenty of restaurants and is tourist heavy. When we arrived in the district around 6:15 there might as well have been tumbleweeds rolling around. It was dead not a person in sight, and no food to be found. Just restaurants and bars closed up waiting for the late night life to approach. So we turned around and headed back to town center. We took a short side tour by the cathedral which as it was now dark had been lit. It was a very nice view and we stopped and took it in the atmosphere. We even said a silent prayer that eventually we would find a nice welcoming restaurant who would serve us not only drinks, but food as well. As we strolled around town center we saw that still no one was serving food. This led me to believe that the French simply exist on cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee; the people here are not thin, they are starving.

     Finally, we found an Italian restaurant. We had pizza last night, but it was mediocre and if it's one thing that we learned from our trips to Italy, the Italians will always have food. We waited till the 7:00 p.m. opening time and eagerly headed in. We had quick service, excellent food and finally got to eat! Jess had an awesome linguini pasta with a red sauce made with a white wine and heavily seasoned chicken. Of course, I being the pizza fanatic I am had to try their pizza. It was a traditional Naples style Pizza and it was perfect! As a celebration ordered two creme brulees, thus ending in Jessica eating one and a half. We had a cold and windy 15 minute walk home, but it was a good since we had full bellies, and possibly for the first time since arriving here actually felt full. When we got home my pedometer said that we walked 2.25 miles total on our journey for food. One of the positive things is that we're doing staying in shape and working on our cardiovascular exercises since living abroad.

   I think a stand up comedian says it best about the French and their cuisine. His explanation is pretty much exactly how we felt, so I have placed the short video here. I hope you enjoy it and please know that no college students were starved in the making of this post (we were really hungry, but finally found food.)