Linlithgow Palace and East Lothian Coastal Walk

Hi Everyone!

We hope that everyone is doing well, and all set for Christmas! We haven't had any snow here (in Edinburgh that is) as of yet, but we're praying for it. One week and three days until Christmas...we're so excited!!! This break will be fabulous, and needed. We'd just like to update everyone on our latest travels....this time to a little town called Linlithgow and also Gullane/North Berwick this past weekend.

We thought that we'd try to get in a few more places before Christmas. So on Saturday, we took the bus to a little town about a 45 minute bus ride north from Edinburgh, to see what we heard was a great palace. We travelled through the beautiful countryside again, and when we arrived in Linlithgow we found it to be a cute little town about the size of Coldwater. We made our way up to the palace and were pleasantly surprised. It is an absolutely beautiful palace.

First for a bit of history about the place... the palace was built the 15th century, and it is more widely known as a medieval and renaissance castle, in which ruins of an earlier 12th century castle lie. It was the royal residence for almost all of the Stewart kings and queens. Mary Queen of Scots was born at the palace in the mid 1500s. Upon reading a bit about the palace I found that James Vs queen, Mary de Guise, is said to have compared the palace to the most splendid of those found in France at the time. The palace was where the Stewarts held their court, until the early 1700s when James VI moved his court to England following his coronation as James I of England. At the point, the palace started to fall into decline. It was last visited by the Stewart family in 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed here following his unsuccessful march into England to reclaim the throne for the Stewarts from George II. As a result, government troops (from England) followed Charlie to the Palace and onto the eventual battle at Culloden. They stayed at Linlithgow during this pursuit, and as they left, they set it on fire. What remains of the palace today, is very much the same as what could have been found right after the fire in 1746. Enough of it remains to imagine what a magnificent palace it must have been in its day.

The roofless remains of the palace stand on top of a hill, at the bottom of which lies Linlithgow Loch. 'Linlithgow' actually means 'the loch in the damp hollow'. It was quite damp when we were there....but a beautiful hollow it is! The ground floor and the first floor of the palace are largely accessible along with some basement areas. In the 4 corner towers, it is possible to access some of the upper levels, but the majority of the floors and roofs are gone above the first floor. What remains is basically just a tall hollow shell surrounding the central courtyard.

However, the palace is by far, the best we've seen so far. Due to its state of ruin, the entire palace (except for one decrepit level and the uppermost walkways on the roofline) are open to the public, and no guide is required. This meant that we were free to explore every single nook and cranny to our hearts content. This was amazing! As I said, the palace has four towers with circular staircases going up...and off of these staircases are many different levels and rooms...all retaining a little bit of the magic and charm that they must have during their prime. The hollows of the fireplaces and some of the ornate carvings on the walls remain, as do the shells of the beautiful glass windows that must have existed. There are so many little corridors and rooms, and random staircases leading everywhere, that it is a hide-and-go-seek delight!!!! This is the type of castle (as it really feels to be one more than a palace) that I dreamed of visiting!!!! Although it is a shame that the floors and roof are gone, as well as all of the internal tapestries, paintings and furniture, it still feels cozy, and really grand. We would definitely recommend that if anyone were to come to Scotland, that they should see this palace...instead of Edinburgh Castle and the others we have seen. Mind you be prepared to do a lot of climbing...as there is so much to see! My calves are aching today:) But it was definitely worth it!!!! We took tonnes of picture (and thanks to a new tripod we got with our photo editor (a Christmas gift to the two of us, as we have hundreds of pictures we take each month:), we have lots of pictures of the two of us together! I will add these pictures to the blog within the next couple of days so you can get an idea of what it was like.

After visiting the Palace, we took the trip back to Edinburgh and went to see the play 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' at the Lyceum Theater. The theater was beautiful with four levels and ornate carvings everywhere, and a beautiful massive chandeleir hanging from the ceiling. We were more enamoured with the theater than with the play...as it was very much toned down for the kids, and the actors...well, lets just say that whatever they did, could never be called acting. To put it bluntly, Rob describes the experience like ordering a prime sirloin stake, and getting donkey's *ss instead:) Leave it to my husband to describe it so eloquently!

However, Sunday's trip more than made up for the poor theater performance! We had been reading one of our travel guidebooks, and noticed that it described a great walking trail along the coast, starting in a town called Gullane and stretching 6 miles to North Berwick. It said it would take about 3 hours to walk, and as Sunday was such as nice day here (about 6-7 degrees and sunny), we thought it would be a great opportunity to try it out...and we're really glad we did!

We packed a lunch and set off! The walk took us about 2.5 hours or so...and would have taken a little less, except we really dawdeled....and Rob had a few incidences along the way, which I'll explain. The walk is really beautiful, and was unlike anything we'd expected. We expected to be walking along the cliffs of the coast on a well worn path (or a bike path if you will) with benches along the way. Instead, we walked along the beaches and on top of the sand dunes amongst all the grasses and across the rocky shoreline of the Firth of Forth all the way to North Berwick...and it turned out to be fabulous!!

The shoreline is quite sandy and relatively low-lying. In fact it reminded me immediately of the beaches of P.E.I. We walked through over low cliffs, woodland, through sandy grasses, over rocky shores and we saw tons of wildlife...especially the really unique puffins! The area is also renowned for its nice golf courses which we saw along the way. The beaches we passed had quite coarse sand, and often had rocky patches as well...and we were told that the water never really gets warm enough (even in the summer) to go swimming...which is such a shame, because it looked beautiful. We walked past a few little villages and massive coastal homes, one of which was Gosford House. We only caught glimpses of it from the shore, so the picture we have is from the internet...but pretty cool that we were that close to it!!!

Rob was the main photographer of the day...which proved to be highly amusing:) A couple of areas of shoreline that we had to walk over became quite narrow (especially on the corners) and as the tide came in, the rocks that were left exposed were few and far between. But being adventurous and sure of himself (hehe) Rob assured me we could make it. So being the nice person that I am...I told him to go first:) And boy did he get a soaker!!!! He jumped onto the rock just at the time that a big wave came and crashed into the shore, getting him wet, and sending me into hysterical giggles....he was pressed as close to the cliff ledge as he could to try and avoid getting wet, but the water kept coming. Instead of helping him out...I asked for the camera....haha...and we got some good pictures....and like a typical man he didn't learn his lesson. Not even half an hour later, Rob went scooting onto a rock in the ocean about a jump's length from the shore...that he had been watching so that he could get a good picture of the water crashing against a nearby rock. He was so fixated on getting the PERFECT picture that he didn't see the massive roller come rushing in....I warned him, but he thought he was safe...until about 30 seconds later when the wave came crashing over the rock he was standing on, soaking his shoes completely and his pants as far up to his knees!!! Oh my god, I couldn't stop laughing....unfortunately I couldn't get a picture on the camera, but I got a great one that is going to stay in my mind for weeks to come:) Needless to say, the poor guy had wet feet for the rest of the walk...but he took it all in good humour...and we made it finally to North Berwick safe and sound.

North Berwick itself is a cute little town right on the coast, surrounded by golf courses. The streets are quite narrow, and are lined with beautiful century (or older) homes all decorated up for Christmas. It was a really nice little town...but we didn't have much time to explore because shortly after we arrived in North Berwick, it started to get dark and cold (at 3:30pm!!!). So we hopped on the bus back to Edinburgh for an early night in.

We had an absolutely fabulous weekend, and we can't wait to do some more exploring! We hope you enjoy the post and the pictures! (I'll be putting them up tonight or tomorrow).

Lots of love and Merry Christmas!

Rob and Sarah

xxx

Rugby Games and Aberdeen Driving Trip!

Well again, it's been awhile, but hopefully this blog is worth the wait:) Quite a bit has happened since the last post, and we've been so busy we (in all reality me) just haven't had time to write. Well here goes!

The weekend after our last blog post, Rob and I got bundled up into as much Scotland gear as we could find, and headed for Murrayfield stadium (the professional rugby pitch here in Edinburgh) to watch Scotland play the New Zealand All Blacks, arguably the best rugby team in the world. We had a fabulous time...although New Zealand beat Scotland pretty badly, the game was great to watch, and great to watch Rob too...because he was in his element:) Murrayfield is a huge stadium...seating upwards of 70,000 people, and I would say that it was about 3/4 full. On our bus ride out there, the streets and sidewalks were crammed with people in Scottish rugby outfits rushing to the stadium....about a 20 minute walk from the centre of the city. It was really neat to see all the patriotism. Our seats were at the very top, but surprisingly, we could see quite well. It was quite cold, so we were really bundled up. The Scottish team was introduced with fireworks and flames shooting up from their entrance to the field....the crowd went absolutely wild....I think the energy can be compared to something you might see at an NFL game in the states. When the New Zealand team was introduced, they did their traditional Hakka. This is a Maori dance that displays prowess...the whole team did it....and the purpose is generally to intimidate the other team....it looked quite intimidating...but would have been more so for the crowd, if they had been miked...regardless the game was great. There were beer gardens everywhere, which Rob and I fell victim to:) Needless to say, the next day we didn't get up very early.

The following weekend, friends of Pat and Mike's and ours of course, Ian and Maria McLaren, came up from Durham, England to visit us. They took us out to dinner at Harvey Nichols (a posh restaurant with a view of the city) and drinks at the Dome (a beautiful old building in the city centre). We visited a pub afterwards, and got the taste for gin and tonics:) Ian and Maria then had to go home via train that night, but we had an absolutely fabulous time...it was also a different look at the city for us, which was really great. We can't wait to spend Christmas with them!!!

On the 22nd of November, bright and early in the morning, Rob and I walked up to the Hertz rent-a-car to pick up our vehicle for the trip up to Aberdeen to see Scotland play Canada (in rugby). We had been hoping for a standard transmission vehicle, but instead were given a fairly new automatic VW Passat. What a beautiful car!!! And it turns out, that it's a good thing it was automatic, because there is enough to focus on, being on the opposite side of the car and the road without having to worry about shifting too:) Getting out of the city proved to be quite simple (although really weird feeling)...as everything was opposite.....Rob was the only one who could drive, as I'm not 25...and he tended to drift a little to the left:) Passing cars is a little weird too, as you pass on the inside, not the outside. You have to look over the opposite shoulder than you're used to, and turns you really have to pay attention to to make sure you're in the right lane!!

Driving up to Aberdeen was great, as the scenery was just beautiful.....and about halfway up there, it really started to snow....which although lovely to see (because we really miss the snow), not so great for the roads....people got really freaked out and were driving quite snow, but us Canadians took it in stride, and plowed right through...the Passat was great for handling, as it is a heavy car, and stuck to the road like glue. The road up to Aberdeen follows the coastline, and so we were able to see the ocean for bits....the coast is really beautiful, although quite tempestuous (just like I imagined it to be....). We also passed the Cairngorns...a Mountain range that is located in the center of Scotland, and is renowned for skiing and hiking.....they were also quite beautiful.

Once we entered Aberdeen, we got into our first fight (I know we actually went almost 3 hours in a car without fighting about directions:) The city is a little complicated to manoeuvre in....and after about 20 minutes of driving around, we happened upon the road we needed in the first place, so we were okay. First impressions about Aberdeen, is that it is a fairly industrial city...with it's main focus being the oil rigs that come into port....but it has it's fair share of beautiful old buildings, and surprisingly, we found it to be cleaner than Edinburgh. It almost seemed like a small town, rather than a city.

We stayed in a tiny bed and breakfast about a 2 minute walk from the stadium....so it was really quite convenient. Just before game time, we got all dolled up in our Canada gear (thanks to Pat who was awesome in sending us some stuff)...and headed to the stadium.....although we cheered for Scotland two weekends before, it was great to be cheering for our country. We walked the streets proudly decked head to toe in white and red....and got stares from almost everybody....but we didn't care:) At the game, we had great seats and sat with some of our friends from home (from Rob's rugby team) and other Canadians who had been travelling with the team to see their games. It was great to hear people with our accents, and who could sympathize with the differences in the two countries. Although Canada got their butts handed to them (46-0 I think)....it was still great watching the game. Afterwards, courtesy of the CEO of Rugby Canada (and player on the Aurora Barbarians team....Rob's team), we were able to get tickets to the executive dinner afterwards with the two teams and Rugby Canada and Rugby Scotland execs.....that was pretty cool....and it was great to see our two friends (Aaron and Mike) who play on the team.

That night, after the dinner, we went out for drinks with two people from the Aurora team (Marco and JR) and had great fun...but were in bed fairly early for our long drive back the next day. Nothing too eventful happened on Sunday, except we did have a near miss with the car....we got lost on the way to the airport to drop Marco and JR off....and then were filling up the gas, and looked left...saw cars coming from the left, and then Rob decided to go, after those cars had passed without looking right....I can totally understand....because at home, that would have worked, although in Scotland we nearly clipped the front off of a car coming from the right hand side.....but thankfully, we looked before anything happened....scary, but we were safe. Then we just took the car around a bit to get some grocery shopping done before we had to drop it off again.....oohhh it was so nice to have it for that, because we've been carrying our groceries home (20 min walk) since we got here...and it really limits what you can buy when you have to carry it all...so needless to say we stocked up:) It was great to have a car for the weekend.....and nice to see a few different areas of Edinburgh than we had by foot.

Winter Wonderland has come to Edinburgh again this year. It is a huge carnival on Princes Street that attracts hundreds of people everyday. It opened on the first of December, and runs until just after the new year. A huge Ferris wheel has been set up, along with a merry-go-round, swings like they have at Canada's Wonderland, an ice skating rink in the gardens and much more. Rob and I went to check it out the other night, hoping to maybe go skating, but upon finding out that they didn't have hockey skates, only male figure skates, there was no way Rob would go on the ice:) When he asked for hockey skates, the Scots looked at him funny...because hockey to them, is field hockey...needless to say, they didn't have any 'hockey' skates.

At the carnival, a German Christmas market has also been set up....it is absolutely beautiful. Little huts have been set up, and their peaks have been decorated with boughs of fir trees and mini white lights. The huts sell anything from sausages, little warm slippers, ornaments, traditional German Christmas cookies and cakes, nutcrakers, toys, strudle, and 'fire punch' which is a mixture of rum and red wine heated up....quite good actually!!! The huts line Princes Street and make it all very festive...it would be great if cities in Canada did this kind of thing for Christmas!

Rob's last day of placement is today, and then he's back to class for a couple of weeks before Christmas. He has been doing really well with the kids and with teaching, and all the teachers think he's a natural, and has improved since the first day. He isn't overly excited about starting a new placement, because everything will likely be quite different from this one, as the school he taught in is fairly priveledged...however I've said that often the tougher experiences are the ones you learn the most from.

As for myself, I'm working like crazy...am just about finished an almost 60 hour week, and I can't wait to sleep in:) I am quite settled in my job now, and taking on quite a few responsibilities. I am this year's Christmas Co-ordinator....so I get to organize lunches for all of the staff in the two buildings we manage....roughly 3,500 employees! It is challenging, but it keeps me busy....and will hopefully look good on a resume:)

We both can't wait for Christmas...Rob gets three weeks off, and I get 10 days...it will be a well deserved break (well sort of...considering we won't really be resting while in London:) We haven't really been travelling since October, so it will be nice to get out again and see new places.

Well that's it for now...hope everyone is doing well at home, and enjoying the snow that we seem to be sorely lacking...hopefully we'll get a dusting for Christmas. In case we don't write again before Christmas, we hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Only about 3 more months until we're home for a little visit...can't wait:)

We miss you all!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah

Edinburgh Castle

Life has been pretty busy for us here in the UK, and so we have lots to update you with! The weather is now much colder here, as we are sure it is back home as well. Last I heard, there was a snowstorm in Ontario last week! The temperature here has been hovering around 4 degrees or so, getting a bit warmer when the sun is out, and rainy as usual. Although not as cold as back home, it is still cold for us, because we've been acclimatized to this weather. But the weather channel is calling for sun all week, so that should be great for us!

First off, Rob started his placement last week on Monday, and had a very busy week. He is starting to realize that teaching isn't simple work. He taught a swimming lesson, gymnastic lesson and basketball. Although he was really busy, he loves it. He's also had great reviews from his teachers, who think that his lessons were a great starting point. He'll come home every night and do lesson plans, and work on them all weekend as well, but he says that he's really enjoying the challenge of teaching.

As for me, I'm in the third week of my new job, and it's going quite well. It's not the most amazing and fulfilling job, but it works for me. I rotate on a weekly basis between being on switchboard to being at the front reception. My uniform is like a flight attendants-knee length black skirt, pinstripe blouse, black jacket, coloured scarf, hair worn in a tight bun, natural makeup, and high court heeled shoes. Very posh...lol. It's great to come home at night and change into my sweatpants though. The job pays a little bit more money than my last job, but still not enough to completely support us here, but there are tons of opportunities for overtime, which I am taking lots of. This month I have signed up for 30 hours of overtime, so I'll be a busy girl!

As far as sight seeing, a couple of weekends ago, Rob and I finally got to go see Edinburgh Castle!! The Castle, like the other couple that we have seen, is actually made up of numerous different buildings in the same enclosed area. There is the dining hall, the church, the royal apartments, the servants quarters, and the building which now houses the gems of Scotland (the Crown and scepter. The gems were actually buried in the dungeons of the Castle for a hundred years to protect them from the English, and then again during the Second World War to protect them from the Nazis. I thought that this was a neat little piece of history. The Castle was quite beautiful, but to be honest, it didn't quite live up to our expectations of grandeur. The royal apartments were quite small, although stunning, as was the tiny chapel on site. The Crown and scepter were stunning as well, but the line that we stood in to see them took about 45 minutes, and they weren't as amazing as we'd hoped, although they definitely were worth seeing. The part that I liked most about the castle was that it did actually look and feel, for the most part, like a medieval castle. I could picture the royal court, Queen Mary in the apartments, and the fabulous parties that must have gone on at it. However, I do look forward to seeing the Palace of Holyrood because it is apparently more amazing than the Castle. We'll see though!

We haven't done much else, although next weekend we will be going to watch Scotland play New Zealand at the Murrayfield rugby stadium. That should be a great game...although cold. The weekend after that, Ian and Maria (friends of Pat and Mike's) will be coming up to visit with us from Durham, and then the following weekend, Rob and I will be DRIVING up to Aberdeen (about a 3 hour drive) to watch Scotland vs. Canada. We're excited about that, but nervous as well. We figure once we get on the motorway we'll be fine, but the driving in Edinburgh will be ridiculous....not only do we have to drive on the other side of the road and the other side of the car, but all the drivers are crazy and the roads all seem to be one way. But it will definitely be an adventure.

There is also a considerable amount of hype about soccer (football they call it here). I didn't understand it so I asked one of my co-workers about it, and I'll do my best to explain it....because I think it's crazy!!! In Glasgow, the two teams that always seem to compete for the top position are the Rangers and the Celtics. In Edinburgh, the teams are the Hibernians and the Hearts. The rivalry between these teams is insane. For example, as a fan, if you were to go to a Rangers game (their colour is blue) wearing anything green (the Celtic colour), it is very likely that you could get stabbed. The fans sit on opposite sides of the stadium, and they are separated by police in riot uniform. The roads around the stadium are filled with police with shields, and upon horses. The two teams hate each other. Apparently the rivalry started a long time ago because the Celtics are a Catholic team, and the Rangers are a Protestant team. What was a religious feud between the team, has now become both a religious feud (just passed on down through the generations) and just regular team rivalry. My co-worker told me that at the finals last year, when the Celtics won....Rangers fans (grown men mind you...because children are very rarely taken to these events because of the danger involved) were sobbing!!! People here take soccer very seriously. I thought that this was amazing. Although it would be neat to go to a game and see what the hype is all about, the tickets are almost impossible to get, and are also very expensive. Every single game the Rangers have at their stadium (that seats 80,000) is sold out! Pretty incredible.

Well that's about it for us...not much else is new. Would be great to hear from some of you! Drop us an email!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Hello All! We hope that things are well back in Canada. We know it has been a while since we last posted a note on the blog, and that’s because we’ve been quite busy! First off, we’d like to say happy belated Thanksgiving, we hope that everyone enjoyed their family gatherings and lots of turkey dinner. The Scottish don’t celebrate Thanksgiving at all, so no turkey for us! We did try to simulate the festive atmosphere a little though by making a chicken with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and squash. To top it all off, Rob made a delicious low cal apple crispJ While it wasn’t as good as turkey, it was still nice, although a little quieter than previous thanksgivings.

Rob is still at school (yay!:) He is enjoying it, and getting a little busier now. He often has days at school which begin with 2 hours of soccer, followed by 2 hours of badminton, and then two hours of boxing (or other sports that they may be doing). Needless to say, those days he comes home quite tired. He does have each Wednesday off of school, and he says that he would enjoy being in school playing sports all day instead of off at homeJ He is enjoying school, and is actually choosing to do the more difficult topics like classroom management for his projects, because he admits that it is something he isn’t as versed in. This is the making of a great phys-ed teacher!!

As for myself, my contract with Scottish Widows Investment Partnership ended this past Friday, and so I was out of a job. I had been looking for a new job since the beginning of September with no luck, but on Friday, I got a call from another financial company called AEGON (they have offices in Canada too) and they wanted an interview on Monday. So I went in on Monday and got the job! I am getting paid a little more an hour than my last job, which will help us out a little. I work for a catering company (that is contracted by AEGON) and my job will alternate between operating the switchboard, reception and other duties. Because I work for a catering company, all my drinks and food is free! That will save us some money, as I won’t have to bring lunches. The best part about this job is that it is permanent, so I don’t have to hunt for jobs any longer.

Rob and I have been doing a little more exploring, not much, but better than nothing. Two weekends ago (or a fortnight ago as they say here) we went to the zoo. It is much bigger than I expected it to be for such an old city, but they don’t have giraffes or elephants. The zoo is located on the side of a hill, and so all the exhibits require walking uphill to visit them. They had monkeys, zebras, lemurs, lions and tigers, camels and these really neat birds called rainbow lorikeets. The exhibit for the lorikeets was quite unique. We walked right into the building and paid .50p for a little cup of a honey solution, which we were instructed to just hold in our outstretched hands for the birds. The birds (and there was at least 50 of them) were flying around freely in the open room, and flew almost immediately to our arms to lap up the honey. It was really neat. The birds were quite friendly, and hung around on our arm until they ate, and then cleaned themselves…Rob narrowly avoided some poopJ It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. The zoo is not anywhere near the size of the Toronto zoo, but it is still enjoyable.

Last weekend Rob and I went to a rugby game and watched two premier teams play. It was also a beautiful sunny day and we quite enjoyed ourselves. Rob is longing to play rugby, but it will still be a little while, as his head is still not 100%. After the game we walked up to the Royal Mile and went to the tourist attraction, Mary King’s Close. This is an ancient street that runs below the Royal Mile. Back in the 1600s, the town of Edinburgh was centred on the great hill (where the Royal Mile is today). Off the Mile and to the bottom of the valley ran many narrow streets, called closes, where the residents lived. Mary King’s is one of those closes, and it had over 700 people living on both sides of the close. It is named for the wealthy merchant that lived at the top of the close. Extremely tall buildings (for their time) were built here, with the wealthiest residents living at the top and the poor on the bottom levels. At the bottom of the hill was a small lake (where Princes St. Gardens are today) and it was called the Nor Loch. Now you might think that having a lake so near would be a nice thing, however it was a cesspit for disease and stench. This is because of all those residents that lived on these streets, they threw their waste into the streets, which would then run down and drain into the Nor Loch. There is a story of a lady being purposefully drowned in the Nor Loch for her crimes….definitely not a nice way to go!! They told us on the tour that the sludge on the streets was often ankle deep….yuk.

In the 19th century, the city built its chambers on top of some of these homes. They knocked the majority of the buildings down (spanning about 4 closes wide) but left the bottom levels to use as foundations. As a result, closes such as Mary King’s, were closed off to the open sky. However, they were not abandoned. Although we were under the impression that people remained living underground, we found out that this was illegal, however to work underground was not. Many remained and operated their shops from underneath the city chambers, and the last family moved out in the early 1920s. The tour took us underground to see these rooms (both how the poor lived and how they worked as well). Mary King’s is just one of the many closes still underground (the others are used for government storage), but it is the most famous as it is fairly accessible and well preserved. The tour took about an hour and was quite interesting (historically), however I did think it was cooler when I thought that people actually lived down there after the chambers were built. But I guess the government wasn’t as cruel as I had thought. We’re hoping to take an underground ghost tour of the Edinburgh vaults in the future (which shows the places where the dead people were dumped-or so we’ve heard).

Last night we went to go see the internationally acclaimed play, ‘Mary Poppins’ produced by Disney and playing at the quite old Edinburgh Playhouse. We were able to get quite cheap tickets as it was a weeknight, and Rob got a student discount. The playhouse is located about a 10 minute walk from our flat, so it’s quite close. This play, at home, would be playing in a theatre in Toronto, and so we thought it would be good to see it when it was so close to us! Riverdance is also coming to Edinburgh, however it is only here for 4 days and will probably be quite expensive, so we won’t see that one. At the moment, seeing such entertainment is cheaper than travelling, so we’re doing what we can.

Well that’s about it for us…not too much exciting. Hopefully we’ll have more to tell you all soon.

Lots of love,
Rob and Sarah

PICTURES OF EDINBURGH!!!

Finally I have had a chance to post some of the pictures of this crazy city that we live in. Unfortunately, or fortunately however you look at it, for you, we have only taken pictures of the best parts of Edinburgh, so you don't really get a whole view of what the city is like. Maybe later we'll post some other pictures....but these ones will at least give you a flavour of what it is like to live here. I have posted them all down the side of the blog and added some descriptions underneath so you know what you're looking at.

For references' sake, the Royal Mile, in case you aren't aware, is situated in the centre of the city and is basically the oldest street in Edinburgh. It is where the people of old used to live. They call it the Royal Mile because the Palace of Holyrood sits at one end of the street, and Edinburgh Castle at the other. It is my favourite place in Edinburgh because it is the oldest, and has lots of little tiny alleways called closes. The most famous, Mary King's Close, takes you to the old underground city, where the very poor used to live....it is literally under the city, with no windows or means of fresh air getting in, and so it was quite prone to disease. They now offer tours of this underground city as well as the vaults underneath Edinburgh, but we haven't had a chance to go visit them yet....we will soon! Some of the tours are just regular tours of the vaults, while others are ghost tours that occur at night, and they tell creepy stories....can't wait to go on one!

Also, Princes street is, more or less, part of the new town of Edinburgh, and is down the hill from the Royal Mile. It is the main street in Edinburgh and it is where all the shopping is done. However the shops are more like the Gap, Topshop Topman, British Home Stores, etc. The really high class shopping is done on George Street...and it is really quite posh. I feel like if I were to go into one of those stores, they would definitely look down on my poor, middle class self.

In Edinburgh, a lot of people are quite snobby. They treat you according to your class status....I know it's a little unbelievable, but it happens all the time, especially at my work. The people here, generally, are not as friendly as they are at home. I am sure that the constant gray skies, rain and lack of showers have something to do with it:) There is one thing about being abroad, and that is that you really appreciate your own country. We miss Canada, and all the familiar things back home...but we're adjusting. Seeing all the old buildings and countryside is definitely the best part though.

Well that's about it for now, but we'll make sure to keep you updated!

Lots of love,

Sarah

Update on Sarah

Good morning to all! Well not too much is new with me, hence the lack of recent blog posts, but some of you have been asking for some updates, so here goes! I'm still at my job with the financial investments company working as a receptionist, but I am currently looking for another job. The job itself is fine, it just doesn't pay nearly enough for us to live on....barely covers our expenses in fact, so I'm still searching. I have had a couple of bites, so I have some interviews this week. We'll see how they go! The problem is that Europe, as you know, is in a credit crunch right now because of the fragile economy, and lots of people are getting laid off from their higher level jobs, which means they are taking the lower level jobs, like receptionist positions. So those jobs are few and far between.

Rob and I are finding Edinburgh to be an extremely expensive place to live. It's a little disappointing because although everything is more expensive, we don't get better value for our money...we actually get less. It would be fine if we could say that we're spending the majority of our money on travel, but we're unfortunately not able to do that....we're spending it on trying to live over here. Hopefully my new job, when I get it, will help.

Due to the fact that the city is so expensive (and our flights home look like they're going to cost us about $4,000), we are realizing that we probably won't be able to do much of the type of travelling that we want to do, which means that we'll, in all likelyhood, be home sooner than we had expected. Rob is done school early June, so we figure we'll have about two weeks to travel, and be home around the 26th of June. There isn't much we can do, so we'll do our best to see 3 countries of our choice ( not sure which ones those will be yet though).

As for travelling, well we haven't done much at all lately, due to the $ situation. We're hoping to check out Edinburgh Castle soon, but we don't know when that'll be yet. As for Christmas, we know that we'll be heading down to England to stay with Pat and Mike's close friends (and ours too!) Ian and Maria. They are kind enough to have invited us to stay with them over the holidays, so we'll go do that.

The leaves are beginning to change here and the weather is starting to get cooler, as we're sure it is doing at home. It gets down to about 7-8 degrees at night and stays constant at about 13-15 degrees during the day. So we're also feeling the crisp fall weather. Apparently Scotland, or this part of it at least, doesn't get much snow....so we're assuming the weather during the winter will be much like that of Hamilton....cold and dreary (but not as cold of course).

The Scots don't celebrate Thanksgiving....so we're missing out on that one.....but I'm going to be sure to get a turkey and make the traditional dinner for Rob and I. We couldn't miss out on that great dinner! However, the Scots do celebrate Hallowe'en....so that's great news!:)

That's about it that's new with us....not too exciting. But we've love to hear what's new with all of you!!! Send us an email at camerosm@hotmail.com to let us know what you're up to!

Lots of love,

Sarah

P.S. I've got some updated pictures of Edinburgh, so I'll make sure to post them as soon as I can. Look for some of them down the side column of our blog. Ciao for now!

Congrats to Rob and Kate on Moving into Your New Home!!!

We'd also like to congratulate two of our best friends, Rob and Kate Ballantyne, for finally moving into their new home! It is so exciting getting a new place, and especially a bigger one:) We're sorry we couldn't be there to help you move (well sort of:) We can't wait to see your new pad....make sure to send us pictures!!

We love you guys,

Rob and Sarah xoxo

CONGRATULATIONS NICK AND ABBY!!!!!!!

Congratulations are in order for two of our best friends, Nick and Abby, on their engagement!!!!! We are so happy for you guys, and have always known that you are perfect for each other. We are sorry that we couldn't be there to celebrate your news with you, but we're partying over here for you! We love you guys and are so happy that you are finally getting married:) Keep us updated on all of the plans.

Also, congratulations on running and finishing so well in your half-marathon. You guys trained so hard and all your work paid off- we're so proud of you!!!! This is a great new beginning for you both, so enjoy it to the fullest:)

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah xoxo

School Upate

Hey Everyone,

So this past week I finished what is called an 'observation week' where you go to the school that your first placement will be in and you observe how things work and get to know the teachers there. It was quite an eye opener. I had no idea that children here go to high school two years earlier than they do in Ontario, so when I went into my first class on Monday I couldn't believe how young the, what I thought were grade nines, looked. Needless to say because of their age their athletic abilities are quite limited. For example, I taught a basketball lesson on Friday and the children's ability in what they call S1 (I think its equivalent to grade 7) is equal to the skill level of about grade 4 back home (at least when I went through elementary school).

The other eye opener is the sports that they teach over here. For my placement I have to teach swimming, gymnastics, basketball, TABLE TENNIS, football(aka soccer), rugby and fitness. So things could get interesting especially when I am teaching swimming to 20 pupils in a pool so small they call it 'the puddle'. The other interesting thing will be keeping the pupils interested during a 2 hour lesson on Table Tennis (aka Ping Pong, you're not allowed to call it that here!).

Anyway I have another 4 weeks in class and then I start my placement where I will be teaching all those subjects. Until then as Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod would say "keep fit and have fun!"

Peace Out,

Rob

Wedding Pictures!!!!!

Hello All!

There are finally some wedding pictures that you can check out online. Mom's friend Danielle has taken some amazing pictures and forwarded them on so Alexander posted them online. She took tons and tons so be prepared:) If you'd like to check them out, just send us an email and we'll send you the email and password to access. There are four pages of them....and they all look great. THANK YOU DANIE!!!! The pictures from our photographer haven't come in yet, but if they're half as good as these ones, we'll be extremely happy.

For those of you that are reading this.....the thank you notes are all written, we're just waiting on some pictures from photographer so that we can include them for you and then send them out. I'm hoping this happens a.s.a.p!

We miss you all....and it has been great SKYPEing with our friends! Hopefully we can chat to some of the rest of you too!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah

The Highland Games (and the Queen!)

Well we've finally got to this posting (or Sarah has:) , sorry for the delay. It seems that when you have a job, time flies. I get home, we have dinner, we do some laundry, and then we go to sleep....so I rarely have time to be on the computer, which makes our blog postings a little late.

But here is our update on our trip to the Braemar Gathering (Highland Games) in the Highlands!

We left bright and early on Saturday morning at 8am on a bus load of tourists (from all over) for our 3 hour ride up to the games. Rob would agree with me in that this trip was by far the best from what we've done so far. The ride up can be described as amazing!!!!!!! The scenery was out of this world. The images of the Highlands that I had had before coming to Scotland didn't really do the real thing justice. As hopefully you'll be able to gather from our photographs, the area we travelled through (it was called Glenshee....because it apparently the valley of the fairies and banshees) was mountainous and had tons of vallies. From a distance, the mountains look like they're covered with this brown brush, but up close, we were able to see that it was heather (the purple flower that grows in abundance here). Glenshee is basically a deserted area, which is most likely due to the wildness of it all! We managed to take some video clips as well with our camera, but they don't do it justice either. Hopefully I'll be able to post the clips on the blog. We're just trying to edit them, so bare with us.

We arrived in the cute little picturesque village of Braemar, and pulled into the coach park. Apparently the reason why everything is so lush in the area is because when it decomposes it turns into peat...which is soft and mushy. I'm telling you this because the coach park was made of peat. You can imagine then the trouble we had parking:) The bus was sliding all over the place and the driver had a heck of a time trying to squeeze the bus into a tiny area as directed by the angry little Scotsman parking attendant. However, we finally managed to park safely and disembarked, donned our rain jackets (and we should have had rubber boots too!) and headed off to the games. We were told as we were leaving the bus that the Royal Family (the Queen and whoever else decided to come with her) were expected to arrive at 3pm and leave at 4pm if we wanted to see her. I was quite excited.....Rob not so much:)

We paid our £8 each to get into the games and wandered around a bit. There was tons of available stadium seating, but to sit there you had to pay £14 each for a seat! So we decided that wasn't worth it, so we took our blanket and sat on the mounds to watch. The events took place in a central arena, and there were many events going on at the same time. We were able to see tug of war (which all army/navy crews competed in), and relay and track races. One particular race, over 30 members (of all ages between 20-60) raced up the closest mountain!!!!!! and back down to the start. The winner was able to make it up and back in a shocking 24 minutes.....and this mountain was not small. It was amazing to see these older men with white hair come running through the finish line with mud all up their legs and racing the younger men....and beating some of them!

Another event was the hammer throw (both heavy and light). This was pretty neat....the men have huge spikes on the front of their shoes that they dig into the ground to get stabilized....then they spin the hammer around their body about three or four times and then release it into the air and see how far it goes. The movements when they spin are pretty crazy. It is something to see that's for sure!

There was also some highland dancing to see in which young girls, and the odd boy, wearing kilts and checkered socks (although I'm sure they have a fancy name for them) dance on their tip toes. They wear these little soft shoes (sort of like ballerina slippers) and they hop and jump around on their toes. This requires incredible balance and it's neat to watch.....for about 5 minutes:)

The coolest thing we saw all day though was the caber tossing. They didn't bring this out until about 10 minutes before the Queen arrived....save the best for last! A caber is this giant pole (looks like a telephone pole) that the men are required to pick up at the bottom (so that it is standing straight into the air)....then they run with it for about 10 paces and hurl it in to the air with the aim of getting it to rotate top over bottom once and land at a 12 o'clock position. This requires an incredible feat of strenght and only a handful of men were able to rotate the caber....and even fewer (about 1-2) who were able to actually have it land at 12 o'clock. Hopefully you can see from the pictures how hard it must have been for these men.....the ladies will remember this from the movie Made of Honour that we all saw together.

Finally, at about 5 after 3, the Royal Family arrived. We could tell they were coming because all of a sudden, at the entrance to the games, a firing squad (I'm sure mostly for show) lined up on either side of the gates at attention. Then through the gates came the Rolls Royce with the Windsor flag on it's front, followed by a Land Rover....typical royal vehicle:) The cars drove around the stadium and stopped right in front of the Royal Pavillion. Out of the Rolls hopped (well not really:) HRH the Queen, followed by her husband Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and their son, HRH Prince Charles. We saw them from 20 feet away, as we had made sure to get a prime spot near the Pavillion. She waved her little wave and then sat in the pavillion for exactly one hour....then left in her car led out by a humungous bag-piper band. Rob and I got a place on the roadside too so we could see her as she drove out...this time we were within 5 ft. as their car drove by. All three members of the royal family are looking rather old.....but it was still pretty cool to see them!

That marked the end of the Games, and so we hopped in our tour bus and headed home, but first via a little picturesque town called Pitlochry. It was a former spa town used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It would have been nice to stay longer, but we only had time for a steak dinner. (2 dinners and a bottle of wine for £20!). We then boarded the bus and arrived back in Edinburgh at 8:30pm. A long day, but worth it!

On Sunday we walked around Edinburgh, (in the rain of course) and took some pictures of the city. I'll post them as soon as I can....however for those of you who know Edinburgh, the pictures are mostly from Princes St...and not the Royal Mile (which I think is the nicest spot in Edinburgh and the oldest!). We'll get up there this weekend, as we plan on staying in town and relaxing for once.

We miss all of you....keep us updated!

Love,

Sarah & Rob

P.S. And Dad, no we haven't tried any haggis yet......I'm afraid to...yuck....but Rob says he's going to give it a go sometime. I'll let you know what he thinks of it:) And thank you for the recipes! Can't wait to try the last one....sounds great:)