Edinburrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ahh, how refreshing to having things to write about. Spent the weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fantastic city, highly recommended. The train ride had some great scenery in itself, and I was able to view the North Sea out the side of the coach. The coasts up here are every bit as beautiful as they look.

Getting into Edinburgh by lunch time and settling in at our hostel, we began our ascent (and I mean ascent) to Edinburgh Castle. The castle has a great history which I could have told you about 3 days ago, but all I can remember how gorgeous it was and how the views from the top were gorgeous. Housed here are the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny upon which British monarchs sit upon during their coronation. Many believe it to be the pillow stone used by the Biblical figure, Jacob. That’s Genesis 28:10-18 for all you Bible readers. Weather wise, Friday was miserable. Let’s just put it this way…20 to 30 MPH wind gusts while raining on the top of a castle built on the top of a hill was not very warm and soothing. The joys of being in a new country, and the incredible views of the city certainly kept spirits high.

Yeah, that last picture is definitely from Sunday, when the sun came out. Friday bears no resemblance.

Saturday was wild. After catching some shuteye at our hostel, we woke early to catch our bus for a 12-hour tour of the Scottish Highlands including stops in Glen Coe and Loch Ness. Who ever thought that looking at landscape and scenery could be so majestic? Every mountain or loch (lake) had a new intricacy, something completely different from the one before. It’s something you’ll have to go see for yourself though, because they don’t come out on camera extremely well from a moving bus.

As you can see, on a short coffee break I was able to reunite with my Gainesville roommates. They’re looking good as ever. Actually, this is what they call “Hialin’ Coos” Every time our driver would spot one, he’d yell “Hairycoo to the left.” Try that one with your best Scottish accent and you’ll see what I mean about how funny this became.

Glen Coe is where the Massacre of Glencoe occurred in 1692. I’ll spare you of the details, but if you are interested, check it out here.

After lunch around Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis, Britain’s tallest mountain, we headed for Loch Ness to tame the mythical beast, Nessie. By my calculations, it’s also the most northern point of land to which I have traveled.

I wish their wasn’t a smudge, but this is the Forth Railway Bridge, crossing the Forth River back into Edinburgh.

Sunday was really a catchall day, doing everything back in Edinburgh we hadn’t seen. Basically what that meant was that we took a bus tour in the morning, scaled a mini-mountain in the afternoon. And what trip to Scotland would be rounded out without a visit to see Dolly, the first cloned mammal in existence. She’s stuffed at the Scottish Royal Museum. Poor thing.

There are several other reasons to be excited over here:

1) My last day of History of London is tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed the class but am ready to have more free time to explore the city on my own several days a week and not have to worry about writing weekly papers.
2) My dear friend Keri Beth has arrived for the remainder of the summer.
3) We just booked a weekend trip to Paris over July 13-15. We’re extremely excited because the 14th is Bastille Day. That’s right, we’re going to celebrate French Independence with the best of them. Fireworks off of the Eiffel Tower should be incredible!

I can’t believe its been over a month. I will update this more often, I promise. I will also learn to be entertaining.

Cheers.

DJ

¿Tacos?

At this exact moment, I feel more full than I have the entire trip. That’s right, I finally broke down and made tacos. So for any of you actually considering overnighting me Taco Bell, you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Headed to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend early in the morning. I’m sure I’ll have a better update after my return. Until then, I’ll leave you with some random pictures from random times this summer.

Really liked how glassy the water was in Liverpool that morning.

This is a statue in front of the Royal Exchange. If you can’t afford DeBeers, just walk down the corridor to Tiffanys or Cartier. Lunch here would be more than my entire trip budget.

Remembering why I love trains so much in Liverpool. For you transport geeks like me, this is the British Rail Class 390 “Pendolino.” It has a top speed of 140 mph, although it’s only allowed to run at 125 mph because Britain is behind on their actual rail technology. Anyway, it sure puts Amtrak to shame.

This is Robert Raikes and if you look closely at the engraving, you will see that he founded Sunday School way back in 1780. I suppose that deserves a statue along the embankment of the River Thames?

Liverpool’s Finest…

With one major goal in mind, Nick and I accomplished as much as possible in Liverpool in the span of about 8 hours or so. That major goal, of course, was to see the sights of Liverpool’s most beloved, The Beatles.

We did well. I am exhausted from all the train traveling, walking and a general lack of sleep. My excitedness about riding the train proves that I am more like my 6 year old self than I thought. American trains have nothing on European trains. They are faster, cleaner, sleeker, more efficient in everyway thinkable.

The morning was spend at The Beatles Story exhibition, which walks you through a historical timeline of The Beatles complete with recreated buildings, rooms, and scences. John Lennon’s glasses and George Harrison’s first guitar are both here, along with countles otehr collectives. The glasses, by the way, are valued at over £1,000,000.

After a pub lunch (I’m still not sure my burger had any meat in it), we hopped on the “Magical Mystery Tour.” It was as cheesy as you’d guess, complete with a replica bus based of the film version. Overall the tour was pretty decent, and minus being incredibly hot we saw the following:

- Penny Lane (Where there is definately a barbershop with photos all over the walls, a shelter in the middle of a roundabount, and multiple banks)
- 251 Menlove Avenue aka Mendips – John Lennon’s childhood home
- 20 Forthlin Road – Paul McCartney’s teenage home where all of the early Beatles songs originated
- 12 Arnold Grove – George Harrison’s birthplace and home for childhood
- Ringo Star’s childhood home in the Dingles. (yes, that is an area in Liverpool)
- A quick shot past the church where Paul met John for the first time after John’s gig at the church. There also happens to be a grave here enscribed “Eleanor Rigby” dating way before the Beatles time.
- Cavern Club

Then we also got an awesome taxi driver to take us to Strawberry Field. He told us that his son was birthed in the same room as John Lennon. Pretty sweet, right?

Here’s a few pictures of the major points of interest….I think most of you should have no trouble figuring out what these places are and their relevance.

Gary and Chad “Dig A Pony”

Here’s one from the vaults, ladies and gentlemen…

In honor of the trip to Liverpool tomorrow, I figured it would be the perfect time to bring this video to the public. It’s a ten second clip of what you might expect when Gary and Chad get a car together. The Beatles, all the time. This one happens to be on the way to Auburn last year for the Gator game. Mind you, we were still happy here. (It was a forward pass!)

So here you have it…Gary and Chad dig a pony….

They should do karaoke more often…

Long and Winding Week….

It’s been a long week of tests and papers and thus I have no real update other than some travel bookings I have planned. I’ll continue to update my schedule over there on the right hand column.

Liverpool, England – My buddy Nick and I are off to Beatles mecca tomorrow for a full day embracing the Fab Four. We arrive by train in the morning, will probably spend some time at the Beatles museum, and then the afternoon aboard the “Magical Mystery Tour.” I kid you, not.

Other upcoming:
Edinburgh, Scotland (15-17 June)
Brussels, Belgium & Amsterdam, Netherlands (29 June – 2 July)

Incredibly excited about all of these things and I’m sure I will update you on them once they are completed. On Monday I will have been here for exactly one month. I’m sure does fly.

Cheers,

-DJ

England ‘Till I Die….

England till I die,
I’m england till I die,
I know I am I’m sure I am,
I’m England till i die..

What a night…what an experience.

Spent some quality time with 88,744 of my favorite Brits watching England take on Brazil in an international friendly before the Three Lion’s first qualifier for Euro 2008 next week.

This game was important for several reasons:
1) It’s England and Brazil, c’mon
2) It marked England’s return to their home stadium, the newly refinished Wembley Stadium
3) It marked the return of England greats Michael Owen and David Beckham

First of all, Wembley is such an incredibly gorgeous complex. I think the pictures really speak for themselves, but its definately one of the nicest complexes I’ve attended.

Let me try to visualize the experience for you…

Admittedly, I’ve never really understood football, like a majority of Americans. It makes sense now. Much more. So, I’m unassumingly sitting there and all is calm, the enormously stadium slowly fills to capacity and gains momentum with every new person. Relatively composed for quite some time, finally a fan stands to his feet and yells “England ‘Till I Die…” to which seemingly the entire stadium responds in song. Then its “Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves. Brittons never, never, never shall be slaves.” Incredible. 85,000 people singing in mass is much different than 85,000 yelling in mass.

It occurred to me that there is a lot more pride on the line as well. In America, unless its the Olympics, you hardly ever see teams representing the USA on a regular basis. When you are representing your country, and going to a match to support your country, it adds a completely different vibe to the mix.

Despite all of the controversy and finally being called back up to the team, Beckham showed his worth, setting up a beautiful assist to captain John Terry to put England up 1-0. Gerrard also played a fantasic game, as did Brazil’s Ronaldinho and Kaka. Brazil’s Diego would make the match a draw in injury minutes, but it was still quite a game for England.

After the game, me and my 85,000 friends all decided to take the same Tube home. Kudos to London Underground and the Metropolitan Police for keeping order and getting everyone home in decent time.

(If you can’t tell, those are all people in front of me on the way to the Tube. Just imagine University Ave. after a Gator National Title…and then put a train at the end of the street that everyone is waiting for.)

I’ve been slacking….

I have little excuse except that academics have taken up a majority of my time and there is really not that much to update on at this moment. I can assure you that there will be a more thorough update by the weekend.

England v. Brazil Football International Friendly this Friday @ Wembley. Beckham has been called back up for the match, and hopefully he will help spark the boys against one of the most powerful teams in existence.

See you soon.