I'm still alive..

To begin, I’m sorry for all the times you have checked here in hopes of an update but have been disappointed with the word ‘Beatlesville’ for weeks on end.  I hope we can still be friends.  Despite having abandoned this blog for about a month now.. here are 5 reasons why you should check back next week:

5) I don’t want to keep my gorgeous pictures of the Highlands all to myself

4) I found Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, and I will reveal all

3) After meeting the famous Highland Cow, Hamish, I promised I would pass on greetings

2) I have an epic Christmas and Hogmanay (New Years) to report

And most importantly...

1) I know you still love me and the fact that you are reading this proves that you still have faith in me to update this blog.

Talk to you soon from snowy Scotland. Cheers!

Beatlesville

The plan for Friday morning: Wake up, bus from uni to train station, train to Glasgow, bus to Manchester... Piece of cake.

What actually happened: Leave res a little later than expected, miss train by 1 minute, catch the next train and arrive in Glasgow @ 11:00am.  ETD for bus: 11:00am.  RUNN!

Needless to say, we had a bit of a rocky start on this trip.. but by some miracle, we made it on the bus in time and we were on our way down to Manchester.  England, here we come!

After a 5 hour bus trip, we spent the night wandering around this German market in the city center.  

It wasn't hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

I was very satisfied after eating a German sausage and drinking some caramel hot chocolate, mmmm...  Time for bed after a long day of travelling.

Day 1: already gone through 3 pairs of socks to stay warm. Sooo cold - I'm such a wimpy Canadian.. :(

Good morning Manchester!  There were some impressive football skills downtown to get everyone ready for the game in the afternoon..

Man United vs. Blackburn Rovers GO REDS GO!

I have officially fallen in love with football - I've always wanted to go to a game, and it was amazing.  

It was a totally different atmosphere than a hockey game; Even though there were 76,000 people in the stadium, it was so quiet until there was a goal or a card or something - then people would go crazy.  So serious.. 

Man United won 7:1, way to go guys!

(I've been so proud of myself for not saying the word 'soccer' for the past 3 months btw...)

Next stop: Liverpool

Our hostel with Liverpool flags, posters, and banners everywhere seemed like a good place to leave our Man Utd bag that I got the day before. We conveniently forgot it hanging up on the wall in the living room.

Being good students and taking time to LEARN at the Beatles Story Museum. ^

 

 ^ Set up in The Cavern club where they use to play.

We definitely drew a crowd with our amazing duet of 'Yellow Submarine' on the giant piano.

(Mom and dad, those lessons paid off!)

Meeting up with relatives was a great way to see the sights of Liverpool!  Our personal tour guides continued our Beatlesville tour by taking us to see some exciting things including Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's childhood homes (respectively ^) and...

And finally this:

What is it you ask?? A Lambanana! That's right - a cross between a lamb and a banana.  They are kind of like the moose you can find around Toronto: all over the city and each one painted differently.  We saw one in the train station on our way back home and stopped to say hello.

On the long bus ride home, we were gradually seeing more and more snow the closer we got to Scotland.  Since I've been back, there have been a few snowdays.. trains, buses, and flights were cancelled earlier in the week and snowmen have been popping up all around campus.  

Here are a few snowy pictures to leave you with:

Sad looking swans in their frozen loch

I'm off to go find the Loch Ness Monster this weekend.  Next time you hear from me, I'll be famous.  

Stay warm. Cheers!

A swallow carrying a coconut?

"It's a simple question of weight ratios; A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut... It could be carried by an African swallow!"

That's right, we went there.. We watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and decided to go find Doune Castle for ourselves - turns out it's only half an hour away from Stirling.

We got on our fake horses and galloped all the way there!

The huge fireplace in the kitchen >

Because The Holy Grail was such a high budget film... Doune Castle is the only castle used in the whole movie - so the many different places seen are just Doune being shot from different angles - brilliant! It was neat to see all the rooms and put the whole movie together while quoting King Arthur all day.

 This is the room in the swamp castle from the Holy Grail (with the goofy guards).  The prince falls out this window! ^ 

Team Canada makes it to the top.

I'll tag on a few pictures of Glasgow from earlier in the week.  We got up-close and personal with some 'Heeland Coos' and enjoyed the sound of bagpipes and drums filling the streets in the city center:

 

This weekend I've locked myself in my room to write a history essay, woohoo!  As you can tell, I've been working very hard on it. Making endless cups of tea, editing pictures, cleaning my room, going on facebook, and updating this blog has convinced me that I'm being productive.  But, I've run out of things to do which tells me I should stop procrastinating and get to it... after I do some laundry. 

Talk to you again soon. Cheers!

Costumes, campfires, and castles.. oh my!

I have a few things to update you on from the past 2 weeks so let's get started:

We begin with good ol' Halloween - Originally I wanted to dress up as something Canadian, but my options were either: a moose, an RCMP officer, or a maple leaf.. and I'm sure you will agree that none of these options are flattering.. or easy to pull off.  Anyway, I saw a polka-dotted skirt in the mall one day that was on sale, and one thing led to another:

I was hoping to run into Mickey Mouse at some point in the evening.. but it never happened :(

Moving on - History Lesson: Guy Fawkes was some guy who tried to blow up the King and the Parliament  in 1605, but failed - yay!  Since then, November 5th has been known as Bonfire night:

Remember, remember the 5th of November

The Gunpowder Treason and plot;

I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

...

And so, once a year, children make a stuffed dummy, refered to as 'The Guy', and he is placed on top of a bonfire pile and burned... morbid much?  It's then followed by an impressive fireworks display:

"oooh.. ahhhhh!"

It was a little weird.. but it made for a nice night. (^ Note the Olympic mitts being proudly worn by my English friend who went on an exchange to Canada last year!) 

And lastly I bring you to St. Andrew's - a beautiful town on the coast that has definitely made it on the list of my favourite places.  

 

As soon as we got off the bus, we made a B-line for the beach.  Why hello, North Sea!

Surfing in Scotland... why not?

Wandering around the ruins of the Cathedral and the beautiful castle by the water.  

 University of St Andrews - oldest one in Scotland.

So to recap: beaches, castle and cathedral ruins, cute downtown area, old university - what more could you ask for in a little town? Such a lovely place :)

I hope you are all keeping warm back home.  Less than 2 months until I join you again. 

Talk to you again soon, cheers!