My Fondest Memory: Melrose

On Eildon Hill, overlooking Melrose.

I was very much looking forward to this day. My local was taking me down to the borders region (have I mentioned how lucky I am to have had someone to take me to so many nice places?) I woke up still not feeling fully recovered from my cold, which was disappointing. My cough was pretty much gone, but my head still wasn't clear, I was a bit fatigued, and dealing with a queasy-feeling stomach. Not exactly how I wanted to feel, but I was determined to have a really nice time, which I did.

My local picked me up at 9:30 and off we went. I was so happy that the sun was shining and that it was another beautiful day for a trip. Again, pretty lucky there as well. 

Our first stop was in the very lovely town of Peebles. We stopped in Coltman's Delicatessen & Kitchen for hot chocolate and a pastry. I was so impressed with the hot chocolate - they basically served hot milk with a stick that had chocolate on the end of it, and as you stirred the stick around the chocolate melted and voila! Delicious, rich hot chocolate. They had different flavors of chocolate to choose from, but I stuck with the classic.

After the cafe, we walked around a bit, and my local pointed out a few things to me, including this impressive monument that is dedicated to those who lost their lives fighting in World War I.

 

 This is the inside view of the monument. Really nice mosaic work.

There were so many cute shops on this picturesque street.

Here I am, standing in front of a pretty bridge that crosses the River Tweed.

Close up. :)

Off we went to Melrose. This beauty of a bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Tweed. It was built in 1826, and in the past a toll was required to cross. At the time, conditions for crossing included no more than eight people on the bridge at one time, and making the bridge swing was not allowed. Lucky for us, toll is no longer required and due to alterations made in 1991, the bridge no longer "swings."

Upon entrance to the bridge.

The River Tweed. I think there is something completely pacifying about this picture.

Crossing the bridge and taking in the view.

As we made our way into town, this handsome horse approached. "Oh, the paparazzi are here. I'm ready for my close-up."

It struck a pose for me. "This is my good side." 

And then, "C'mon paparazzi. Don't you have any food for me? All I have to eat here is this mud." :)

Before I went on this trip, tour guide Gary of Student Tours Scotland told me that I must demand to see the Abbey in Melrose. No demanding was required; it's rather hard to miss. The abbey was established in 1136, though it was attacked, partially destroyed, and rebuilt several times. It was built in the shape of a St. John's Cross. It is said that the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce is buried here.

Time to go hillwalking! Or as I would say, time to hike the hill. I saw the hill from a distance and thought, "No way. I know myself too well, and there is no way I'm getting to the top of that beast." Remember how well Arthur's Seat worked out for me? I really didn't want to embarrass myself in front of my local. Eildon hill (click on the link to see a picture of the hill; I didn't think to get a shot of it before we started to climb it) is thought to be a laccolith, which is formed from great pressure of magma that forces strata upward and creates a dome shape. 

There was a path that took us right through someone's backyard garden to reach the main trail. This incredibly long flight of stairs was my first obstacle. Conquered it! But I could tell that my lingering illness was going to be a detriment to my physical ability to climb this hill. I was pretty winded and felt like I was moving much slower than I would have been able to in a healthy condition.

After the long flight of stairs came a long, steep hill through farmland. Conquered it! And look at the view!  My sister thought it was funny that I took my coat off for the pictures. I told her, "It wasn't for the pictures! I was hot!"

I had a good photographer with me. I dare say I think he may have helped me improve my poses.

The sheep seem to enjoy the hill, too.

Sorry, Lancaster. Your farmland no longer impresses me.

Up, up, up we go. Hesitant, but with mild confidence. I'm hillwalking with a pro.

Getting a bit further up means time for another picture! I really am so glad it was such a gorgeous day.

We paused here for a breather and to take in the view. This ended up being as far as we made it. The mud had been a bit crunchy as we were going up, as it was somewhat frozen, and the trail that led further up had a good amount of ice on it. The scaredy-cat in me was a little relieved that I didn't have to test myself to get further up and risk fear-of-heights embarrassment, but the adventurer in me was a little disappointed that I didn't get to continue to go up and see what the view looked like from even higher.

Absolutely spectacular. Have I mentioned that I love Scotland?

The abbey from the hill. I really like the way the two trees frame the picture. Too bad the abbey didn't come out more clear.

You can see the ice a bit in this picture.

Back down we go. That's one heck of a hill, right? (For me, anyway). I took my precious time going down. Maureen - are you dazzled? Remember when I freaked out on the mountain when we went walking upstate all those years ago? And for my sister, I was getting chilly so I put my hat on, but I was still too hot for the coat!

Going back down the infinite steps while getting a history lesson from my local.

 Once we got all the way back down, we wiped our boots on the provided brushes before crossing over the odd backyard garden trail arrangement, then into town. We stopped at a pub for a drink, coca-cola for me to ease my unsteady stomach. We strolled around town a little afterwards and I picked up an incredibly soft, comfortable scarf, my new favorite thing, at, appropriately named, The Scarf Shop.

 We then headed back to the car.

Clearly, I am cold now. I'm standing next to the River Tweed with the suspension bridge behind me. The ground is frosty!

Goodbye, Melrose! Though I only conquered a portion of your hill, I had a lovely time. The day wasn't over yet, though. My local had more planned!

We were headed back to the town of Peebles, but first stopped to see the Smailholm Tower. Our timing could not have been better; the sun was setting and the tower with its frosty grounds looked unreal.

The roads on the way to the tower were a little snowy, a little slushy, and had me a little nervous, but it was worth it. The road that leads right to the tower goes through a farm (again, quite a strange way to access an attraction). It was very muddy, but thankfully the car did not get stuck.

The tower is a peel tower, which means it was intended as a watch tower in the border region. A fire would be lit atop the tower to alert of danger. It was built around the 15th century and was restored in the 1980's. Sir Walter Scott spent some time here in his youth.

I really, really like this picture. No special effects, just mother nature and an ancient monument in all their glory. Oh, and me, the awestruck American student. 

I snapped this photo of Eildon hill as we were driving. It's not the best picture, but it gives you an idea of its size. And though the sun was setting, it was only about 3 or 4 o'clock.

When we returned to Peebles, we went to the Tontine Hotel for afternoon tea. Yes, my local took me to my first afternoon tea. I know, I was impressed too. We had worked up quite an appetite after our adventure and I was ready to daintily devour some food. Our afternoon tea included both smoked salmon and ham finger sandwiches (I don't ordinarily like ham, but this tasted like corned beef and it was delicious), scones with cream and jam, shortbread, meringues, gingerbread, and two pots of tea, all enjoyed from the comfort of a cozy couch next to a nice, warm fire. Everything tasted so wonderful and it was a great way to end a day that would become my fondest memory of my time in Scotland.

I'd like to give a special thanks to my local who made this day and a number of other days really special experiences for me. 

I'm not done yet, Ayreshire is up next!  

Queens Park

A building near Queen's Park

I woke up on Monday feeling downright sick. My throat hurt, I had hardly slept, and my head was foggy. This is not good. I rested a bit, Skyped with Mom from the comfort of my bed, tried to force myself to do some research, and ventured out around 4 for my group meeting at the library. It was a rather pointless effort, as I knew it would be, but it didn't last long, and from there I walked the half mile to the store to get sick people stuff: cough drops, cough syrup, and more comfort food. I missed my car at this point, but then remembered that it's not easy to drive when feeling like this, and that walking was probably the safer option anyway. It was rather frustrating trying to figure out what medicines to buy because I wasn't familiar with any of the brands. After about 10 minutes of staring at the products, I grabbed a bottle of Buttercup cough syrup, a packet of cough drops, and a box of cough drops. I headed back to my flat to cook up some grilled cheese and canned soup.

Tuesday I woke up with my throat feeling a little better, but my chest felt heavy, I had a cough, and my head was still not right. I still attended my two classes and tutorial and took it easy that night. Wednesday brought more of the same, with the added bonus of congestion. I skipped my morning class so I could sleep; after our lecturer changed (as planned) halfway through the semester, I completely lost interest because I had trouble paying attention and didn't feel I was getting anything out of it. I attended my two hour afternoon class, armed with cough drops and a bottle of water. I was excited to listen to a lecturer that we had had earlier in the semester. He was just about the only lecturer who kept my attention the entire time. I couldn't stand reading his book, though. When I realized partway through his first lecture that he was the author of one of our core texts, I wondered how his book could bore me so terribly, but his lecture style kept me so interested.

About 3/4 of the way through the class, I got a tickle in my throat, you know, the kind that means you are going to wheeze on the inhale and cough hard and sloppy on the exhale while tears are streaming down your face, over and over and over again. I was sitting in the middle of the second row, so there would be no easy escape without inconveniencing people and being slightly disruptive. I desperately tried to suppress the urge to cough uncontrollably, my eyes were watering, and I didn't know what to do, so I kept drinking water and sucking on a cough drop. Thankfully, the fit passed after about 5 anxiety-filled minutes.

On our way to the park from the train station. This was a hospital, but is now flats.

Gary of Student Tours Scotland goes on Glasgow Walks every Wednesday. I have only been on one, to the Forth and Clyde Canal, and I desperately wanted to go on at least one more before I left. But, I am sick. I have a nice trip planned for the weekend and I don't want to get worse. But, I'm in Scotland. When will I ever have the chance to do this again? So, I decide to try to fix my shite boots with crazy glue, then go out for the walk, and to pay for my ticket for my last STS tour in two weeks.

Note to self: Don't be stubborn. If you think that perhaps you should get a sharp object to poke a hole in the seal on the crazy glue tube to open it, do it. Don't just keep poking the blunt end of the cap into the seal because maybe then the glue will squirt all over your hands. Or wear gloves. Right. So, I was sick so I wasn't thinking clearly and I was being lazy. Crazy glue squirted all over my left hand, and some got on my right hand. I immediately separated my fingers (good thinking, right?) and went to the sink to try to wash it off, hahaha. It was almost dry by that point, so I gave up, glued the slits in my boots, and went to meet my STS tour guide and group at the GoMA.

Two of my newer friends from the tours, one from Ukraine and the other Spain, were going on the walk also. I showed them my hand, white and yucky looking and told them about what had happened. Silly me. We headed to the train station, bought our tickets, waited a few minutes, then boarded our train. I should have taken pictures of the train station; it is really beautiful inside and very easy to navigate. We got off at the Mount Florida stop and made our way to Queen's Park.

Another view of the hospital-turned-flats building. I actually saw a man walking two Rhodesian Ridgebacks down the road in this area. I was surprised to see that breed here.

A statue of a lion outside of Queen's Park. Gary told us a story about it, but I can't remember it now. :(

I do remember him telling us that this was a church, but is now a pub, and that Glasgow doesn't let old buildings go to waste. :)

We all managed to avoid getting hit by a car at the circle, and we made it to the park.

Queen's Park is so cool, not only does it have lots of paths to walk down, but it has a lizard and reptile house too! We liked it partly because it was warm and we were cold.

There were even cacti! (Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the lizards,snakes, turtles, chinchillas, or tarantulas. I have one too many photos from zoos, and every time I tell myself I need not take more photos because they are usually dull and uninteresting.)

Tour guide Gary and the group "Pondering at the Rock."

So, there is a Scottish poetry rock garden at Queens Park. It was unveiled in 2003 as a celebration of Scottish poets. We were trying to figure out the writing on the rock. I think it had poet's names and quotes on it.

Me and one of the rocks. My poses are getting better.

It was so cold we could see the leaves getting frosty, and the ponds were icing over. See the leaves in the background? They are white from the frost. Brrr.

You can see the frost a little better in this shot. And imagine it's probably only 3:30-4:00 in the afternoon at this point.

You can see the line behind the ducks where the pond has started to ice over.

We walked through the park, with Gary telling us stories along the way. We walked up to the highest point in the park, where the flagpole is, and we could see all of Glasgow down below, from one end of the city to the other. The sun had gone down by this point, the moon was out and almost full, and the views were just incredible. We could see the large Cineworld movie theater complex and we could figure out where our flats and schools were. It was so neat to see Glasgow from that perspective. It really is a good sized city, with so much to offer. We took it all in, then headed back down, out of the park, down a couple of blocks to the train station. 

My two dear friends were kind enough to go with me to the pharmacy at the train station, once we got back to the city centre (I was so embarrassed about my hands). A store assistant was able to sell me a bottle of acetone to help get the crazy glue off of my hands. She said something like, "Well, you won't be doing that again, will you." I'm not sure what she thought I was doing with the glue.... having fun with it? Testing it out to see just how crazy it is? Finger painting? I don't know. I wanted to say, "Lady, I was just trying to fix my shite Sperry boots!" When I got back to my flat, I scrubbed and scrubbed my hands with cotton pads soaked in acetone. Eventually I was able to get all of the glue off, and without irritating my skin which is a feat in and of itself.

The following day, I had class in the morning. The day was filled with preparation for a group presentation. That night though, was another game night! It ended up being the last game night that I threw for my friends. We all had a wonderful time, as usual, playing our hybrid Pictionary/Charades game. I am so glad that I was able to bring people together through games in an attempt to help them improve their English while having a great time. I have since passed on the Pictionary to a good friend, and I hope she continues the game night tradition. ;)

I didn't want to get to bed too late that night because I had a big day ahead of me. My local was taking me to the Borders. I was still sick, still congested and feeling unwell, so I was hoping with some good, relaxing sleep I would be ready for the day ahead of me.

Stay tuned for Melrose!