Clapp Radical Sabbatical

Our last day in London we took advantage of the fact that all the museums are FREE! We went to the British Museum and the National Gallery. At the British Museum we saw the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, some tombs of Pharaohs, and loads of Egyptian statues and walls from pyramids – it really makes me wonder between the Louvre and the British Museum what’s left in Egypt? Don’t get me wrong I’m happy someone had the foresight to rescue these antiquities from destruction I just hope the pyramids are as grand as I envision. We also saw a statue from Easter Island and tons of amazing British Victorian cups and carvings. At the National Gallery we viewed famous paints from Monet and Picasso. We also had to find a ‘Madonna and Child’ with a suckling baby Jesus – Drew spotted it first. Of course it still doesn’t compare to the one we found in Peru with Joseph joining in on the action.

Rosetta Stone

Egyptian Statue

Picasso’s Sunflowers

After the museums we went to Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown – both had some great people watching. We finally settled down at the Porcupine which used to be a meeting point for the Free Masons and had drinks and dinner. Drew enjoyed a rhubarb gin with a ginger beer tonic (the bartender complimented him on his choice) and I had a Rose which are extremely popular in London. We ended the night at the theatre – it was a real treat!

Haggis

The next day we headed to Edinburgh by train – what a cute city! Our flat there was really nice and had a great view of the Castle. We tried haggis and it definitely has an
interesting texture but I’d go as far as to say it was tasty. I was surprised by the fact that it was kind a spicy.
We only had one full day actually in Edinburgh so we crammed a lot in but because it is a smaller city we didn’t feel rushed at all. We started with a hike up to the top of Arthur’s Seat. We went early in the morning and the sun was out which made it really enjoyable even though it was 40 degrees out and windy. I was impressed that Andrew was able to make the climb because on our way there he was looking at dog poop and stumbled down the stairs twisting his ankle. After I found out he was ok, I found it kinda funny because he’s aways telling me to watch where I’m going!

After that we did a Free Walking Tour which was extremely interesting – our guide was also an actor and he did a great job getting into character – he was incredibly funny. We learned lots of Edinburgh history everything from Saint Giles to Greyfriar’s Bobby to the school that Hogwarts was based off of. We even learned that J.K. Rowling took the names of her characters from a graveyard in Edinburgh so we got to see Thomas Riddle aka ‘he who should not be named’s’ grave along with other Harry Potter characters.

You did read earlier that we had a great view of the Castle and based on my earlier post what do you think we did next? Well of course we toured the Castle! It was an impressive fortress and we got to see more Crown Jewels which is always awesome as well as hear some interesting tales of various prisoners that were held there. Andrew was also finally allowed to take pictures of the weaponry and he wants you all to know that this is what he is hoping his ‘man cave’ will look like one day.

The final stop of the day was to the Scotch Whisky Experience which is kinda like a mix between a whisky tasting and Disneyland – you get to ride a barrel around and learn how  whisky is made. You also get to learn about the different whisky regions of Scotland and you even get a scratch and sniff card to help you understand the aromas of the whisky that comes from each region. The experience culminates with you choosing the region you’d like to test and heading into a room with the largest Scotch Whisky collection in the world. I was brave and tasted both the one I chose and Drew’s – I didn’t enjoy either so Andrew ended up with two drams of whisky which he said helped ‘heal’ his ankle and knee.