Today was our day to run around and explore Edinburgh, Scotland! We woke up and ate breakfast which, of course, included rice crispies and then headed off as a group to a few spots close to our hotel. Mr. Herring took us to the Presbyterian church where a chair was thrown at the Archbishop of England when he was trying to unite the churches of the two places. However, he did not realize how Presbyterian and Christian Scotland was, so a riot broke out after the stool was thrown in his direction. 
We were then taught the
history of John Knox and his importance in Scotland and the Presbyterian histories and were led to his grave, which is actually in a parking spot and only signaled with a yellow square in the space (which was parked on by a stupid car at the time) I was astounded that of all people, John Knox's grave was just in a normal old parking spot behind the church and unlike any of the other graves we visited this trip. I was expecting some extravagant dedicated plaque or some large tombstone, not a yellow square...
Right outside the church was a part of the ground in the shape of a heart and it represents all the people who were persecuted and basically tortured for their faith. It is a tradition to spit on the heart to show your distaste of their mistreatment, and so we all spit some pretty wet ones on that thing. Mr. Herring then led us to a platform in the middle of the busy city that once hosted the hanging of many coventeers and showed us where there is now a monument dedicated to those martyrs. I have seen so many places on this trip that represent death and it just makes me realize what a fierce war we are in, still. It is crazy that people can get so upset about another person practicing their beliefs that they take such drastic measures like killing them just to stop it. That is just a picture of Satan freaking out, in my opinion. I hate going through these places I have been without taking the time deserved to describe the history and explain everything, but I don't ever have enough time to! I just want to briefly tell the places I go in hopes to record it all so I can remember those moments later on when I am trying to remember what I did on this trip. I have seen so many amazing things that I would have probably never thought of to go and see or been knowledgable enough to know about that I just am overwhelmed! I have seen things that many people will never see in their lifetime and it amazes me how much more stuff I have yet to see even in those tiny towns I have been through. Since our main leader, Mr. Herring is a Presbyterian Pastor and me being a presbyterian, it has been such an experience learning so much about my church history. That man and his wife have taught me so much about the Christian past in areas such as Scotland and England that I would have probably not known otherwise. It is just a blessing learning under amazing Christ loving people like them too and I am thankful to have crossed paths with them.
We headed to the Castle that contained the "family jewels" and yes, I think of those to be something else every time I hear that too.... haha but anyways, we were too cheap to go into it and might regret that decision? But for some reason, 14 pounds just seemed like too much to us and we had souvenirs to get. We shopped for Scottish cashmere scarves of course and got more cokes since they are like cigarettes to us now (meaning we can't go a few hours without taking a coke break) And it is a LITTLE frustrating when we eat out because they do not give you free refills and I don't know about you, but I am a big drinker at meals!
Now this is where it gets pretty funny... it was definitely not at the time but looking back on it - it was hilarious. We walked all the way to the bottom of the, what we thought to be, huge mountain and followed the "easy" path up. About 6 minutes into it we had to take a brake because the mixture of the slippery rocks and a good 70 degree incline was just not working out too well... in our chacos... It was also VERY discouraging to see the old man jogging passed us up the mountain and having to go around us as we searched for oxygen. You would have thought we were going to die by the complaints and heavy grunting, but thankfully we made it to the top! But oh wait, we were at the top... OF THE WRONG MOUNTAIN. Yes, just as we got there, we looked to the right and UP to find the actual Arthur's Seat... waaayy higher than the "mountain" we just hiked. Arthur's Seat made our little wimpy hill look like a bump compared to the incline of that mother. I think we all cried a little, or our legs gave a little whimper at the sight of that mountain and surprisingly enough, we kept going. We did not go through all that for nothing, we wanted to say we did it so up we went! Between the four of us I have never heard such funny comments and noises... It was almost humorous at the time and we all laughed out loud when Lizzy yelled between breaths, "This better freakin' blow my MIND." hahah So after a hard incline, slight decline and even harder incline, we made it to the top of Arthur's Seat and sadly... there was not an actual "seat." My goodness, I need to stop blogging because I am making us sound like the biggest brats! I just want to show how freaking funny everything is all the time because some of this stuff would probably never happen to normal people... if there is such a thing. We could see the whole city from that peak though and it was absolutely breath taking. The creation around us, natural and man made was just impeccable and so little from that perspective! We even saw a precious bunny skip across the path! It was as if we got to see things from an angels view (not quite) but were able to look down on society up and away from everything and just watch. It was worth the blood, sweat and tears. All around Scotland there are fields of yellow and I LOVE IT!! Mainly because my favorite color is yellow, but also because you will look our your window and see green after green after green and then a burst of the most vibrant thick yellow you will ever see and then it cuts off into a perfect square back into green. (I am also reminded of the part in Shrek 2 when Shrek and Fiona are frolicking on their honeymoon to the beginning of the song 'Accidentally InLove"... yup a lot of me flashes to that memorable scene) After the bloody hike down, where Dannah busted BIG TIME... I have to pause to laugh again.. hahahah we went to our hotels and napped. I know, we are lazy, but think about how much we did and you would have wanted to rest after such a hike too! The nap was a tease, but since we skipped lunch and ate the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we decided it was time to finally spend money again on food. We got the most AMAZING paninis at a cafe right around the corner that I am watering at the mouth just thinking about them. I felt bad for the Indian man at the counter after he accidentally charged Dannah for all four of our drinks because he looked like he was about to cry when she gave him the look of death. He just didn't understand that you can't take anything personal when Dannah is hungry.
You know what is crazy? The sun does not set in Edinburgh until after 10:30 p.m.! And it rises well around 5! It was hard getting used to because the days felt so long with all the things we've done.
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