In preparation for Dad and Morgan’s arrival, I had to try and get all of my work done in advance – which only sort of worked, since I had four essays to do, two movies to watch twice, and two novels to read all in the vicinity of their arrival. I got almost all of this done in time except for one of the essays, which would have to wait.
They arrived in London on Saturday, but after car rentals and driving time, I didn’t see them until late afternoon. It was extremely weird seeing my brother’s head sticking out of a British car, but I was so, so happy and I couldn’t stop hugging them. I showed them Linley House, introduced them to my housemates, and we walked up past the Abbey in search of a place to eat. In Café Retro (right next to my house, after all that), we talked about Bath and how I was liking it, how Britain was different from America, and what we were going to do for the next week. We made a plan to see about nine different things, four or five of which ended up happening, but such is travel.
Sunday: the Cotswolds. We drove (English driving is a harrowing experience, even as a passenger) north to Painswick, a tiny town with cream-colored stone buildings and a church garden filled with yew trees. We ate hearty food in a pub and continued on to Broadway, known for its tower that overlooks seven counties or something. It was actually closed by the time we got there, but we took pictures of it and just then a herd of deer crossed by the tower. So it was kind of beautiful anyway. On the way back down, we saw a sign for a castle so we veered that way – it was closed, too, but there was still a lot to see in the little town, cathedrals and rows of quaint buildings. Lovely.
Monday: Wales. We woke up earlier this day and drove to Cardiff, where I got to show them all the cool stuff I’d seen last time I was there. We went to Cardiff Castle and touched the ancient Roman wall at the bottom of the structure; we wandered around the Parliament building and took pictures of gardens. We ate in a tiny Welsh café, where they were out of the most “traditional” meals, but it was still delicious. We took pictures of the tall fountain monolith from Torchwood and went in the Doctor Who exhibit. After Cardiff came Caerphilly, which had an enormous, dilapidated castle with a proper moat and a leaning tower inside the battlements. It was the coolest thing ever. Morgan took all of my best pictures all week, being the photographer in the family, and some of the best ones are of this huge castle, where the only noise came from the countless gaggles of ducks and swans in the moat. By the time we got to Tintern Abbey it was dark, so it was a very spooky experience: the hollowed-out abbey like a skeleton in its poor footlights, only showing up in my pictures as grainy as sand. We drove back to Bath after that and had Indian food at a delicious restaurant recommended to me by one of my teachers.
Tuesday: I had class, so I didn’t see Dad and Morgan until after, when Dad cooked beef stroganoff for my entire house. They were, of course, absolutely thrilled to have someone cooking for them, and they had only the best things to say to me later about how sweet my dad was and how much they liked the food and how outgoing my brother was. After dinner, we worked out the rest of the week – where we were staying in Scotland, in London before our flights, and when we would leave after my classes on Thursday.
Wednesday: The essay which had been looming finally attacked, and I didn’t see them at all, because I was up until 3 a.m. writing about Shakespeare’s soliloquies in his early history plays. After this I had to write a 1-page summary of a story I hadn’t thought of yet for my Exploring Short Fiction class, so all said and done, I didn’t get very much sleep that night, and that was probably about when I started to get sick.
Thursday: Got up early for classes, which ended at 1:30. Met Dad and Morgan for tea at Sally Lunn’s, one of the oldest buildings in Bath and home of delicious scones-and-clotted-cream combinations. Morgan continued to talk about Sally Lunn Buns for three days. After tea, I introduced Dad and Morgan to some of the ASE staff, and then we drove to Liverpool, where we stayed for the night. Dad went out to check out the music scene while Morgan and I wound down with some British television.
Friday: Listening to BBC radio the whole way, we drove to Carlisle, which is right under the border, and visited Hadrian’s Wall. The wall is remarkably intact – I think I expected something a little more ruined, being Roman and all. It was absolutely freezing up there, so we drove down to a tea shop in the little town below. We cheered when we entered Scotland and drove through mountainous hills covered with sheep and lambs until we reached Edinburgh. Our bed and breakfast was absolutely adorable, with three beds and ruffly trappings and a set for tea on the table. We went out into the city to look for dinner, and ended up with a fancy Japanese restaurant. At night we watched Stephen Fry’s game show, QI, and a cool dramatic show called “Hotel Babylon.”
Saturday: we woke up early and headed out to Edinburgh castle, which had a line out the gates all way across the courtyard, and where the expected wait was over an hour. So we wandered around the farmer’s market below the castle, and we had lunch at the Castle Arms Bar, where Dad got some traditional Scottish food and I had a chicken burger. When we made it back up the hill to the castle, the line was much shorter, so we prepared to wait, even though the line was still out the door and it was starting to snow. Inside the gates, the castle is like a miniature city, with intact and functional buildings from all kinds of periods of history. Our guide (who must have been freezing in his kilt – we couldn’t believe it) informed us that Edinburgh castle has never been taken by force, ever, and that in an emergency it is one of the places authorized to protect the Queen. The crown jewels (sword, crown, and staff) are housed there, at the top of the hill in one of the oldest buildings. The story of the crown jewels is crazy – some of them were papal gifts, some of them were stolen, found, stolen again, and they were all smuggled out of the castle during the attacks of Oliver Cromwell, and didn’t resurface for years and years until a search party found them in a locked trunk in a basement somewhere, along with several other precious items that had obviously been considered of similar value. The sword was broken in half in order to smuggle it out better, and you can still see the tiny line where it was hammered back together. We spent a lot of time in the crown jewels exhibit pretending that everything in there was ours, because we’re Stewart descendants. Heck, one of those lesser jewels would have paid for everything that could ever happen to us as a family. I’m ready to reclaim the throne, please!
After Edinburgh castle we started the long drive back to London. I was fairly sick by this time, but lots of sleeping in the car helped. We checked into a Holiday Inn right next to Heathrow, and early Sunday morning, Dad and Morgan woke me up to say goodbye. Thus began part two of my vacation, in which there were fewer family members, but more volcanic islands. It was so wonderful to see Dad and Morgan, and it was so strange when they had to go home, as if that wasn’t where I was. It was also very fun to show off Bath and Cardiff and places I knew. Stay tuned for Vacation: Santorini style!
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