09/02/08 Moving away from Glasgow

Mi abuelo, Poppy, es faliz hoy porque salimos Glasgow y Iain hoy. Yo estudio y leo muchas porque necesito. Yo escribo Iain tambien. Hoy quiero hablar Iain mucho.

This morning I woke up, did the usual and got on the computer for the last time before we headed up north to the Highlands. Iain already missed me, and I wrote to him saying I missed him as well and that I really wished we had had more time. I also wrote to Sara and my Momma. Sara is another friend of mine that I've met off the internet. She's come down to my house twice now via the bus. Iain is very jealous of her at the moment because she can just get a bus down to see me, whereas he'd have to take a cross-Atlantic flight. Right now I'm very jealous of her because she can talk to Iain through YIM and I can't.

On the drive up I write and write and write because I haven't had time the past couple days to write for my journals. Every day is just so jam packed with things to do, and the past couple days we've been busy till late at night and by that time I just want to go to sleep. Writing on curvy roads is very very difficult considering I get incredibly carsick when I sit in the back seat on curvy roads. I know for a fact that my stomach is soooo going to be super strong after this trip. Luckily I got several breaks when we stopped at an information center where we learned about Robert the Bruce, who used gorilla warfare to eventually gain Scotland as his kingdom. This was the last, and most effective, tactic he used. At first he tried to fight in the old fashioned way out on a battlefield. This did not work and many of his family members and followers were either put in jail or executed. His wife and daughter were taken to a prison in England, and three of his brothers were beheaded (and drawn and quartered). One of his sisters got to dangle in a cage in prison. He wasn't recognized as a king until two years before his death day though (at least I think it's two years). He wrote to the pope asking for him to recognize him as a king, because the king of England refused to do so. Obviously, the pope agreed and the King of England was overruled. Another place we stopped was Calandar at a different exhibit to learn about Rob Roy. the Scottish version of Robin Hood. He was a famous businessman who earned his money by buying, selling, and stealing cattle. He was one of the leaders in the Jacobite rising, and he was proclaimed an outlaw by the British and he had to go into hiding for many years. The English caught him 3 times and each time he escaped. After a while he was pardoned, and he died a peaceful death: in his sleep.

There was also a bridge that we visited, but right now the name escapes me. It was the Braveheart Bridge. That bridge was where the Scots let the British come halfway across the bridge before they charged ahead to victory.

In between these visits I'm busy studying, writing, and reading. At times I get tired of it though and look out the window to enjoy the scenery. I know that my journals for this trip aren't as well done as the ones I had for my trip to Canada. I have looked at why this is and I've realized that on that trip I had far more time to write than I do on this trip. On that trip I didn't have nearly as many stops, nearly as many things to read, and not as many curvy roads. On this trip I have to balance time for schoolwork, reading, writing, and sightseeing. When I say sightseeing I mean looking out the window as well as getting out of the car and being the tourist and learning about the country you're in as well as the people. I know that I'm going to have to come back to Scotland simply because we haven't had enough time here, and I know we don't have much more time here.

One thing about today that was very depressing: we passed Stirling Castle. We got out of the car in Stirling to take a picture of Rob Roy, but we didn't go up to the castle because we needed to continue heading north. I'm a little disappointed because I've read about Stirling Castle before in many different Castle books. Those coffee-table books of Momma's have fueled me with the want to visit many places!

I do believe that we're in the "Highlands" now. There are hardly any towns up here and the towns that we do run in to are small, many even smaller than Hanover. After being in two large cities this is a bit of a switch for me. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether the white specks on the mountains are sheep or rocks. Those tenants who were run off the land ages ago were run off so that the landowners could make a pretty pence or two on sheep. Here, sheep is still the main animal raised.

It looks like we'll be staying in a more modern town.... This is a bit of a strange occurrence considering all the small towns we've been in so far. I think that this place is known for its mountain climbing and possibly skiing, once we get into the b&b I'll find out.

Later: yeap! This place is famous for its mountain climbing and how close it is to the lochs. Hopefully this place has internet so I can check for homework and any messages from Iain.