Carlisle and Hadrian's Wall

Carlisle is located at the tip top of England. It was a fun place to visit, mostly because we stayed with the cutest family--a mother and daughter who know Carrie from her mission. There wasn't loads to do in Carlisle admittedly, but this is where we got one of our best tastes of English life. We were introduced to two very popular soap operas there: Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Coronation Street (they call it Corrie for short) was pretty stupid but I found myself getting sucked into Emmerdale. I'm wondering now if you can watch it online.

Also, Denise, our venerable hostess, would say to us, "You all right?" whenever she asked us how how we were.

Below is a picture of the Carlisle Cathedral. With all of our visits to castles, it was fun to visit something a little different.

I LOVE this statue.

We were taken shopping and introduced to the UK-style of fashion. Pretty much, I thought it sucked. Take me back to the garrishness of the 80s. Ugh. I was expecting more, and yeah, I am all-American when it comes to what I wear. You could argue that I'm super boring, I prefer to say that I'm timeless.

Another look at the countryside. Pretty.

Hadrian's Wall! This was unexpectedly one of the highlights of the trip. I think because we were outside and had no idea what we were doing. We just went with it and followed the wall. I loved the walls over there--it was mile upon mile of stacked rock.

Hadrian's Wall is a stone fortification built by the Roman Empire under the rule of the emperor Hadrian across the width of northern England. It was built to protect the Roman British from the Scottish Pictish tribes. It also marked the frontier of the Roman empire. I also learned from my dad that it's suspected that Hadrian's Wall was built more to keep the Roman soldiers working and therefore less likely to revolt. It's thought that the Pictish tribes were never really a threat to begin with but Hadrian employed the construction of the wall in order to preserve his power.

We ambled down this path and found out we were going in the wrong direction of where we were headed. My pants were muddy and it was cold, but I loved it.

According to Kaylin, a scene from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was filmed on this bluff.

Check out that fog! Ah, I'm missing England right now.

What famous movie was this railroad station featured in? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! Oh yeah, that was kind of exciting. I really need to watch that movie again just so I can confirm this.

Scotland . . . Amazing, Words Are Insufficient

Welcome to Scotland!

The only bad thing about Scotland is that we couldn't spend more time there. This place overwhelmed me, it was so beautiful and full of charm . . . everything that I thought London would be. Don't get me wrong, I loved London, but I felt a much stronger connection with Edinburgh. Everything was interesting and exciting. The city wasn't as dirty as London. The trees were emerald green, a color I never imagined to find in a city as big as Edinburgh. Just amazing.

Edinburgh Castle. This castle dates back to the 9th century. This view in particular is so dramatic and the cool thing about this castle is the stone is dark, almost black, in some places, like it had been burned at one point in time.

This huge rock it is built on is an extinct volcano.

This is the Royal Mile, the stretch of road that extends from the Edinburgh Castle entrance.

At the entrance.

A view from the castle.

I'm in love! I'm in love and I don't care who knows!

Never mind. I couldn't get over his stony face.

Like I said, look how dark the stone it. It's so aged and I am curious what caused it to blacken. Anyone know?

Aslan? Is that you?

Inside the prisoners' bunks. Some American POWs were kept here during the Revolutionary War.

Help.

Once again I had to take a picture inside the red telephone booth. Didn't matter that we were in a completely different city, still smelled like pee.

A cathedral on the Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile.

Another cathedral from Princes (pronounced princess) Street.

Take a look at the road signs . . . they're practically at the bottom of the picture. See what I mean about the road signs being completely inaccessible? Who thought this was an efficient way to delineate which road is what?

Oh, man, I LOVE this view. The architecture was amazing everywhere.

Inside a woolen mill. It was kind of exciting to see how it's made.

Don't ask me why I'm dressed like Punky Brewster in Edinburgh. Clearly, I wasn't thinking when I grabbed my hoodie.

The signs in England and Scotland were funny and this is the only picture I got. I loved that they called diaper changing stations in women's bathrooms "Baby Nappy Changing Stations." Check out the symbols for men and women, much more descriptive than in the States.

This is in Gretna Green which is the marriage capital of the UK. Gretna Green's marrying age is 16-years-old. In England, the marrying age is 18 so everyone comes here to get married if they're underage and cannot get parental consent. If you're interested, in Pride and Prejudice when Lydia runs away with Wickham the initial rumor was that they were headed to Gretna Green to get married because she was underage. Anyway, that is the last I'll say about Pride and Prejudice but I just love it when you make a connection like that.