Under Stars and Over Seas: Harry Potter, Plaid, and the Loch Ness Monster

After four months, the British ways are starting to affect me. I don't even like tea, but somehow I end up ordering it at restaurants and making it in hotel rooms late at night. So now I'm in an almost constant caffeinated state of sudden confusion. Part of that could have been the exposure to clean Scotland air though.

After the wild week that was Rome, the United Kingdom has become my traveling ground, and it's all thankfully been much easier. We spent three days in London visiting some of the sites we'd missed on our first day there several months ago. We braved our way to the top of the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, and even rode a river boat down the Thames. We stayed in a little flat near the Tower of London, right near an underground station, so after the end of the first day we were pros at navigating the train system. Luckily London's public transportation is much more reliable than Rome's.

During our stay in London we were also able to catch cheap tickets for Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, which was a fantastic show. Admittedly, Wicked is my great musical love and I've seen it three times now so I'm a little bit biased, but it was different to hear it performed with British accents. The next day we went out and got to explore the Globe Theater, Madame Tussauds waxwork museum, and the Harry Potter Tour of London, where I almost cried as I was surrounded by sets, costumes, props, and various other items used in my other great love, Harry Potter.

We were up early our final morning in London, heading to the bus station to catch a bus to Edinburgh. We only had that evening (a nine hour bus ride was not ideal, but inexpensive) and the next day until afternoon in the city, so we took in the area and went up to Edinburgh castle, which was amazing. Full of war memorabilia and still a functional military base, I was excited to find that every day except Sundays and Christmas they fire a cannon at one o'clock. This was so that any ships departing at one knew what time it was. There was accompanied by a ball that dropped from a tower on a tall hill across the city. We also got to see the room where King James, the first king of the united kingdoms of Scotland and England, was born. Unfortunately our time in Edinburgh was short and we had to catch a train early the next morning to Inverness.

Our time in Inverness (and then consequently Loch Ness) showed that the entirety of Scotland is made of concerned parents, who thought our early transportation and food choices were worrisome. Loch Ness was incredible though, and we were able to explore two different exhibitions dedicated to the studies donw on the lake (and the Loch Ness Monster of course). We were even given a guided tour of the Loch on a boat by a man who had spent fifty years studying the Loch, had part of it named after him because he had discovered it (George Edwards--Google Edwards cave in Loch Ness), and had even had several sightings of 'Nessie' throughout the years.

After talking with him about the creature of the Loch, I can say with conviction that there is something in Loch Ness. Whether it's a monster or not, though, I can't confirm. What I can say is that Mr. Edwards says whatever is in the Loch has to be three things; completely aquatic, cold-blooded, and algae-eating. There are cameras set up around the Loch now, so anything that had to surface regularly for air would have been seen by now, therefore it has to be completely aquatic. Thermal imaging would have picked up on any warm-blooded animals in the loch, so it has to be cold-blooded. And finally, the fish and plankton food chain in the loch wouldn't support a large carnivorous creature, so it would have to eat the smaller organisms and algae. The only thing that fits all three of those descriptions is a fish. And there have been enough sitings and things happening that there must be something there. Loch Ness, at over 26 miles long, is too big not to have anything.

Mr. Edwards went on to talk about how the long-necked, multi-humped creature we all associate with Nessie nowadays is a media monster, and the pictures that are considered to be closer on the spectrum of 'true photographs' are things that resemble one large spine or hump. Now, back in the years when there were kings and queens of the separate united kingdoms, rulers as gifts of friendship and solidarity would send non-indigenous creatures to each other for game and hunting. Mr. Edwards theory about the Loch Ness Monster is that it is a large, evolved fish-like creature, perhaps related to the European catfish, which can grow up to twenty feet. Now, the original location of such a creature would have been further north, but when a creature becomes too big for it's habitat it either dies or moves on. And so, the theory that it swam down to Loch Ness was born. Due to longevity and logic it can be assumed that there has been more than one of whatever the creature is that haunts the Loch.

But you don't have to take my word for it; believe what you want about the Loch Ness. But I think there's something out there.

I really liked Scotland a lot, and wish we could've spent more time there. The sheer amount of plaid made me happy, and the country does actually just have bagpipe music playing everywhere. The people were very nice, and given the chance I would definitely go back and see the Highlands.

We left Inverness early the next morning as well, catching a short flight and then train to Doncaster, a northern England city where we'll be for a charity football (soccer) match featuring Louis Tomlinson from One Direction and his team the Doncaster Rovers. Hopefully we'll get a picture with him, but if not we'll at least get to experience a soccer match and support a charity.

I'm hoping to get more sleep tonight than I have for the past several days of getting up early to travel and explore, so I'd better get to sleep now. I'm sure I'll have lots to share for the next week.

Until then, good night Doncaster and good morning California,

Sam

Flowers beside the Tower of London

The Tower of London, where political prisoners were held hundreds of years ago

Tower of London

Big Ben

Big Ben and the Parliament House

St. Paul's Cathedral

We weren't supposed to take pictures inside St. Paul's, but I accidentally took this before I knew that

Big Ben from the London Eye

View of London from the London Eye

The London Eye

London from the London Eye

London Eye

Big Ben

London Eye

Big Ben

London Eye

Cleopatra's Needle; this obelisk actually has nothing to do with Cleopatra--it was made hundreds of years before her. Also, the base of it is heavily damaged by the bombings during World War II

Remnants of an old bridge

This isn't the bridge, but there is one bridge built entirely by women in London during World War II, when all the men were off fighting. It is also the only bridge to be built on schedule and within the budget allotted.

London Bridge

Tower Bridge

The Millenial Bridge (I was excited because it was in one of the Harry Potter movies)

London from the river Thames

The wall behind the statue is the original London wall that divided the city into it's two halves; East and West. East end was the poor side, where the Whitechapel Murderer (also known as Jack the Ripper) ended many lives. The other side was the wealthy one, and the two police forces (yes they had separate ones) hated and refused to work with one another, making the murders that occurred even easier to get away with.

Known as the Prostitute's church, this was where the 'women of the night' would come to walk around and sell their services. The prostitutes could sell their bodies, but it was illegal for them to stand still and to approach people, so at night they would simply walk around this church and wait for their customers. It was still on the East side of London, but close enough to the wealthy side that they received customers from both ends.

The pub where the first Jack the Ripper victim was discovered, stabbed 29 times.

Wicked!

Shakespeare's last will and testament

A model of a time when the Thames would freeze over and a festival would be held on the ice called the Frost Fair

Costumes and props from Shakespeare movies and plays

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

The Globe Theater

Baker Street, the home of detective Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Madame Tussauds, the waxwork museum

Emma Watson

Johnny Depp

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

One Direction

Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

Robin Williams

Raphael Nadal

Admiral Horatio Nelson (who I raved about several blog posts ago and may or may not have developed a weird obsession with)

The Royal Family

Van Gogh

William Shakespeare

Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens

The Beatles

Miley Cyrus

Beyonce

Martin Luther King Jr

Barack Obama

John F. Kennedy and Margaret Thatcher

Me and Spiderman

The Incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Hawkeye (Agent Clint Barton)

SHIELD Director Nick Fury

Captain America (Steve Rogers)

Iron Man

Harry Potter Studio Tours London

The staircase set

The Great Hall

The guy explaining the things in the Great Hall asked who supported Hufflepuff, and I was the only one in the very crowded room to make a very loud noise. Whatever. I have house pride.

Great Hall

Costumes in the Great Hall (and the guide)

The Yule Ball costumes from the fourth movie

The Gryffindor boy's dormitory

The Gryffindor Common Room

Gryffindor Common Room

Dumbledore's Office

Various props used throughout the films

The Potions classroom

Hagrid's Hut

The door to the Chamber of Secrets

Broomstick

Quidditch robes

Quidditch balls

The Burrow Kitchen (the Weasley's home)

Borgin and Burks

Malfoy Manor

The Ministry Fireplaces

The Ministry of Magic Atrium

The statue in the Ministry Atrium

Umbridge's Office

Platform 9 3/4

Some of the luggage props used by the actors

The Hogwarts Express

Inside one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express. Each was decorated for a different year it was used, and I believe this was the fourth year

The tunnel bridge

The Knight Bus

Number 4 Private Drive, the Dursley's home

The Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow, where Harry and his parents lived before Voldemort killed them and orphaned Harry

The giant chess pieces from the first movie

Fawkes the Phoenix

Showing how Dementors were created

There were several rooms dedicated to showing how they made the many creatures in the films come to life

Thestrals

Buckbeak the Hippogriff

Diagon Alley

The Hogwarts Architect

This model was built and used for any camera movements and times that required a sweeping view of the castle and its grounds. A green screen was placed behind it and scenery from Scotland and various English places were used as the background

I actually audibly gasped when I walked in and saw the caslte

Edinburgh Castle

View from Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

The War memorial for soldiers and civilians, men and women, who died in both world wars

History of the Royal Honors

Queen Mary's Chambers

This is the room where King James, the first ruler of the United Kingdoms of Scotland and England, was born in this room

A royal Scottish crest

The Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle

The original ceiling of the hall, built in the Victorian era from Swedish ships, was made without any nails or screws, just a supporting network of wooden beams