Scotland: Edinburgh LDS Ward

This weekend was spent completing a lot of activities at church.  It has been fun to meet new people, see the Edinburgh mission home where the church-famous "What-er'e thou art, act well thy part" rock is located.  We had ward BBQ where we made our own ice cream, watch the Elder's compete in a ridiculous banana eating contest, and made new friends.  There are a lot of missionaries here in Edinburgh.  Sister Hobbs from England and Sister Adams from Seattle are fun girls.  There are also a lot of interns and students from America that are in the ward. 

 

After church we had a YSA mingle and there was also a baptism for the Chinese speaking Elder missionaries.  The evening ended in a Joseph Smith Memorial fireside directed by my sister and her friend Michael.  It was a long church day with a 30 minute walking commute, but it was a nice day.

Scotland: Edinburgh Film Festival

Laura has been attending the Edinburgh Film Festival and we went to see a documentary called #ChicagoGirl.  This was an amazing film that documents the work of Ala'a, a Syrian girl who lives in Chicago who had and still is organizing the protests and revolt activities in Syria since 2011.

This film accomplishes several objectives.  First is a documentation of the efforts by the brave people leading and participating in the Free Syria movement.  Second, it demonstrates the power of people when mobilized against/for a specific cause.  Third it shows the functional power of social media when used productively.  Ala'a acts as a connection to different people within Syria and creates Facebook events for protests.  She spends every waking moment on Facebook, twitter, and email.  She has received death threats for her work.  She has also bravely left America to relieved supplies on multiple occasions. 

After seeing such an intense and thoughtful movie we decided to see something lighthearted and watched "Walking On Sunshine" a 80's pop musical, similar to Mamma Mia.  We all agreed it was a lot better than Mamma Mia story as well as vocals.  It was also better than Rock Of Ages, although I like 80's rock more than pop.  Overall I hope it makes it to America cinema in some form or another as the actor is rather attractive and movie is a lot of fun.

Scotland: Witchery Ghost Tour

Laura and I took a walking ghost tour of Edinburgh.  It was more so, led by a "ghost" than a chance to see them, but it was a fascinating lesson in the history of Edinburgh in relation to witchery, the plague, and other sordid histories.  Warning some of this is graphic!

We started at the top of the Royal Mile discussing the history of persecuting witches.  When someone was accused of being a Witch they were tossed in a barrel of whiskey and the lid was nailed shut.  If they still didn't confess then giant spikes we nailed into the barrel, piercing the accused.  If they still denied their involvement the barrel was tossed down the hill of the Royal Mile over and over again until the person inside died.  Another way to determine if they were a witch was to apply pillywinks to their fingers and squeeze them tighter and tighter until their fingernails popped off. One other way described was to tie their hands together and attach them to their feet and drop them in the North Loch.  If they floated they were a witch and were subsequently burned at the stake.  If they weren't they drowned but where given a Christian burial.  Overall in Scotland 4,000 people were killed as witches in the 16-17th century.

We heard many gross tales about the spread of the black plague in Edinburgh.  The buildings were tall and full of people, the streets were full of human sewage and rats.  Not hard to imagine how it quickly spread.  What a miserable way to live and die.

 We had a lesson about the trade of bodies.  Medical students would pay £10 a body to dissect.  This resulted in a lot of grave digging, and eventually to some entrepreneurial Irish men who decided to help the sick and lowly find a quick peaceful death.  

The last stop was at Parliament square where an Earl and assassinated the queen.  He was strung up from the top of a pole and dropped over and over until all of his bones where broken.  Then he was shoved in the box for a night.  The next day they affixed an Iron mask to his head that branded "King of the Traitors" across his forehead.  Once the Iron cooled they removed it effectively scalping the man.  After a third night in the box they slit him from neck to groin, removed each innards one at a time, ending with his beating heart.  and then quartered him.  Each piece was moved to a different corner of Edinburgh to serve as warning and they spiked his head and hands at the entrance of the city gate.

Pretty gross histories indeed.  The extra dressed as a plague doctor, a witch named Agnus, and a crazy burned monk.  At one point the monk decided to be Laura's boyfriend.  He was funny but actually did a good job scaring people to the point that one lady "wee'd her pants!''

 

Scotland: Harry Potter Walk of Edinburgh

If you know me, you know I love Harry Potter.  Edinburgh is not only J.K. Rowling's current home, it is also where the books were written and some of the places inspired places in the tale.  We took a free walking tour with an excellent guide and really enjoyed ourselves as well as learned many things.  We started at Greyfriars Bobby and the Graveyard:

The first stop was the gravestone that inspired Professor McGonagall's name.  The tour guide was quick to point out that the name was where the similarities end as this man was a rather terrible poet.

Behind the graveyard is the George Heriot School, the fundamentals of which are very similar to Hogwarts.  This school has a great hall and four houses whose colors are red, yellow, green, and blue that the students are sorted into as they begin school.  Here we also held a small sorting.

Our last stop at the cemetery was at the grave site of Tom Riddell, son of Thomas Riddell Sr.  This is of course the inspiration for Lord Voldemort's real name.

On we walked to see the building which housed the first cafe where Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was written.  We learned that the idea for the first book came to J.K. on a train while in England and a few years later she began to write in what is now the Spoon Cafe. 

She continued to write in the nearby Elephant Room tea house.  This place considers itself to be the birthplace of Harry Potter while in all reality she focused on writing books 2-5 there.  Elsewhere in Edinburgh is the Balmoral Hotel. In room 552, J.K. finished the last chapter of book 7, the Deathly Hallows." She signed a marble statue that was on the mantle in the room saying “in this room, J.K. Rowling finished the Harry Potter series”. The statue is now in a glass case, and the room is now called the “J.K. Rowling Suite” and  they change the doorknob to an owl. You can stay there for £950 a night. Yikes!

 Near the Elephant room is a walkway called  Potterow Port.  This isn't necessarily where she got Harry's last name but a fun find nevertheless.

 Our final official stop was on Victoria Street, the inspiration for Diagon alley with it's narrow diagonal streets, colorful shops, a joke shop, and nearby is a Honeydukes candyshop (unfortunately it is now closed).

 

While George Heriot school maybe the internal inspiration for Hogwarts, Edinburgh castle is an obvious external inspiration with its expansive grounds, lake, forestry areas, and towers.

Scotland: Edinburgh Zoo

We originally were going to take a bus to the coast but it has been a bit dreary since I arrived (looks like my weather reversal is at it again!) so we decided to stay in town and check out the zoo.  My sister hadn't ever been and I am a big fan of animals and had never seen a Koala or Panda in person so off we went. 

It was a lovely zoo, that had nice large habitats for the animals.  We saw various monkeys and cats.  The Tiger was stalking the deer in the next habitat, the deer that kept staring us in the face as we walked by even though the sign claimed it was reclusive and shy.  The deer looked at us so much that we decided it was magic and full of secrets. 

I'm full of secrets...

 

Pygmay Hippo

There was a penguin exhibit with many interesting types of penguins.  It was fun to watch them be fed, build their nests, and swim around. 

The Meerkats were hilarious as they dug tunnels and stood up looking at us as we looked at them.

The Pandas lazed about eating bamboo.  They are waiting to see if the female panda is indeed pregnant as they suspect she is.  The had a special Fed-Ex "Panda Plane" deliver them from China.

The Koalas were shy and cuddly as they all took naps.

Overall we had a fun time visiting the zoo.