Berwick Upon Tweed

On Sunday we spent the day in Berwick Upon Tweed. It’s about an hour’s train ride south of here and it’s a gorgeous seaside town at the top of the Northumberland area of England. The destination came very highly recommended by two people I work with and a few from Brandon’s work too.

We started the day without much of a plan. We knew a few basics about what might be good to see but we decided rather than have maps and itineraries, we’d just wing it. We began with a trip to McDonald’s for breakfast on the way to the train station. This is a singular treat for us now…long gone are the days of grabbing breakfast burritos at the drive-thru on the way to work. We caught the 10:33 train and ours was the first stop on this service ultimately bound for London. It was a beautiful ride and the view soon changed from green rolling fields to shoreline cliffs. The best part for me was seeing all the sheep of course.

Sheep and the sea...perfection!

We pulled into the Berwick station at about ten past 11. We began by wandering from the station in the direction we thought was towards the centre of town. But we got a little sidetracked by a small path and we followed it down to the quay side where we got some great photos of the bridges. Up another path and we then rather quickly found ourselves in front of a church. Service had just let out and we tried to go sneak a peek inside, but we were turned away due to a meeting that was taking place. We wandered through the cemetery for a bit and I tried to find a Summers’ monument since we found out the night before that Brandon’s family came from that area. No luck there, but we quickly drifted towards another church that’s set inside the walls of the cemetery. The door was unlocked but until we found a sign that said visitors were welcome, I wouldn’t let Brandon go in. When we did go in though, we were so glad we did. It was beautiful and so perfectly silent and still. I love finding churches like that. While I know the big ones (Westminster in particular) are still houses of worship first, they just somehow lack the presence that small, seemingly undiscovered churches have. We didn’t even take pictures inside because it just seemed like it would be wrong.

The path down to the quayside walk.

Monuments inside the cemetery.

The Catholic church.

We could see the Berwick Barracks, a complex we knew was there, but it’s all closed up for the winter so we couldn’t go in. We made our way back towards the centre of town, bought a magnet for our fridge, and got a map from the shop owner. Then we made our way back towards the train station which turns out is built on the site of the old castle. There’s not much left now, and what is there is in the middle of a cattle pasture. We walked up the hill and climbed over the wall to see what is obviously a party spot. There was garbage all over and graffiti which made me a little sad. But, we took pictures through the windows in the wall and then made our way down the hill to the river bank where we stood and visited with the cows a bit. There was another view point to climb up on and this spot afforded great views of the rail bridge. Brandon tried to blaze his own path up the hill but didn’t get far due to the amazingly thick ivy growing everywhere.

Iside the ruins of the castle.

A great view of the rail bridge.

Back up into town and into a chippy for lunch. We shared an order of fish and chips and a small pizza which was all very good. And then, since I was lucky enough to have caught a wicked cold last week, we went into the grocery store to buy some drugs. And Kleenex. Lots and lots of Kleenex. And that’s when we found the old town wall. Berwick has a very turbulent past. It’s changed hands between the English and the Scots about 15 times since the 16^th century due to its strategic location between the Tweed River and the ocean. The wall is built up with gun placements and bunkers and you can walk around almost the whole town.

Walking on the town wall.

We stopped at a gate to chat a bit with some ladies out walking their super friendly collie dog and eventually found our way to the street that lead us to the breakwater and lighthouse. I couldn’t smell the ocean due to my cold, but Brandon said it wasn’t too fishy smelling, just salty. Even without the scent I was flooded with memories of all the walks we took along the breakwater in Victoria when Grandma and Grandpa Penner lived there. This wasn’t nearly as wide or as long and we couldn’t go right out to the end where the lighthouse was placed though, a fact that made Brandon quite sad. They’d even extended the fence out beyond the cement walkway so you couldn’t just step out and around the edge. We stood around here for a while and then made our way back. We didn’t get very far though before I jumped down onto the beach to collect a little bit of sand. And to take a picture of a piece of driftwood. And to pick up seashells. I could’ve spent hours there searching for the perfect shell but it was getting rather chilly and we had a way to go yet.

This is as close to the lighthouse we could get.

Best self portrait of the day!

A rather huge piece of driftwood on the beach.

We found our way back up onto the wall and we just wandered a bit into town too, and eventually found our way back to the main street. There was a fabulous little antique shop that had the cutest little collection of mini teapots in the window, but it was closed so I couldn’t inspect it closer. Probably a good thing! We decided to call it a day and made it over to the train station. Back to Edinburgh and back to home. It was a fabulous day.

And this photo is just a friendly reminder that it is January!

Calton Hill Sunset

Just a quick post to share some photos from last night's sunset. I walked Brandon to work, toured myself through the National Gallery, bought a cup of tea, and then headed up Calton Hill to watch the sunset. It is apparently the best place in the city to take one in and I have to say I now agree.

A Scottish man came and talked to me while I was up on the hill and told me that he thought my accent was more English than Canadian. I found him a little creepy, but he was a very good example of how friendly and open to chatting most people here are.

Uncomfortable

I'm currently watching the film The Reader on TV. It’s the second time I’ve seen it and I’ve read the book too. It’s just now at the part where young Michael is at university and is attending Hannah’s trial. One of his classmates has brought up a point that everyone at the time knew what was going on and did nothing. He said that if he was handed a gun in the courtroom, he would shoot Hannah and the other five women on trial with her without question.

It got me thinking: What would I do? What a horribly uncomfortable question. If I, like the character Hannah, had taken a job for the SS and found myself suddenly in the middle of something I didn’t expect, would I try to get out? Would I run - desert my post? Would I stand up for or decide against killing the people I was there to guard? Would my sense of compassion and true morality be able to overrule my base human nature to protect my own life? Could I stand in front of a bullet aimed at a woman whose only crime was that she was born into a religion other than my own?

I’d like to believe that I would be brave enough to know that what was happening around me was wrong. I’d like to think I would be like those generals who plotted against Hitler from inside his own army.

But if I’m being fully honest with myself, I don’t know if I could. Could you?

One of my goals while living here in Europe is to go to an internment camp. Not for some voyeuristic view of what happened or to selfishly get a glimpse to satisfy my curiosity of what a camp might look like. No, I want the shock of it. I want to see for myself the buildings and the wire so that I don’t ever begin to feel comfortable about this topic. No one should ever feel comfortable about it.

Empty Flat

Well, apparently I’m bad at posting. Sorry! Let me catch up. New Year’s Eve was a lot of fun. Graham and I met Brandon in the lounge of the Radisson when he was finished work and we made a much deserved stop at The Clam Shell for chips, cheese and gravy. We continued up the Royal Mile to find our spot for firework watching. We had hoped we might be able to get down onto the Mound which is a street that runs down below the castle and would give us a really good view. But the Mound was closed off due to the big party that was going on in the gardens. Instead we claimed our bit of street not far back from the barricade blocking the castle esplanade. We had to wait about twenty minutes and we were watching the time, but all of a sudden the fireworks started. We were a bit disappointed to not have taken part in a countdown, but the fireworks were awesome. It was so cool to see the castle underneath them and feel the crowd all around.

In the Clam Shell chippy

Mmmmm...

This is from our spot for the fireworks

They were over much too fast but we slowly made our way back down the hill at the same time as all the people in the gardens were getting out of the parties. What was a nearly deserted Royal Mile turned into quite the party. There was a guy playing bag pipes in front of one building and when he stopped to take a break Brandon asked if he could play a tune. So he did what he does best and soon everyone all around was dancing and having a great time. We eventually found a pub that wasn’t full or closed and we eventually fought our way to the bar for a drink. Graham was up for partying hard but Brandon was exhausted after just working a seriously busy ten hour day and I was ready for bed so we made our way back to the flat. In the pub just around the corner from us we heard a piper. That’s odd for this pub so the boys went in to check it out while I continued home. Brandon came in about twenty minutes later but Graham stayed out for a few more hours. I heard him come in but I have no idea what time it was!

Brandon playing for a very happy crowd!

We tried to keep Graham busy for the rest of his stay. He and Brandon went to Glasgow one day, he climbed the steps up to the top of the Scott Monument, went to Edinburgh Castle twice, he and Brandon went on a Highland and Loch Ness tour, he and I went to Craigmillar Castle and also to Stirling to see the Wallace Monument and the castle there, he toured Holyrood Palace, and the three of us had an amazing dinner at the Witchery which was a gift from Brandon and Graham’s mom and dad. I really hope he had a great time and that he felt welcome here and that he saw everything he wanted to. The flat feels much emptier now and we feel like we’re all of a sudden back to real life.  

Now about the Witchery dinner. What an awesome place. It’s located in a 16^th century building right up close to the castle. It’s decorated with gorgeous painted ceilings, leather seats, antique everything, and lit by nearly complete candlelight. The tables are set when you arrive with white napkins tied in red velvet ribbon and you just feel like you’re in a very elite and special place. We had quite the spread which included things like steak tartar, foie gras, pigeon, red deer, oysters, prawns, wine, port, scotch, crème brulee, cheese and the very sought after import – Yukon Gold potatoes. It was a great experience and I think I speak for my dinner companions when I say a huge thank you for the gift. Plus, I got to wear my new shoes which made the night even sweeter.

So now we’re in January and we have to start thinking about bills and things again. Boo. Brandon’s starting to amp up his practicing schedule as the push to the spring and summer competitions is going to start very soon. As am I since my band is aiming to win the grade three pool at World’s. I’m also in job search mode again which is not going all that well so far. I’ve been kept on at Paperchase but only on a four hour per week contract. So far I’m getting a minimum of twelve hours, but that’s not nearly enough. I love the job and the people there so I’m so happy to stay, but I just wish it was more full time.

And that’s got us caught up again. I’m still writing my Scottish Life posts so watch for more in the (hopefully) near future. I’m off now to clean Simon Fish’s tank.