Trains again

I'm on the train to Scotland again.  This time I'm going to visit a couple who live up past Edinburgh.  I met them because of Caitlin, who visited them last year, and we've been emailing back and forth since I got the first email from Bill!  I'm very excited, both to meet them and to see a part of Scotland I wouldn't otherwise see.

Lessee, so what's gone on since last entry?  I wrote that on the way to Scotland, too.  After we got back from Scotland, Adam and I met dad in London, which was fun!  We were there Friday to Sunday.  On Friday, we went and saw Wicked, which was, well, wicked!  I'm not sure dad and Adam had as much fun as I did, and it was different than I was expecting.  See, I have every song from Wicked memorized (but one) but rather thought there was more to the musical than just the music, but it turns out it's mostly music!  That's alright with me, but it does throw you off at first when people keep breaking into song every few minutes.  Once I got used to it though, it was super!  The lady who played Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) was a powerhouse alto, and she was great.  And we went to dinner after that at the Thai place we went to the first time in London, at my birthday.  It was just as good as last time, even if Adam and dad inhaled the pineapple fried rice before I could even taste it!  :P  I was busy inhaling my curry with jasmine rice, though, so that was alright.


The next day dad accidentally slept late and then went running, and then when he got back we went to the Natural History museum, which if you know me, you know that Natural History museums are like... crack for me.  This one is probably the biggest I've ever seen in my life!  They had all kinds of stuffed animals- all kinds, from fish to mammals, right through the tree of life in the right order.  It was especially cool given that I took Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems this semester, and basically that was what we learned.  So I practically bounded about, pointing at things and reading signs and getting way excited, and since we couldn't see all of it we just picked certain things.

There was this really cool exhibit showing a rabbit eating grass and then it died and turned into a skeleton and the flowers bloomed where it'd died.  I thought it was awesome, and there was a room that looked like the inside of a plant leaf with all the proper cells and they lit up and a guy on a recording said what all the parts did to turn sunlight into energy.  That was cool too!  And they had a whole ecosystems part too.  We didn't see the dinosaurs cause there was a line longer than Disneyland to see them.  There was a whole hall that was closed that had a ton of stuffed mammals, but you could see them through windows in the wall that was closing off the exhibit.  It looked pretty impressive, and I'd like to go back and see it when it's open, but I don't recall when they open it back up.

Then that evening we went to this old, old restaurant with super food- I had venison pie and mashed potatoes, and before that we ate smoked salmon.  I don't think I've eaten that much since when we did Thanksgiving at Adam's place in Hull.  Epic.  I think Adam and dad were a little startled at how much I ate, cause I never eat a whole lot, but I mostly demolished that pie.  Dad left on Sunday, which was sad, but then Adam and I had to go to the train station and I got some food there and then went home.

Right now, we're skimming along next to the ocean.  Right next to the ocean, which is blueblueblue and the sun is shining, and there's no wind.  It's gorgeous!  I think Bill said we would try and see the coast this weekend, and I do so hope we do.  I said this once, but before, on this same track.  Where we are now is Berwick-Upon-Tweed and it's maybe the prettiest little town I've ever seen.  Once again, I'm wondering if maybe we've gone right from a real world to some writer's world where things are this pretty, or maybe a movie.  I see why things are often filmed here.

Anywho, I think we're to Edinburgh sometime soon, and I want to take photos, so I'm gonna post this and get off!