Portsmouth - December 8, 2008

Stephanie: Here we are in Portsmouth again. This is Russell in front of the museum.


Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of Portsmouth's most distinguished former residents. The Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the museum was fascinating with lots of memorabilia about the famous detective from all over the world. He is still just as popular today with a new movie coming out next year with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Can't wait!


Russell practically dragged me to the Portsmouth Royal Theatre's production of 'Northanger Abbey.' OK, just kidding.
Here I am enjoying a pre-show glass of wine. I really enjoyed the play--very well done. Russell went in with super low expectations (and a beer) and thought it was not a complete waste of time, though he could've gone without the 10 minute long dance sequences. He really is a good husband :)
Btw, the girl next to me answered her phone during the production and had a conversation. How rude is that?!


Russell by the beautiful Portsmouth harbor.


This is the pub where we ate. We recommend it.

Christmas in Winchester - December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving! - November 27, 2008

Russell: For Thanksgiving this year, we went over to our friends Cotton and Rupert's house. Cotton is another Texan that lives two blocks from us and Rupert is her South African boyfriend. Cotton was in Sigma Phi Lambda (Stephanie's old sorority) at Texas Tech and loves football. Rupert's sister was there too with her boyfriend from New Zealand. BTW they call New Zealanders Kiwis. We introduced them to Green Bean Casserole and Sweet Potatoes with way too much sugar on them.

We ate a great traditional thanksgiving dinner, watched Rugby and football, and played Texas Holdem. Unfortunately the three Texans lost to a south african, so I guess we didn't represent well.

Stephanie's Birthday - November 19, 2008

Stephanie: I celebrated my 29th birthday on November 19th. We had a party when my parents came. They know how to make birthdays special. Russell took me out to dinner (and got me lots of Jane Austen stuff from the museum) and my classmates gave me a card and candy. I haven't decided whether this will be the first of many 29th birthdays but if they can be as great as this one, I will seriously consider it.

Guy Fawkes Day Bonfire - November 8, 2008

Russell: The British know how to hold a grudge.  Back in the 1600's, a guy named Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the British Parliament, but luckily was thwarted.  Apparently, torturing him for five straight days and executing him was not a big enough punishment.  To this day, they heap more disgrace on him by creating a fake Guy and burning him on top of a bonfire every year.  This is replicated across the nation on Guy Fawkes Night (November 5th), so hundreds of Guys are burnt each year.  I think they need to get over it.

The Guy sitting on top of the bonfire

Stephanie rooting for the Guy to burn

They also had fireworks after the Guy burned

The next few days, we toured around Winchester with Jim and Lois, showing them the local sights.  After a week's stay they headed back to America, with full stomachs and enough stories to tell for years to come.

Eating at a pub with Jim and Lois

Jane Austen's House - November 7, 2008

Stephanie: On another day trip, we visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton. Mom and I were super excited. Russell and Dad brought along reading material. This house is where Austen spent the last eight years of her life (before moving to Winchester to be near her doctor before she died). It is here she revised three of her novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey and wrote the other three: Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion. Her writing desk was on display but I was not allowed to sit at it.

The house is as it was when she lived there, with original furniture, clothes, and memorabilia on display. It was such a remarkable experience, as I am a huge fan of hers. I am in awe of her talent and writing abilities, especially when I think about how she wrote: at a small desk, on expensive sheets of paper, constantly dipping her pen into ink. I feel very spoiled (and inferior) having a laptop and delete button (which I use often). I can't imagine writing in longhand, draft after draft. Though now I'm thinking I should try it...

After almost clearing out the gift shop of Jane Austen stuff (tea towels, note cards, mugs, plastic bag holders--you get the picture), we headed to Casandra's Tea Room (named for Austen's sister) across the street for a cream tea. Delightful!

http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/

Trip to Oxford - November 6, 2008

Stephanie: My parents arrived in Winchester November 5th. It was great to see them. One of our day trips was to Oxford. We took a tour of Oxford University, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. The architecture and grounds were beautiful, so is the grass. No one is allowed to walk on it (just like at A&M!)


Mom and Dad helped us navigate the city.



We had lunch at The Turf pub, a favorite of many famous patrons, including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein who hung out there. Another patron: Bill Clinton when he was a Rhodes Scholar.

American Election Night in England - November 4, 2008

Russell: For election night, Stephanie and I went to a local pub that was having an party, hosted by the Liberal Democrats (they were the only ones having an event).  It was odd how interested they were in America.   The place was decked out in American flags and red, white and blue decorations.  Of the 325 people that were there, we met only one other American.  We quickly found the McCain section (about 5 people) and hung out with them until 3AM.  Unfortunately for us, and the U.S., Obama won. But we still had fun. 

Russell and Steph at Oneil's Pub Election night party

Steph Visits a Wolf Sancuary - November 4, 2008

Hi ho, Stephanie here:

I got to go on a field trip to a Wolf Sanctuary! I was a little nervous because we had to sign a waiver but it was a really cool experience.

You may wonder what a Wolf Sanctuary has to do with a writing course. Well, it explores the subject of wolves in literature. Apparently they haven't always been portrayed in the best light. We had to watch a video at the beginning to see a history of wolves and how they are viewed and cared for throughout the world. It did make me reconsider the stereotypes of wolves as grandma-eating, house-blowing down, predatory baddies. The sanctuary is one of the only ones in Britain and promotes wolf education and activism. The wolves are allowed to participate in movies and television but only if it portrays them positively.

We hiked out in the sanctuary with the wolves. They were on long chain leashes, held by two handlers each, so I didn't need to worry. Here I am on my meet and greet. I got to rub her belly and stroke her back. She was very calm--just like Nigel, only bigger, hairier and she could rip my hand off if she wanted to. She didn't seem very interested in me though. It was awesome!

Scotland Trip - October 15-20, 2008 (Part One)

Day 1: Arriving in Glasgow

After arriving to Glasgow by train, we checked into our hotel and explored around. It was too late to visit any museums, so we went on a quick walk around the hotel area and went back to the hotel to eat. I tried Haggis for the first time with neeps’ and taties’ (turnips and mashed potatoes).

My first bite of Haggis BTW Haggis is a combination of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs along with various spices and is prepared by boiling it in the intestine of the animal. To me it looked and tasted like ground beef but with a pasty texture to it. It's pretty decent considering what it's made out of. Day Two: Exploring Glasgow We started off by having a hearty Scottish breakfast. I tried another traditional Scottish food that has disgusting origins. The majority of Black Pudding is made out of cooked blood that becomes congealed when it is heated. They toss in a meat filler which has a lot of fat in it. This wasn't as good as Haggis. From there we went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery Museum.

Stephanie making friends with a statue

They had a lot of interesting things ranging from a Salvador Dali painting to a tacky Elvis with a glowing halo.

Stephanie with angelic fat Elvis

Call me uncouth, but I liked the tacky Elvis better. From the museum we had an early afternoon tea at the Willow Tea Room. It was designed by an artist named Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which I think was supposed to impress me. Seeing as how this was more for Stephanie than for me, I acted impressed and enjoyed a good cup of tea.

Russell enjoying an afternoon tea

After our tea, we walked to the University of Glasgow where we paid for a cheap, but very infomative tour of the campus. The U of Glasgow was home to Lord Kelvin (the father of Thermodynamics), James Watt (is cool because he has an electrical unit named after him), and Adam Smith (the father of modern economics). Honestly, I'm not a very big fan of Lord Kelvin. I can't remember my exact grade in Thermo, but I know it wasn't good and I hated the class. I did not become a civil engineer to remember pv=nrt. I'll never forgive him for taking up space in my brain that I desperately need for an equation that I'll never use.

Russell sulking in front of Lord Kelvin's statue

Other than their infatuation with Lord Kelvin, the university was a great place to visit. It had beautiful archicture and a really old feel to it.

Stephanie in front of the main building

The south side of the main building

Before leaving, we were told to check out the Hunterian Museum on campus where they had on display Robert the Bruce's toe. We saw the toe. Upon leaving the museum we decided to take a walk through Kelvin park. We ate at a restaraunt called Blas where we tried Cullen Skink, which is basically just chowder. It was good though, and we were able to see Kelvingrove Museum lit up at night.

Kelvingrove Museum at night

Here I am the next day describing the food we ate in an awesome Scottish accent. I totally blended with the locals.

Day 3: Glasgow/Inverness/Tain

We did a lot of traveling on Day 3 since we had to make it up to Inverness for a boat cruise out of there the next day. The train ride was six hours long, but we were able to see a lot of the scottish countryside and the William Wallace monument in Stirling.

The William Wallace monument in Stirling. "FREEDOM!!!"

We arrived in Inverness and then took a cab to see the Glenmorangie Scotch distillery in Tain.

Russell enjoying scotch at the Glenmorangie distillery

The cab was driven by a country music listening Scot that spoke both English and Gaelic. It was a very entertaining ride. He was especially excited to know that I was named after John Wayne (Wayne's my middle name). We arrived at the distillery and received three "wee drams" of scotch for tasting. They let us keep our nosing glasses and gave us a free hardback book about the history of scotch. We were able to walk around, look at the stills, go to their tasting room, buy some scotch and see where it was aged.

The Glenmorangie whisky stills, the tallest in Scotland

From the distillery, we walked to the Morangie House Hotel. It was the nicest hotel that we stayed in during our Scotland trip. It was even nice enough for both the Queen Mum and Prince Andrew to visit.

Stephanie in front of the Morangie House Hotel

Russell and Stephanie enjoying the posh environment

Dinner was delicious. We each ordered an appetizer and decided to share a main course (chicken stuffed with haggis, yum). It turned out to be a great idea, because my appetizer was huge. We went to bed tired, but with an empty stomach.

Russell with his appetizer - mussels

Scotland Trip - October 15-20, 2008 (Part Two)

Day 4: Inverness/Loch Ness/Edinburgh

We woke up very early and took a train to Inverness where we took the bus to our Loch Ness cruise.  Our main goal was to find the monster.  Although I believe in UFO's, I don't believe in Nessie.  Stephanie, however, was determined to find her.

Stephanie looking for the Loch Ness monster

The Loch was beautiful.  It reminded me a lot of Washington state.  There wasn't very many other boats out so a lot the time it felt like we had it to ourselves.   

Russell and Stephanie on Loch Ness

As you would expect, it was cold and very windy,... 

Stephanie trying to stay warm

...but we were still sad to get off the boat when we arrived at our destination: Urquhart Castle.

Stephanie and Russell at Urquhart Castle

At Urquhart we felt a little rushed, as we were only given about 50 minutes to look around before the tour bus left to take us back to Inverness.  Urquhart has been around since the 6th century and has seen many people storm its walls, but none as fierce as Stephanie (and definately none wearing a pink hat).

Stephanie storming the castle

Stephanie after storming the castle

From there, we took a tour bus back to Inverness and listened to a very entertaining tour guide that sounded like Willy from the Simpson's.  From Inverness we took a train to Edinburgh, found a hotel, ate dinner at a burger place and relaxed the rest of the night.

Picture taken by Stephanie from the Forth Railway Bridge near Edinburgh

Day Five: Edinburgh

The day began early with a monumental discovery.  See the movie below.

Wow, and you think you know a person. 

From there we went to visit Edingburgh Castle, which was the highlight of the trip.

Russell with Edinburgh castle in the background

The castle is over 900 years old and is where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James I who united Scotland and England under one rule when Queen Elizabeth died.  It holds the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny which is an ancient Scottish relic that King Edward I stole in the 1300's.  It was placed in Westminster Abbey until 1950 when a group of college students from the University of Glasgow broke into Westminster Abbey, stole it and took it back to Scotland.  England eventually got it back, but the backlash caused them to permanently "loan" it to Scotland, only taking it back whenever a new monarch was crowned.  Very interesting story. 

Russell on top of Edinburgh Castle

Stephanie touring the castle

Stephanie and Russell bombarding Edinburgh from the castle

View of Edinburgh from the castle

There were a lot of interesting things to see there.  We spent three hours walking around the grounds and through the various buildings.  In the dungeons they have on display an old door to the cells where the prisoners were housed that had a lot of graffiti scrawled into it.  The most interesting one was from an American prisoner held there during the Revolutionary War.  Long live the stars and stripes!

From the castle we went to the Scottish Museum and the Museum of Childhood.

Scottish Museum:  Can you spot Stephanie?

We went back to our hotel, rested and ate dinner.  That night we went on a ghost and ghouls tour of the Edinburgh underground which was, according to the BBC, the most haunted place in Scotland.  We saw neither ghosts nor ghouls, but as you can see below, Stephanie was still scared.

Stephanie trying to be brave during the ghost tour

Day Six: Edinburgh and back to  Winchester

Before leaving Edinburgh we manage to see the National Scottish Art Gallery and the Museum of Writers.  We walked around the Royal Mile of Edinburgh one last time and headed home back to Winchester.  

Stephanie on the Royal Mile

Stephanie in front of the Museum of Writers