It's all over the news- and all over the streets. I actually got to talk to a man named Peter (with an excellent beard) from Scotland who gave me an insiders look. He told me he had voted "yes" and wanted Scotland to become independent. He told me that Scotland just has some other issues they are dealing with that are their concern- not the rest of the UK's. He said it's like owning sheep and trying to tell someone who owns pigs how to take care of them. Yes they are both animals but they both have different priorities and different needs. We learned today that if Scotland does indeed vote "yes", England will have to change their flag! (Because it is an overlay of the Scottish flag) It will be very interesting to see what happens that's for sure.
Besides all of this commotion, we got to do a lot of fun things too. The most noteworthy- we got to go INSIDE Buckingham Palace!! The palace is still a a working palace, meaning the queen still lives there. But, from July-September, the queen visits Scotland so you are allowed to go inside. Because "her majesty" was not home, the famous Palace Guards are not standing outside the gates. We were all kind of bummed that we couldn't take our "picture perfect kissy-face selfie" with a guard but getting to go inside was so much cooler (no offense guards, not that you're not cool). How many people get to say they've been INSIDE the Queen of England's house... Nice. This house was pretttyyyy fancy to dreadfully understate it. To attempt to paint the picture for you- the bronze banister in the main enters cost about $250 million. Just the banister. Oh and for all of you who think my house is huge... The palace has 779 rooms and 78 bathrooms. Ummm mom aren't you glad we don't have to clean that house?! That's one long vacuum cord.
Some other sites we saw yesterday included "Oxford Street" the biggest shopping street in the world, "Horse Guards" where Henry VIII used to joust and where the woman's volleyball games were held for the Summer Olympics in 2012, and we got to walk by the house Sir Isaac Newton lived in.
After a delicious dinner, we had free time for the rest of the night. We decided to go out on the town and wound up in a place called "Water Rats". Contrary to what it's name may illustrate in your mind, this was actually a pretty classy joint. Annnd come to find out...wait for it... BOB DYLAN ONCE PLAYED HERE. We learned Oasis did a few times as well. That was a cool feeling, to stand in the same place that these crazy talented people have stood. #ohmansoawesommmme
There weren't any big names playing the night we were there but we did get to see some other local musicians which was cool (: one group of guys sang about fried chicken though and that was kind of strange... Maybe we aren't so different after all ;P
When we got back to the hotel, I FaceTimed Izaak for his birthday, which I felt very sad I couldn't be there for, and told the fam briefly about my adventures so far.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Cheerio for now (:
Peace,
E