The last two weeks we had two more exotics practicals.
The first practical was learning how to do physical exams of exotic animals. In March I will be examined on my ability to complete a physical exam on a rabbit but we were also taught how to complete physical exams on reptiles.
For those who don't know or don't remember I am not particularly fond of snakes (also referred to as the "shoulderless ones" by one of my professors). So naturally the snake was the first animal we had to work with. According to the professor the snake was a very friendly snake (Kellogg the corn snake... catch the pun?). He started by showing us how to do the physical exam, where to look for the heart beating (you can see it beating through the skin), what to palpate for, and how to open his mouth. And then he passed the snake around. When it came to be my turn to hold the snake and do the physical exam he was getting a little fidgety. My physical exam on Kellogg was umm... less than thorough. I was more focused on not dropping the snake or have it slither all over me.
Next we moved onto the bearded dragon. Again, not a huge fan of lizards but they are way better than snakes. He let us watch the bearded dragon eat. They are slightly perverse animals. They refuse to eat the cricket unless it is moving. There was a standoff while the cricket remained stationary about 4 inches from the bearded dragon's mouth, but the dragon refused to go for it because it wasn't moving. Once the cricket finally made a break for it the dragon snapped. It was incredible how fast it could move.
Tortoises were next. They are definitely more my thing. No sudden moves and the ones we were working with don't bite. A physical exam of a tortoise is somewhat limited because of their shell. One thing we did learn is you can listen to them breath. You put them next to your ear (not advised in a tortoise that bites!) and then listen. They make this really adorable sighing noise.
After the reptiles we moved onto the rabbits. The rabbit we were working with was a little fidgety. At one point she tried to run off the table but because we were holding her all that happened was she pushed the towel off the table and it flew across the room. All in all it went pretty well. We have a review session in a couple weeks which will hopefully refresh everything before the exam in March.
Our second practical was another cadaver practical. This time we were working with quails. Birds are another animal I am not super fond of so I wasn't really looking forward to this practical. But it was actually really enjoyable. We got to learn where to give injections, how to flush their sinuses and how to put a catheter in their bone to give them fluids in an emergency. The most interesting thing we got to do was put an air sac tube in. The bird respiratory system is incredibly complicated. In addition to their lungs they have things called air sacs which fill a lot of their abdomen, chest and even their neck. So if you need to help them breath and you can't put a tube down their throat you can put a tube in an air sac and ventilate their lungs. We made an incision into its abdomen and inserted our tube. We then attached an ambu bag (think of the bag they put over patients faces in all the doctor shows when the patient is crashing). When you squeezed the bag your bird would inflate if it was in the right location and luckily when we squeezed our bird inflated! Birds are definitely not my thing but this made them a little less scary.
We have officially finished our exotics course until our exams in March. Now onto horses.
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Wednesday 25 January 2017
The Joys and Downfalls of Living in an Old Building
Edinburgh is filled with beautiful old buildings and I am fortunate enough to live in one. I live in a tenement building (multi-occupancy building) in an area of Edinburgh called Newington. If I crane my neck out my bedroom window I can just see Arthur's Seat and Salisbury crags. Not too bad on a student budget!
When we went looking for our flat a couple years ago we looked at quite a few flats. Put our name down for some and never came up successful. When we toured the flat we live in now we knew this was the one we really wanted. The landlord was a little hesitant as she had never rented to anything but professionals and post-grad students. But after some assurances we were very mature and studious, she decided we were who she wanted for tenants.
Our flat is on the third floor (North American fourth floor... What we would call a first floor in North America they call the ground floor and so a North American second floor is their first floor). Moving into the flat was quite the workout. Down 48 stairs from my other place, luckily just down the road a few blocks and then back up the 63 stairs to this place (yes, I counted...). We are on the top floor and because of that we have beautifully tall ceilings. The floor plan of our flat is quite small but having the tall ceilings makes it feel much bigger than it is. I promised pictures of my flat a long time ago so I figured it was time I finally delivered!
While living in this old building has its wonderful perks there are also some downsides. Two weeks ago we had quite the roller coaster of a week.
Tuesday afternoon our toilet stopped working. The tank wouldn't refill. So as long as we refilled it manually using a bucket and a sink it would flush. But everything else in our bathroom seemed to be working. Water outages are quite common (in September we had three separate incidents where we had no water due to water mains bursting) so we decided to wait until morning to sort it out. When I showered the next morning part way through the shower the water pressure dropped. The cold water to the shower had stopped working. Over the course of the day we lost cold water to our bathtub and bathroom sink. Throughout it all though, we always had hot water in our bathroom and normal running water in our kitchen. We were very confused. One of the evenings I was in our utility closet to see if somehow we had managed to turn half our water off. Thats when it occurred to me: We didn't have cold water in the room adjacent to our next door flat. And next door they were doing construction and no one was living there. They also started working again after Christmas the day we lost water. Had they turned the water off in the flat next door and also managed to turn our water off? We approached the neighbour with our problem and she talked to the construction workers. They had in fact turned the water off Tuesday, the day we lost water. But the workers were adamant that it was definitely not related. It had to be something within our own flat. But it all seemed too much of a coincidence for me. We lost water the day they turn the water off, only in the room adjacent to that flat and only cold water (we have an on demand hot water heater that was supplying the hot water). After another day of discussions they finally agreed to turn the water to the neighbours flat back on for the weekend. And when we returned home from class Friday evening we had running water! It turns out we share a water supply with our neighbour... So that's something our landlord will have to sort out at some point.
As if losing water for four days wasn't enough, the Wednesday of the same week we had a gas leak. I came home from grocery shopping and the whole flat smelled of gas. We turned the gas supply to the flat off and opened all the windows. To confuse things further I was cat sitting for a friend who was having her flat inspected. In the UK windows don't have screens. So when you open the window it is open to outside. That meant we had to put the cat in the carrier while we had the windows open to prevent it from jumping out a window. That cat was not impressed to say the least. The gas company sent someone out promptly and he worked around in our utility closet. After a while he came out, said it was fixed and left. So we have no idea what was wrong but it's fixed and we haven't had a problem since then.
I do love our flat, but this has definitely given me an insight into living in an older building. Maybe when I go to buy my first place I will look for a newer construction...
When we went looking for our flat a couple years ago we looked at quite a few flats. Put our name down for some and never came up successful. When we toured the flat we live in now we knew this was the one we really wanted. The landlord was a little hesitant as she had never rented to anything but professionals and post-grad students. But after some assurances we were very mature and studious, she decided we were who she wanted for tenants.
Our flat is on the third floor (North American fourth floor... What we would call a first floor in North America they call the ground floor and so a North American second floor is their first floor). Moving into the flat was quite the workout. Down 48 stairs from my other place, luckily just down the road a few blocks and then back up the 63 stairs to this place (yes, I counted...). We are on the top floor and because of that we have beautifully tall ceilings. The floor plan of our flat is quite small but having the tall ceilings makes it feel much bigger than it is. I promised pictures of my flat a long time ago so I figured it was time I finally delivered!
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| Our Kitchen |
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| Bedroom |
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| My lovely fake fireplace (but it does light up and produce heat!) |
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| Snowy view from my desk window |
While living in this old building has its wonderful perks there are also some downsides. Two weeks ago we had quite the roller coaster of a week.
Tuesday afternoon our toilet stopped working. The tank wouldn't refill. So as long as we refilled it manually using a bucket and a sink it would flush. But everything else in our bathroom seemed to be working. Water outages are quite common (in September we had three separate incidents where we had no water due to water mains bursting) so we decided to wait until morning to sort it out. When I showered the next morning part way through the shower the water pressure dropped. The cold water to the shower had stopped working. Over the course of the day we lost cold water to our bathtub and bathroom sink. Throughout it all though, we always had hot water in our bathroom and normal running water in our kitchen. We were very confused. One of the evenings I was in our utility closet to see if somehow we had managed to turn half our water off. Thats when it occurred to me: We didn't have cold water in the room adjacent to our next door flat. And next door they were doing construction and no one was living there. They also started working again after Christmas the day we lost water. Had they turned the water off in the flat next door and also managed to turn our water off? We approached the neighbour with our problem and she talked to the construction workers. They had in fact turned the water off Tuesday, the day we lost water. But the workers were adamant that it was definitely not related. It had to be something within our own flat. But it all seemed too much of a coincidence for me. We lost water the day they turn the water off, only in the room adjacent to that flat and only cold water (we have an on demand hot water heater that was supplying the hot water). After another day of discussions they finally agreed to turn the water to the neighbours flat back on for the weekend. And when we returned home from class Friday evening we had running water! It turns out we share a water supply with our neighbour... So that's something our landlord will have to sort out at some point.
As if losing water for four days wasn't enough, the Wednesday of the same week we had a gas leak. I came home from grocery shopping and the whole flat smelled of gas. We turned the gas supply to the flat off and opened all the windows. To confuse things further I was cat sitting for a friend who was having her flat inspected. In the UK windows don't have screens. So when you open the window it is open to outside. That meant we had to put the cat in the carrier while we had the windows open to prevent it from jumping out a window. That cat was not impressed to say the least. The gas company sent someone out promptly and he worked around in our utility closet. After a while he came out, said it was fixed and left. So we have no idea what was wrong but it's fixed and we haven't had a problem since then.
I do love our flat, but this has definitely given me an insight into living in an older building. Maybe when I go to buy my first place I will look for a newer construction...
Friday 20 January 2017
Onto Exotics (and back to some farm stuff)
Flashback to earlier January (I'm almost caught up!):
This semester we are starting with exotics. We started back on Wednesday the 4th and in three days we covered all of rabbit medicine, followed by a short multiple choice exam on the Monday. I thought that I liked rabbits but I wasn't too sure since I haven't ever really had anything to do with them. Our first exotics professor was fantastic and now I am pretty comfortable that rabbits are a species I would like to work with.
We had a rabbit cadaver practical where we got to practice lots of clinical techniques. We started by doing an otoscopic exam of their ears (otoscope is the instrument used to look down ears). We also did an otoscopic exam of their mouth. Rabbits have really tiny mouths so you can't get them to open their mouth like a dog and cat to look at their teeth. You use an otoscope and sneak it in between their front incisors and back molars to look at their back teeth. We were all struggling a bit on our motionless cadavers so I am sure when I go to do it on a moving rabbit for the first time it will be tricky!
Rabbit's teeth grow continuously so without the right amount of hay in their diet to wear them down they can become overgrown. You can fix them by doing rabbit dentals. We got to try out the dental burrs on our cadavers to burr down spikes on their cheek teeth and to shorten their incisors like you might have to do in a rabbit with dental disease. We also got to flush their nasal lacrimal duct (duct in the corner of the eye that drains tears) and practice where we would do nerve blocks if we had to extract teeth. Lastly we got to remove an incisor. Doing rabbit dentals will definitely take patience!
While we finished the lecture portion of farm animal we still have some tutorials and practicals this semester. My group had our rectaling practical (in case you don't know, you can tell whether a cow is pregnant or not by sticking your hand up its bum and feeling the reproductive tract). I did some of this on my placement last year but most of those were feeling the ovaries to tell where in the cow's cycle it was, to see if it was a good time to breed her. The first cow I felt I was able to find both her ovaries and her uterus (definitely a good start!) and she didn't feel pregnant to me. The professor came around and said that I was correct. Alright 1 for 1! Next cow, there was some sort of big balloon thing. She was going to be 3.5 months pregnant if she was pregnant. At that stage of pregnancy the uterus should be fluid filled. So I guess she was pregnant? Professor comes around, nope. Turns out she had an incredibly full bladder and that's what I was feeling. Ok, so 1 for 2. Next cow, was bred 4 months ago. If she was pregnant her uterus would be getting quite big. I could feel her whole uterus quite easily so definitely not pregnant. Back on track, 2 for 3. Last cow, bred seven weeks ago. Seven weeks is pretty short so it was going to be tricky to figure out. Felt the uterus. Was it bigger than normal? Ugh...maybe? Maybe not? Everything was just all a bit squishy. After sitting on the fence I went for not pregnant. And verdict is... wrong, she was pregnant. Well 2 for 4 isn't so bad for a first time. To get really good at rectaling you have to rectal hundreds and hundreds of cows. I still have quite a way to go!
This semester we are starting with exotics. We started back on Wednesday the 4th and in three days we covered all of rabbit medicine, followed by a short multiple choice exam on the Monday. I thought that I liked rabbits but I wasn't too sure since I haven't ever really had anything to do with them. Our first exotics professor was fantastic and now I am pretty comfortable that rabbits are a species I would like to work with.
We had a rabbit cadaver practical where we got to practice lots of clinical techniques. We started by doing an otoscopic exam of their ears (otoscope is the instrument used to look down ears). We also did an otoscopic exam of their mouth. Rabbits have really tiny mouths so you can't get them to open their mouth like a dog and cat to look at their teeth. You use an otoscope and sneak it in between their front incisors and back molars to look at their back teeth. We were all struggling a bit on our motionless cadavers so I am sure when I go to do it on a moving rabbit for the first time it will be tricky!
Rabbit's teeth grow continuously so without the right amount of hay in their diet to wear them down they can become overgrown. You can fix them by doing rabbit dentals. We got to try out the dental burrs on our cadavers to burr down spikes on their cheek teeth and to shorten their incisors like you might have to do in a rabbit with dental disease. We also got to flush their nasal lacrimal duct (duct in the corner of the eye that drains tears) and practice where we would do nerve blocks if we had to extract teeth. Lastly we got to remove an incisor. Doing rabbit dentals will definitely take patience!
While we finished the lecture portion of farm animal we still have some tutorials and practicals this semester. My group had our rectaling practical (in case you don't know, you can tell whether a cow is pregnant or not by sticking your hand up its bum and feeling the reproductive tract). I did some of this on my placement last year but most of those were feeling the ovaries to tell where in the cow's cycle it was, to see if it was a good time to breed her. The first cow I felt I was able to find both her ovaries and her uterus (definitely a good start!) and she didn't feel pregnant to me. The professor came around and said that I was correct. Alright 1 for 1! Next cow, there was some sort of big balloon thing. She was going to be 3.5 months pregnant if she was pregnant. At that stage of pregnancy the uterus should be fluid filled. So I guess she was pregnant? Professor comes around, nope. Turns out she had an incredibly full bladder and that's what I was feeling. Ok, so 1 for 2. Next cow, was bred 4 months ago. If she was pregnant her uterus would be getting quite big. I could feel her whole uterus quite easily so definitely not pregnant. Back on track, 2 for 3. Last cow, bred seven weeks ago. Seven weeks is pretty short so it was going to be tricky to figure out. Felt the uterus. Was it bigger than normal? Ugh...maybe? Maybe not? Everything was just all a bit squishy. After sitting on the fence I went for not pregnant. And verdict is... wrong, she was pregnant. Well 2 for 4 isn't so bad for a first time. To get really good at rectaling you have to rectal hundreds and hundreds of cows. I still have quite a way to go!
Monday 16 January 2017
Home for Christmas!
Flashback to December:
After my exams I had a day off then I flew home for Christmas Break.
I flew home via Dublin on Aer Lingus. The Irish never cease to amaze me with their ability to consume alcohol. I arrived in Dublin at 9:30 in the morning and the bar was packed with people having pints. At Burger King you could upgrade your meal from a soft drink to a pint of beer! My four hours in the airport were spent mostly perusing the incredible number of Guinness trinkets you could buy. Aer Lingus itself was quite an experience. They definitely didn't want you to forget they were an Irish airline. Everything was green. The outside of the plane, the inside of the plane, the uniforms, the headphones they gave us, even our food was served on a green tray. We arrived in Toronto nicely, unfortunately my bag took about an hour to arrive.
Once my bag finally did arrive and I got home I spent most of the rest of the evening on the sofa with Mars curled up next to me.
Much of the first week I spent on the sofa because I caught a cold. But it was much more pleasant to be stuck on the sofa with two dogs for company. As some sofa breaks, I tried to stage some photos with the dogs. As per usual, there were some great photos and some terrible but also funny photos.
Christmas was pretty low key this year which I was definitely ok with. It was nice to have a relaxing day with family.
After Christmas I spent a day working at the clinic which was fun, although it was very very busy! The day didn't get off to an auspicious start. Holding the first animal of the day I somehow managed to snap my name tag into two pieces. Luckily the day improved from there.
The rest of my Christmas break was spent relaxing and doing some shopping for things to take back that are way more expensive to buy in Edinburgh (example Maple Syrup is extraordinarily expensive in Scotland so I stocked up at Costco).
On January 1st it was time for me to fly back. This time I was flying through London. Our flight leaving Toronto was late because we had to taxi from one end of the airport to the other to get de-iced and then taxi back to take off. Then when we arrived in London we were put in a holding pattern before we could land. So that meant my two hour plus layover was less than an hour. Luckily I made it through customs, security and to my gate for my flight to Edinburgh as my plane was boarding.
I had one day to recover then it was time for classes again. And I think I will leave that for the next post!
After my exams I had a day off then I flew home for Christmas Break.
I flew home via Dublin on Aer Lingus. The Irish never cease to amaze me with their ability to consume alcohol. I arrived in Dublin at 9:30 in the morning and the bar was packed with people having pints. At Burger King you could upgrade your meal from a soft drink to a pint of beer! My four hours in the airport were spent mostly perusing the incredible number of Guinness trinkets you could buy. Aer Lingus itself was quite an experience. They definitely didn't want you to forget they were an Irish airline. Everything was green. The outside of the plane, the inside of the plane, the uniforms, the headphones they gave us, even our food was served on a green tray. We arrived in Toronto nicely, unfortunately my bag took about an hour to arrive.
Once my bag finally did arrive and I got home I spent most of the rest of the evening on the sofa with Mars curled up next to me.
Much of the first week I spent on the sofa because I caught a cold. But it was much more pleasant to be stuck on the sofa with two dogs for company. As some sofa breaks, I tried to stage some photos with the dogs. As per usual, there were some great photos and some terrible but also funny photos.
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| Mars was not a fan of getting on the sleigh but accepted it once he was on |
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| Jenny actually loved the sleigh. She sat there for quite a while of her own free will after we had stopped telling her to stay |
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| Photogenic as usual |
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| I think this is the only picture I have ever taken where it isn't Mars making a weird face! |
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| Christmas dog |
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| She hated the lights... |
Christmas was pretty low key this year which I was definitely ok with. It was nice to have a relaxing day with family.
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| Tired puppies after Christmas |
After Christmas I spent a day working at the clinic which was fun, although it was very very busy! The day didn't get off to an auspicious start. Holding the first animal of the day I somehow managed to snap my name tag into two pieces. Luckily the day improved from there.
The rest of my Christmas break was spent relaxing and doing some shopping for things to take back that are way more expensive to buy in Edinburgh (example Maple Syrup is extraordinarily expensive in Scotland so I stocked up at Costco).
On January 1st it was time for me to fly back. This time I was flying through London. Our flight leaving Toronto was late because we had to taxi from one end of the airport to the other to get de-iced and then taxi back to take off. Then when we arrived in London we were put in a holding pattern before we could land. So that meant my two hour plus layover was less than an hour. Luckily I made it through customs, security and to my gate for my flight to Edinburgh as my plane was boarding.
I had one day to recover then it was time for classes again. And I think I will leave that for the next post!
Some Photography Attempts, The Christmas Market and Exams
Flashback to November:
When exams roll around I end up pretty much living at my desk, the library or the gym and don't get to go out and do much fun. So once my midterm exams are over I like to try and go back out and explore Edinburgh. I'm here for four years I have got to make the most of it!
One sunny afternoon (a rather rare occurrence especially in November) I went out for a walk around the city and took some pictures. Some of the pictures I had taken before, but it was on a gloomy day, so I wanted a version of it in the sun.
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| Edinburgh Castle with some fall colours |
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| St. Giles Cathedral |
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| Scott Monument with the Remembrance Day memorial (They are tiny crosses with poppies covering the grass) |
Later in the month it was the start of the Edinburgh Christmas market. I decided that I wanted to try out some night photography. Other than the botanic gardens light night I really hadn't done much in the way of night photography. I was going to take pictures on George Street because it is always so nicely decorated for Christmas. But this particular Sunday afternoon the streets were packed. It then occurred to me it was the official opening party of Edinburgh Christmas and the Street of Light which was at the other end of George Street. To get away from the crowds I decided to head up to Calton Hill. I set up in one spot and got quite a few photos.
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| Edinburgh Castle, The Balmoral Hotel and the rides at Edinburgh Christmas |
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| Edinburgh Castle |
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| Lucky chance to stumble upon the fireworks |
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| The Castle at Night |
Friday 13 January 2017
The Lumineers and The Botanic Gardens
Flashback to October/Early November:
The semester rolled on and I had my two in course assessments for veterinary public health and farm animal medicine a week apart from each other. The weekend in between a friend I went to The Lumineers concert. It was held at Usher Hall which is a really nice venue for a concert, big enough for an energetic atmosphere but also small enough it still feels fairly intimate. I had wanted to see the Lumineers on their last tour in Toronto but wasn't able to get tickets. So when my friend offered me an extra ticket I jumped at the chance. We had standing tickets and because of some timing confusion (we ended up being super early) we got a really good spot close to the front. They sounded just as good live as they do on their album. It was such a good study break!
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| About 4 rows back from the front! |
Once exams were done a friend and I went to the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens for Botanic Lights. They light up the gardens at night in lots of different ways. I had seen pictures for the past two years but was never able to time it right to be able to go. This year it worked out perfectly so I was very excited. Both my friend and I brought our cameras and tripods with us to try and get some cool pictures. The weather was beautiful (as in not raining or blowing a gale) but quite chilly (ok so it was just around freezing but for Edinburgh standards that is pretty cold. I think living here has made me a bit soft when it comes to cold weather!) The tour was divided into different parts of the world and the decorations in each section reflected what part of the world you were supposed to be in. We took our time going through looking at all the different displays. It was really fun but after a couple hours touring around we were definitely ready to head home to warm up.
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| Lighted path with some ghostly figures |
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| String of Prayer Flags - Common in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet It is believed the wind will pick up the prayers written on the flags and blow the prayers far and wide. |
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| The arctic |
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| The hedge - 8m tall and 212m long! |
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| Palm House |
Wednesday 11 January 2017
Rosslyn Chapel and Back to School
Flashback to Late September/Early October:
After returning home from Copenhagen and Stockholm I started classes.
The semester consisted of two different courses. Veterinary Public Health, which involved a lot of information about slaughter safety and welfare as well as public health safety regarding meat and infectious disease that can be spread from animal to humans. My second course was farm animal medicine. That course covered all medicine and surgery for cows, sheep, pigs, poultry and even fish. For those of you that know me, while I really do like cows and did enjoy my lambing experience with sheep, farm animal medicine and veterinary public health are definitely not my two favourite subjects!
My parents got back from Islay at the same time I got back from Stockholm. On my second day of classes I had a big gap so we decided to go to the Rosslyn Chapel which is about a mile away from campus. For anyone who is a Dan Brown fan or has seen the movie the Da Vinci Code you may know that the Rosslyn Chapel is featured in the book and is used as a filming location in the movie (I haven't seen the movie but I feel like I should watch it to see the Rosslyn Chapel portrayed in film).
The construction for the chapel started in 1456. The chapel was meant to be cruciform in shape but only the choir, the lady chapel and the crypt (built at an earlier date) were ever completed. The chapel was abandoned and left in disrepair. In the 1650s Oliver Cromwell's troops used the chapel as a horse stable. However restorations started with Queen Victoria when she visited the chapel and thought it was astoundingly beautiful. After many years of restorations (and restoring damages made by early restorations) the chapel is the way it stands now. Made of sandstone the intricate carvings on the inside of the chapel are amazing (unfortunately you aren't allow to take pictures of the inside).
The semester started off pretty well until early October when I managed to break my finger playing field hockey. My finger got pinched between two sticks and I managed to fracture two bones and crack a third. I got incredibly lucky in the sense that my semester was somewhat front loaded in terms of practicals so I never had to try and work with a cow with my broken finger.
After returning home from Copenhagen and Stockholm I started classes.
The semester consisted of two different courses. Veterinary Public Health, which involved a lot of information about slaughter safety and welfare as well as public health safety regarding meat and infectious disease that can be spread from animal to humans. My second course was farm animal medicine. That course covered all medicine and surgery for cows, sheep, pigs, poultry and even fish. For those of you that know me, while I really do like cows and did enjoy my lambing experience with sheep, farm animal medicine and veterinary public health are definitely not my two favourite subjects!
My parents got back from Islay at the same time I got back from Stockholm. On my second day of classes I had a big gap so we decided to go to the Rosslyn Chapel which is about a mile away from campus. For anyone who is a Dan Brown fan or has seen the movie the Da Vinci Code you may know that the Rosslyn Chapel is featured in the book and is used as a filming location in the movie (I haven't seen the movie but I feel like I should watch it to see the Rosslyn Chapel portrayed in film).
The construction for the chapel started in 1456. The chapel was meant to be cruciform in shape but only the choir, the lady chapel and the crypt (built at an earlier date) were ever completed. The chapel was abandoned and left in disrepair. In the 1650s Oliver Cromwell's troops used the chapel as a horse stable. However restorations started with Queen Victoria when she visited the chapel and thought it was astoundingly beautiful. After many years of restorations (and restoring damages made by early restorations) the chapel is the way it stands now. Made of sandstone the intricate carvings on the inside of the chapel are amazing (unfortunately you aren't allow to take pictures of the inside).
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| Details on the window give only a tiny insight into the intricacies of the carvings inside. |
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| One week after the break - still some nice bruising around the knuckle (but this is very faded compared to what it was originally!) |
Wednesday 4 January 2017
Copenhagen and Stockholm
So it has been a while....
First semester was busier than any of my previous semesters. I fell behind on the blog and felt like I was too far behind to catch up! My goal is over the next couple weeks to try and catch up on the many posts that I missed and then stay up to date. I'm not making any guarantees but I will do my best!
So time for a flashback to September:
After returning from the Faroe Islands my parents and I did some touristy things for the day.
First off we went to visit Linlithgow Palace. Like most palaces and castles in Scotland this palace had its history of destruction (fires, wars etc) and rebuilding. Its first form was built in the 12th century and was occupied until 1745, In this year Bonnie Prince Charlie came to visit, however he didn't stay overnight which was quite a disappointment for them. In 1746 much of the palace was destroyed in a fire. (For any Outlander fans, Linlithgow Palace served as Wentworth Prison in the TV show).
We then headed to the Kelpies (in a post a while ago I have a picture of the Mini Kelpies). The Kelpies represent the horse powered heritage of Scotland. They were impressively tall in person.
The following day my parents set off for Islay, famous for its Scotch Distilleries and a friend and I left for Copenhagen, Denmark. When we arrived the weather was incredible, 25 degrees and sunny. Neither of us were quite prepared for such warm weather. We took a train in from the airport and got off a few stops before our hostel to walk around. We spent most of the rest of the day just touring around. In the evening we got a pizza from a little pizza joint and sat in a park overlooking the water to eat. We headed back to our hostel, got a pint of Carlsberg each and sat out in the garden for the remainder of the evening.
The next day we went out to a bakery for breakfast. They had incredible pastries! After breakfast we walked around for a couple hours and then returned back to our hostel to rent bicycles and take a bicycle tour. Copenhagen is an incredibly bike friendly city. Every road has a bike lane, major roads have bike traffic signals and there are several bike only roads. We had a blast biking around the city and we got to see so much more than if we had just walked.
After biking around the city for most of the day we decided that we hadn't had enough exercise so we climbed the tower at the Church of Our Saviour. The 400 steps to the top were worth it when we got to see the views. We really did have incredible weather while we were in Copenhagen.
At the end of the day we were pretty tired so we went for a nice dinner and then headed back to the hostel for bed. The next morning we had a few hours before our train to Stockholm so we walked around the city some more. We stopped off at the botanic gardens which were very pretty. Before our train we made a detour back to the bakery for some more pastries for the 5 hour train ride.
After our 5 hour train ride (which ended up having a couple delays and turned into 6.5 hours) we arrived in Stockholm. When we got to our hostel they told us they had upgraded us from a group room to a private double so we were very excited. After checking in we walked around a little bit and then went for dinner. We went for the traditional Swedish Meatball meal with mashed potatoes. We were thoroughly satisfied with our meals.
The next day we headed out walking. Stockholm is made up of lots and lots of little islands. We started out on a very small island that housed the Swedish Parliament. We then headed to Gamla Stan which is the Old Town. It was an interesting mix of stores selling authentic Swedish art, crafts and gifts and your classic touristy shops. We managed to kill quite a bit of time perusing the stores. I also saw many things in stores that my mom had bought when she had travelled to Sweden. And even managed to replace a christmas figurine that one of the dogs had chewed up! After Gamla Stan we headed over to another island to go to the Vasa Museum. The line up was incredibly long so we decided to wait and go to the museum the next morning. We toured around the island and looked at all the boats moored in the piers. We finished off our touring with walking down Drottninggatan which is the main shopping street. For dinner we headed to a cool buger place called Vigarda. We headed back to our room and tried a bunch of Swedish candy that we had bought earlier in the day.
The next morning we headed straight to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa ship capsized and sank in 1628 after sailing only 1300 metres. Because the water was so cold and and poorly oxygenated the wood of the ship was very well preserved. 333 years later they raised the ship from the bottom of the sea. It was reassembled and is now on display in the museum. The ship that is on display is incredibly 95% original, only the metal bolts were replaced and a very small amount of the wood. The details in the wood carving was amazing. However just looking at the ship you could tell it was far too top heavy. The ship never stood a chance!
After the museum we headed back to Gamla Stan where we both bought some gifts and some pastries to bring home. It was then time to head to the airport and head back to Edinburgh.
Our trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm was so much fun and I would definitely go back to either city.
First semester was busier than any of my previous semesters. I fell behind on the blog and felt like I was too far behind to catch up! My goal is over the next couple weeks to try and catch up on the many posts that I missed and then stay up to date. I'm not making any guarantees but I will do my best!
So time for a flashback to September:
After returning from the Faroe Islands my parents and I did some touristy things for the day.
First off we went to visit Linlithgow Palace. Like most palaces and castles in Scotland this palace had its history of destruction (fires, wars etc) and rebuilding. Its first form was built in the 12th century and was occupied until 1745, In this year Bonnie Prince Charlie came to visit, however he didn't stay overnight which was quite a disappointment for them. In 1746 much of the palace was destroyed in a fire. (For any Outlander fans, Linlithgow Palace served as Wentworth Prison in the TV show).
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| The Entrance with the fountain behind |
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| An engraving on the fountain |
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| View of the Palace from one of the towers |
We then headed to the Kelpies (in a post a while ago I have a picture of the Mini Kelpies). The Kelpies represent the horse powered heritage of Scotland. They were impressively tall in person.
The following day my parents set off for Islay, famous for its Scotch Distilleries and a friend and I left for Copenhagen, Denmark. When we arrived the weather was incredible, 25 degrees and sunny. Neither of us were quite prepared for such warm weather. We took a train in from the airport and got off a few stops before our hostel to walk around. We spent most of the rest of the day just touring around. In the evening we got a pizza from a little pizza joint and sat in a park overlooking the water to eat. We headed back to our hostel, got a pint of Carlsberg each and sat out in the garden for the remainder of the evening.
The next day we went out to a bakery for breakfast. They had incredible pastries! After breakfast we walked around for a couple hours and then returned back to our hostel to rent bicycles and take a bicycle tour. Copenhagen is an incredibly bike friendly city. Every road has a bike lane, major roads have bike traffic signals and there are several bike only roads. We had a blast biking around the city and we got to see so much more than if we had just walked.
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| Our wonderfully unhealthy breakfast |
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| Waiting at a pedestrian/bike drawbridge |
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| National Gallery of Denmark |
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| The Little Mermaid -The fairy tale the Little Mermaid was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen |
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| St. Alban's Church |
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| Nyhaven - Definitely the most picturesque part of Copenhagen |
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| You can just make out Sweden in the distance |
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| View of Copenhagen |
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| At the base of the tower |
After our 5 hour train ride (which ended up having a couple delays and turned into 6.5 hours) we arrived in Stockholm. When we got to our hostel they told us they had upgraded us from a group room to a private double so we were very excited. After checking in we walked around a little bit and then went for dinner. We went for the traditional Swedish Meatball meal with mashed potatoes. We were thoroughly satisfied with our meals.
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| Much nicer than bunks in a group room! |
The next day we headed out walking. Stockholm is made up of lots and lots of little islands. We started out on a very small island that housed the Swedish Parliament. We then headed to Gamla Stan which is the Old Town. It was an interesting mix of stores selling authentic Swedish art, crafts and gifts and your classic touristy shops. We managed to kill quite a bit of time perusing the stores. I also saw many things in stores that my mom had bought when she had travelled to Sweden. And even managed to replace a christmas figurine that one of the dogs had chewed up! After Gamla Stan we headed over to another island to go to the Vasa Museum. The line up was incredibly long so we decided to wait and go to the museum the next morning. We toured around the island and looked at all the boats moored in the piers. We finished off our touring with walking down Drottninggatan which is the main shopping street. For dinner we headed to a cool buger place called Vigarda. We headed back to our room and tried a bunch of Swedish candy that we had bought earlier in the day.
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| Pretty Building near the Hostel |
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| Swedish Parliament |
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| The Old Town |
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| "Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes" |
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| Royal Palace |
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| One of the many sailboats moored along the piers |
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| Such a pretty view |
The next morning we headed straight to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa ship capsized and sank in 1628 after sailing only 1300 metres. Because the water was so cold and and poorly oxygenated the wood of the ship was very well preserved. 333 years later they raised the ship from the bottom of the sea. It was reassembled and is now on display in the museum. The ship that is on display is incredibly 95% original, only the metal bolts were replaced and a very small amount of the wood. The details in the wood carving was amazing. However just looking at the ship you could tell it was far too top heavy. The ship never stood a chance!
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| The intricate carvings on the stern |
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| I couldn't do the ship justice |
After the museum we headed back to Gamla Stan where we both bought some gifts and some pastries to bring home. It was then time to head to the airport and head back to Edinburgh.
Our trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm was so much fun and I would definitely go back to either city.
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