Edinburgh to York * Alnswick Castle * Hadrian's Wall
Today was another long travel day - it's our own fault as we want to visit so many things along the way because it's all so awesome. I'm constantly trying to find a balance between fun, cultural, physical, family, teenager, 9 year old boy, etc, etc, entertainment. It's a tad tricky. Today we stopped at a family friendly castle (Alnwick), think This is the Place Monument castle style with several things going at once. This castle has been with the same family for generations. In the winter they close the castle to tourists and live there - think Downton Abbey style living. In fact, the Downton Abbey Christmas show from the last season was filmed inside the State Rooms of this castle and on the grounds.
We chose to do archery and with the exception of Stewart, none of the kids had done it before. Charlie loved is so much he paid with his own money to do it a second time. We watched a flaconary show and took broom flying lessons. (Eric decided to nap on the lawn during our broom flying - he's spent a lot of the time behind the wheel on this trip and he's done driving, especially on the wrong side of the road).
Hadrian's Wall and Housesteads Roman Fort were the next stop. This is the best preserved Roman Fort along Hadrian's wall and the only part of the wall you can actually walk on top of - the other parts of the wall you must walk next to it. The kids are putting all this history together and one of the first things Charlie wanted to know was where would the temple have been in this Fort. (There wasn't a formal temple, but a place to worship their pagan Gods at the commander's office). He also commented that Pompeii looked a lot better for being built around the same time (of course we explained to him why). Once again we marveled at the Roman engineering, especially the latrines which are remarkably preserved at this site. The kids enjoyed flying kites provided by the English Heritage.
We didn't pull into York until late - about 8:30, and we were tired. Eric and I ran to the store so we could be prepared for Sunday while the kids played a game of Monopoly (based on the streets of York). It's fun to see them really enjoying each other's company.
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| Alnwick Castle |
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| Hadrian's Wall |
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| typical weather every day - a little bit of everything |
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| the only Haggis we ever ate |
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