Caleb Getting his "Character of the Month Award" 09.03.2010

Here are some pictures of Caleb getting his Character of the Month Award today at school, in reverse order.

Sorry We've Been Gone...

Sorry, we have been gone for such a long time, but we spent the last week traveling around the country. Here is Brittney's report:

Highlights from the traveling around Scotland:

Ghost tour- So we went on a ghost tour of Old Edinburgh where we went into the vaults under the city. The vaults are basically these catacombs under the bridge that they have closed over and built on top of. The city sold them to workers who used them for their shops until they flooded and then the vaults became territory for the violence and criminal activity of the people. They were stone walls with no light and apparently many ghosts lived down there. It was fun to travel through time, but I saw and felt nothing. Caleb did the tour with us and was very brave. He does think that he saw something behind me. He was incredibly frightened. The best part of the tour was when the tour guide took us to the Mercat Cross, which is the area where they would punish those who committed crimes in the city of Edinburgh. The crimes could be as bad as murder and as as simple as stealing bread. The punishment was pretty much the same, beaten, tortured, and hanged. This was the entertainment for the townspeople. It was pretty amazing to see this. We walked over to the St. Giles Cathedral and basically stood on the graveyard, as they have paved over the graves and they are now a covered by a parking lot. Some restless bodies there. It was a really neat tour and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to learn more about the city.

Time for dinner...tbc

Aberdeen - 07.16.2010

Today we took a nice stroll thru Aberdeen to The Gordon Highlanders Museum. The Gordon's were a Scottish military regimen that existed from 1794 to 1994. Prince Charles was the last commander of the Gordon's.

London Calling

Tuesday 07.13.2010

The morning came early as Brittney and I headed off to London for three days. We left Aberdeen and 9am and landed at London Luton airport at 10:30. We then took a bus to the train depot and a 30 minute ride south thru the English countryside. We arrived at St. Pancras and purchased tube (subway) tickets for the next few days. We figured out our route and eventually made it to our hotel north of Hyde Park at around 1:00pm. We had a lot to do and very little time to do it in so we rushed off to the Tower of London and The London Eye. Both were absolutely amazing, but we had a strict timetable to keep as we had 8:30pm reservations at Gordon Ramsay's Maze, a tasting restaurant. We selected the six course meal from the chef's menu and spent the next 2.5 hours dining exquisitely.

On Wednesday morning, the 14th, we woke early to get a full day of sightseeing in. We saw The British Museum, Abbey Road, Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden Piazza, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The Tate Museum of Modern Art, and Shakespeare's Globe.

On Thursday morning, the 15th we had the morning to spend finishing the sight before departing that afternoon. We slept in just a little bit before heading over to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard and spent the afternoon at and around Harrod's department store.

Quite the city.

DISCLAIMER: THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT 9 MINUTES IN LENGTH, SO YOU MIGHT WANT TO GO THE RESTROOM AND GET YOUR POPCORN BEFORE THE FEATURE BEGINS.

Photo Update and combined update to St. Andrews and Dunnottar

Brittney has asked me to post movies instead of the photo link. So, here are movies of our Sunday trip to St. Andrews and our Monday excursion to Dunnottar Castle.

Sunday 07.11.2010

On Sunday morning we woke up and headed down to St. Andrews, about 1.5 hours south of Aberdeen. The city was bustling with people from every nook and cranny. We finally realized that the British Open was this week and everyone was in town to watch. We visited St. Andrews Castle and St. Andrews Cathedral. Some breathtaking views and history. The golf course was closed due to the preparation for the upcoming tournament.

Monday 07.12.2010

We set off this morning for Dunnottar Castle, 15 miles outside Aberdeen City in the shire. Brittney didn't feel well, so she stayed home and rested for our trip to London the next day. This castle is Amber's favorite in all of Scotland and she went on and on about how beautiful it was. She was right, very right...

Monday at Stonehaven - Dunnottar Castle

On Monday, 07.12.2010, I slept until 12:00pm local time, which was very nice. By the time I awoke, Brittney and Amber were just returning from the market with groceries. We had lunch and decided to head to Stonehaven to see Amber's favorite castle in all of Scotland. Brittney had developed some 24 hour bug and taken way too many drugs. She decided to stay at home and rest while we toured the castle. This was probably a good thing, seeing as how Britt and I are heading to London first thing in the morning.

Dunnottar Castle was simply amazing. It is situated on a cliff jutting out and covered by the North Sea on three sides. The scenery, in addition to the castles history, was simply amazing.

I posted a link to photo album on line. It would seem that each time I upload photos to the album it just adds the photos in one big album called "Maddox European Adventure". So From this point forward check the photo album out online and bookmark it to keep up with all the new pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/justin.maddox/MaddoxEuropeanAdventure?authkey=Gv1sRgCOq1zo6v383mAQ&feat=directlink

Sunday at St. Andrews

We spent Sunday about 1.5 hours south of Aberdeen in beautiful St. Andrews. Of course, we forgot that this is the week of The British Open. Oh well, it was crowded, but still breathtaking. Please click here for a selection of photos from our day.