My trip to Scotland

Recently, I traveled north and spent some time in Scotland. Scotland is part of the same country as England -- called the United Kingdom -- but it is its own region with a distinct history and culture. I stayed in the Scottish county of Fife, which is just north of the capital, Edinburgh. Fife is home to the University of St Andrews, which is the oldest university in Scotland.

To my friends in Ms. Kelly's class: can you use a map to figure out what sea St Andrews is located on? It's the same sea that touches Norway, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. It's fun to look out at the sea and wonder when I will get to visit the countries on the other side of it! In the meantime, here are some great pictures of me at the harbor and pier in St Andrews.

Here I am in front of St Andrews Pier.

This is a photo of me in front of the boats in St Andrews Harbour.

Here's another picture of the pier with a great view of the sea.

Here I am getting ready to defend St Andrews against any invaders.

One of the most interesting places to visit in St Andrews is the local cathedral. The cathedral was founded in 1158, which was over 850 years ago. At one time, it was the biggest cathedral in all of Scotland. The reason the cathedral is in ruins is that the roof caved in the late 16th century. Long before then, though, people had stopped using the cathedral. The reason was that the religion in Scotland changed from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism. In 1559, a preacher named John Knox gave a sermon in a nearby church in which he criticized Catholicism. Two years later, all of Knox's followers abandoned the cathedral and started to use the smaller church instead. Fortunately, enough of the cathedral is still standing today that I could go visit it.

Me in front of St Andrews Cathedral. 

Me in front of the back wall of the cathedral.

One rule of thumb that generally holds true for both England and Scotland is that any city with a ruined cathedral also has a ruined castle. In the case of St Andrews, the ruined castle is particularly exciting because it is perched right on the edge of the sea. At various points in history, some of the kings of Scotland lived in this castle.

Me at St Andrews Castle

My visit to St Andrews coincided with the blooming of the first crocuses of spring.

I sit in a field of crocuses.

Despite the castle, the cathedral, and the university, the one thing that St Andrews is most famous for is golf. Golf was invented in Scotland. It was even banned by one Scottish king because so many people were playing golf that they weren't spending enough time practicing archery. The Old Course in St Andrews is easily the most famous golf course in the world. This particular golf course was founded in 1552. You might know this golf course because, many years, it hosts an important golf tournament called the British Open.

Here I am on the Old Course in St Andrews. 

Here I am with my friend Brittany at the 18th hole of the Old Course.

As you can see, I visited the golf course with my new friend Brittany, who showed me all around St Andrews. I have been fortunate to meet a lot of new people on my travels. Those people don't always get photographed for my blog, but it's nice to include them when I have photographs of me with them. One of the great things about traveling is that I get to meet people from all over the world.