Highlands Tour and Ghost Walk

Wednesday July 29^th- Today was a long, exhausting yet utterly fabulous day! A few of us decided to take a tour of the Scottish Highlands and I think I speak for the group when I say we saw some of the most amazing and beautiful sights that we had ever seen.

Where to begin… We started our morning with a visit to Hamish, the Heilan’ Coo (that’s Highland Cow for all you Americans). He was certainly a sight to behold, one of the many mascots of Scotland and the Highlands. We then began to make our way up into the Highland where we took in some breath-taking sights, check out the misty mountains.

By early afternoon we had made it to Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. It was raining when we got there but as we walked around the grounds the rain stopped, the fog lifted, and we were able to see the whole of Loch Ness (which stretches out over approximately 24 miles). So beautiful.

We also took a boat ride on Loch Ness and we kept a lookout for Nessie, unfortunately she was too crafty and evaded us. The tale of the Loch Ness Monster is a great one and I look forward to sharing my pictures and stories with the kids at the library when I return to the States.

As we made our way back down into Edinburgh, we were treated to even more wonderful sights; how the scenery became even more beautiful with each passing mile is beyond me, but it did. I am officially in love with Scotland!

Believe it or not, our day got even cooler once we arrived back in Edinburgh. A bunch of the group put on a brave face and decided to take a ghost tour. We were treated to spooky tales of ghosts and ghouls who apparently still haunt Edinburgh today. We were even taken down into “the Vault”, an area below South Bridge which at one time (almost 200 years ago) served as storage and work space for many merchants of Edinburgh. However, after flooding and a few too many unfortunate accidents, the Vault was closed although many a poor person found themselves lost down there, never to be found again…

The Vault under the South Bridge is said to be one of the most haunted places in all of Scotland and many a visitor has had a ghostly encounter…

A great end to another amazing day!

National Archives of Scotland

Tuesday July 28^th- Today we visited the National Archives of Scotland. We were first provided with a presentation on the history and inner workings of the Archives. A few interesting facts we picked up were that the archives are broken up into two divisions, the Record Services Division and the Corporate Services Division, the documents in the archives span over 70 kms worth of space and the dates of the information held by the archives range from 12^th century to the 21^st century.(photo courtesy of the National Archives of Scotland)

We were later given the opportunity to look at a few examples of the types of documents that the Archive collects. There was a recipe book from the 19^th century as well as documentation of the treatment of female suffragettes from the very early 20^th century. We were also directed to a website that allowed many of us with Scottish ancestry to look up our clans tartans. Very Cool!

Scotland Libraries

Monday July 27^th- This morning we visited the National Library of Scotland and were given the opportunity to learn a bit about how and when the library was founded. From 1689-1925 the National Library of Scotland was known as the Advocates Library and today it holds approximately 14 million books and manuscripts, 2 million maps, 300,000 music scores, 32,000 films, 25,000 newspapers and magazines and on average it receives 6,000 new items a week. Pretty impressive!

We also walked through the exhibit on emigration from Scotland. The exhibit was a display of actual letters home from Scots who had emigrated to various places around the world, items they might have taken with them and statistics relating to how those who emigrated faired in their new homes. It was an amazing exhibit.

This afternoon, before we met up at the Edinburgh Public Library, we ventured over to the Elephant House which is know known throughout the world as “the birthplace of Harry Potter”. This café was the place JK Rowling would sit in day after day, working away on the first Harry Potter book so as to save on her heating bill. Needless to saw we were in awe and many of us felt inspired by sitting in a place where such an amazing book was created!

Our final stop of the day was at the Edinburgh Public Library which was built by Andrew Carnegie between 1887 and 1890. He donated approximately £50,000 for the library to be built. The library was designed and built by George Washington Browne in the French Renaissance style. Above the entrance into the library is the inscription “let there be light”, it was put there at the request of Andrew Carnegie.

After our tour of the library, we had tea with a few of the librarians. We were introduced to Colm Linnane, a Children’s and Youth Librarian who provided us with several tricks of the trade as well as with the crafty analogy of “make reading seem more like cake than spinach”. His work with children from all ages, stages and backgrounds was inspiring to a lot of us and sounded challenging but very interesting. It was clear that he loved his job. We were so fortunate that he and a few other librarians gave up much of their afternoon to sit and talk with us. Overall it was a very inspiring day.

The Bodleian Library at Oxford University

Thursday July 23^rd- Today we visited Oxford and were able to take a tour of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. All that history under one roof, it was remarkable! Oxford is the oldest university in England dating back to the 12^th century, and the library itself contains some amazing treasures from centuries past. Among the many fascinating things in the Bodleian collection there is an original copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets, four original copies of the Magna Carta, as well as the oldest book ever written (dating back to the 4^th century). Of course treasures such as these are not available to be viewed by most, however, the fact that they are there, under the same roof (and assumingly under lock and key) is quite amazing.

The Bodleian Library was founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602. Bodley’s gift of both books and money allowed the library to be built up and become the respected academic institution that it is today. From the very beginning scholars have come from all over the world to study at Oxford University and the infamous Bodleian Library, just as Sir Thomas would have wanted.

Again, thanks to Sir Thomas, in 1610 the Bodleian became a copyright library which means that it will receive one copy of every book published in England. The Bodleian Library remains a copyright library to this day. As there are so many books (and treasures) in the Bodleian it is strictly a reference library, meaning no reader may check a book out (leave the library premises with a book). In fact until the early 18^th century, books were chained to the shelves to prevent scholars and readers from removing the books.

As a librarian, one dreams of setting foot inside the prestigious Bodleian Library, I feel privileged (and a bit smarter) for having had such an amazing opportunity.

The National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Wednesday July 22^nd – Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to tour the National Art Library (which is actually an international library). A majority of the treasures that the library has do relate to art as the library an art library. They have both a general collection as well as a special collection and they do focus on understanding the art of the book as well as book design throughout the ages.

We were given the opportunity to look at a few of the many treasures that the library has, including a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, a Charles Dickens manuscript and an actual letter written by Charles I. It was an amazing assortment and we were dazzled by the display.

Once we peeled ourselves away from the treasures we were taken on a tour of the National Art Library we saw both reading rooms up close and were able to take a look behind the scenes. The National Art Library, like many others we’ve seen is not a lending library, which means readers cannot take a book away, and instead they must sit a table and read through the materials they request. It takes a bit of time to retrieve a book and it is recommended that readers make their requests ahead of time either via phone or email so they don’t have to wait upon arriving. Also, the library does not order more than one copy of any book and pre-requesting a book saves readers from being disappointed if their desired book is unavailable (although we were told that happens rarely). Another very interesting day!

The British Museum and Harry Potter

Tuesday July 21^st- Today we ventured to King’s Cross to see if we couldn’t slip through the barrier on Platform 9 ¾. Unfortunately for us Muggles, nothing magical happened and we were not able to cross through to see the Hogwarts Express.

After our Harry Potter morning, we walked over to the British Museum where we were able to view its famous reading room from the outside. The British Museum is host to so many wonderful artifacts that we didn’t even know where to begin, of course we saw the Rosetta Stone and several of the giant sculptures from Ancient Egypt. Once we saw those two exhibits I allowed myself to be led into the Egypt: Life After Death exhibit, in hindsight, maybe not my best idea. A roomful of mummies is pretty much guaranteed to give a person nightmares…

The scariness of seeing the mummies was almost (but not quite) overshadowed by the amazing process of mummification, the time that went into the process, and how long ago the mummies were buried. All in all the British Museum was amazing, I wish I had time to go back!

This evening a small group of us went out to dinner and then to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I, for one was not disappointed! There was something extra special about seeing it while I was in London. A fantastic night!

Greenwich and The Tower of London

Monday, July 20^th- Today we took a boat to Greenwich to visit the library at the National Maritime Museum. It was so much fun to see London from the Thames. Once we arrived in Greenwich we walked past the spot where Henry the VIII, Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I were all born. Unfortunately, the palace where they were born is no longer standing.

The Library at the National Maritime originally opened its doors in 1937 and is currently undergoing a massive redevelopment to be completed in 2012. The library contains approximately 100,000 modern books, 8,000 rare books and 20,000 pamphlets and is named in honor of Sir James Caird as his collection started the library.

Once inside the library, we were given access to some pretty amazing stuff, including a real map book used by a real pirate named Basil Ringrose! We were also able to view a copy of the Catalog of the Stars from 1712. The document was being prepared by a gentleman named John Flamsteed however it was published by Edmund Halley per the encouragement of the Royal Society as Flamsteed was taking too long to prepare his final draft. Needless to say Flamsteed was not pleased, and attempted to burn as many of the published copies as he could.

After the library a few of us hiked up the hill to the Royal Observatory to see the Prime Meridian. We saw the watches built by John Harrison that solved the Longitude problem and allowed sailors to accurately map and sail the open seas. We also waited in the queue and took our turn standing on the Prime Meridian Line, although some tourists though it was okay to line jump, needless to say we were not pleased!

After we soaked up all we could in Greenwich we hopped back on the boat and got off at the Tower of London. We saw the spot where Anne Boleyn died, the Tower where the two Princes were murdered (now named the Bloody Tower), the ravens that guard the tower (apparently there must always be at least six, or England will fall), the infamous Crown Jewels and the armor of Henry VIII (it changed quite a lot over his lifespan). Although the Tower wasn’t always used as a prison so many terrible things happened there, it’s hard to think of it as anything other than the place where Henry VIII (and others) sent so many to die.

What a day…