Our Study Tour to Scotland

Day 1: On Friday, we met at 10:45 at the train station in Bern. Then we took the train to Basel sta-tion. When we arrived there, we caught the bus to the EuroAirport. We waited there for a bit because our flight was a little delayed. Eve-ryone was in a good mood and excited for Scotland. We arrived in Edinburgh after lunch-time. There everyone took a seat in the mini-bus which Ben had rented. Ben drove us to Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is in the very north of England. We went there because we had read in class a novel called “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”. In this story the destination of Harold Fry’s pilgrimage is Ber-wick-upon-Tweed. When we arrived at our first Travelodge in Berwick everyone was rather tired but also hungry. Therefore, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant which was only across the road. Although we ordered our food quite early, we had to wait for a long time until it was finally served. The opinions con-cerning the taste of the food were completely divided. But the fish, for example, was really delicious. After dinner we went to bed. Everyone was so tired from the long journey and glad to get some rest.

(The railway bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed, once

the longest in the world)

Day 2: On Saturday morning we left the Travelodge at Berwick-upon-Tweed (England) at 8 o’clock. We then headed to the city centre and had about 2½ hours to walk around, enjoy the beautiful landscape and the North Sea. After having a relaxing stroll around the town, a break at the lighthouse and enjoying the cool wind on this sunny day we went back to the town centre. There we ate a typical British breakfast and finally we were ready to hit the

road to Dundee. Having arrived in Dundee, which lies in the eastern central Lowlands and is Scotland’s fourth-largest city, we had the time to explore the city. In the evening we finished the com-mon programme of this day by eating out to-gether at a pleasant Indian restaurant, where our palates got quite titillated. Day 3:

(Dunnottar Castle)

After spending the night in Dundee, we first stopped at Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven. The impressive castle was built on cliffs next to the sea. Fortunately, we had the possibility to enter and to discover the whole area, which was very picturesque – not only because of the old buildings and ruins, but also because of the nice views we had there.

(The group at Dunnottar Castle)

From this castle we drove across the lovely Cairngorms National Park, which is a well-known mountainous area that has some ski resorts with ski lifts and downhill tracks. We also stopped at Balmoral and hoped we might get a glimpse of the castle, which is the sum-mer residence of the Queen in the Scottish

highlands. But unfortunately everything was still closed and we could neither meet the Queen nor Prince Harry. Our accommodation for this night was the Alder Lodge B&B, situated in the beautiful village of Newtonmore. This was a very nice experience, especially because all the furni-ture as well as the breakfast the next morning was traditionally Scottish. Day 4: After a full Scottish breakfast including por-ridge, pancakes, eggs, bacon and cereals, freshly made by our lovely hosts, we left New-tonmore in the direction of Inverness. There we stopped until after lunch, which gave us enough time to have a coffee, walk around town (with its castle) and do a little shopping.

(The yellow daffodils were already out.)

Our next stop was the Loch Ness tourist cen-tre at Drumnadrochit, where a multimedia-based show informed us that even with heavy efforts in the last decades there is no scientific proof whether Nessie exists or not. After passing Urquhart Castle we went on to a Harry Potter sight. There we climbed the hill from which Hogwarts is visible to non-muggles and saw the bridge where Harry and Ron al-most collided with the Hogwarts Express.

(The group at Glenfinnan Viaduct)

At around 5 o’clock we arrived in Fort William where we would spend the night in yet another Travelodge. Just around the corner there was a restaurant with a large variety of food. After dinner we went to a classic pub just across the road with a pool table and dartboard. As the pub closed, some of us went on to a last stop of the day that was recommended by the pub landlord. Day 5: We woke up in Fort William and proceeded to Oban. After a 1-hour-drive we arrived in Oban at 9 o’clock where we had the opportunity to eat some of the best scones (warmly recom-mended Anna). At 10 o’clock we began the guided tour of the Oban distillery, which is one of the oldest dis-tilleries in Scotland. At the end of the tour, we had the chance to taste the 14-year-old Oban whisky, best known for its fruity taste. After this interesting tour we had an appoint-ment with the former BME student Simon Co-burg. He told us a lot about his life in Scotland as well as his studies at SAMS (The Scottish Association for Marine Science) and the chal-lenges he is confronted with in this remote part of Scotland, like what he called the “Italian mentality” of the Scottish people.

(The harbour at Oban)

After the thrilling conversation with Simon we went back to Oban for another 2 hours. Two of us went on a boat trip to an island where you could observe seals. Others had lunch at the Cuan Mor Restaurant recommended by Simon for its reasonable prices and good food. And yes, we can recommend it too. Then ahead of us lay a long ride to Falkirk, where our next Travelodge was waiting for us. But somehow we only got there after a certain detour since Ben must have missed a turn-off to the direct motorway. On that evening we went to a wonderful res-taurant in the centre of town in our minibus, where we were all able to sit around one table for the first time. The food was as good as the

politeness of the waitress (no irony intended!). But to our disappointment it was also the first moment in which we had a few – but really only a few – drops of rain.

(Our group at the Orchards Restaurant)

Day 6: After we inhaled some nice fresh industrial air in the morning we set off for Edinburgh. Some of us enjoyed the landscapes on our way to the city, while others just woke up confused in the middle of it. With the smell of freshly painted walls we checked in at our last Travelodge, which was actually the first that served something similar to proper coffee.

(The Scott Monument in Edinburgh)

The castle looked awesome but sadly it was too expensive for us to visit it from the inside. After we took some pictures of the beautiful outside of the castle some of us went straight

for shopping…and then something strange happened, which was quite unusual for our Scotland trip: It started to rain a bit. The next meeting was at seven in the evening to eat at the “Filling Station” (which is an awe-some name for a restaurant, isn’t it). And of course it was an American one full of decora-tions like American car items. After eating too much (as we did every day) we decided to stroll from pub to pub and enjoy some live music, which was combined with a perfume called “Men’s Axillary Sweat” – which was also very authentic. And of course “all” of us went to bed early because we knew that we had to go up early the next morning for the saddest part of our adventure. Day 7: After 5 wonderful days in Scotland we felt bad to leave this wonderful country which gave us so many unforgettable memories. We left the Travelodge at 6 o’clock in the morning (for a few of us it was really hard to get up so early). After a short unintended detour we arrived at the airport where we returned the minibus. After we had checked in, we had the possibility to buy some whisky at the duty free shop. Brave people tried whisky at 8 am and others just directly went to the Costa café for an ex-tra-large mug. We took off almost punctually at 9 o’clock and arrived in Switzerland at 12. And then the only mishap of the trip occurred: the expensive whisky which Iris had bought at the duty free shop fell on the pavement and dis-solved into thin air outside the train station at Basel. After saying good-bye to Chiara and Michael we took the train back to Bern. The last hour was funny and entertaining and we had to laugh as much as during the whole trip to Scotland. Thank you, Ben, for organizing our trip and showing us these breath-taking places.

(texts written by Anja, Caspar, Chiara, Christian, Consuelo, Iris, Kathrin, Laura, Lucian, Marianne, Michael and Myriam)