Saturday, June 16, 2012

National Museum of Scotland and Mary King's Close

Hello lovely blog followers!,

Wow! Only 6 days left until I arrive home! I can't hardly believe it! These past weeks have been the most valuable and exciting weeks of my life! I'm so proud to say I am the first Global Engagement Initiative Intern to New Lanark, and I hope I can be an ambassador for other students wishing to come here and experience all that New Lanark, and Scotland has to offer. I have met some wonderful people, including Jane and Aynsley, who have been so nice and helpful during these past weeks, and had several "dream come true" experiences. Graeme, the PR guy in the office, is lovely and is always up for a laugh. I enjoy eating lunch with him, because he's so funny and always in a cheerful mood. Gil, one of the girls in the office, is sweet and so knowledgeable, and welcomed me into her home for dinner one night, which I might add was absolutely superb. Maureen, one of the search room volunteers, has traveled to Edinburgh with me (to the National Museum and Mary King's Close) and invited me to her house for a proper Sunday Scottish Lunch.<--Delicious. (I encourage everyone to experience this at least once.) Annie Bell, another volunteer, who took me to see the absolutely breathtaking sights that the highlands have to offer and the beautifully restored Edinburgh Castle. Liz, another office lady, who I have had a chance to eat lunch with and also attend Jane's dancing show with, along with Kira and Gil, was so sweet and so interested in everything I had to say. I also got to know several of the hotel staff, even though I wasn't staying there. John, the general manager, is just amazing. He has fed me dinner and I greatly appreciate it. Even offered up the hotel as a possible wedding venue. ;) I don't think he could be any kinder. All the receptionists know me, as well as the bar staff, since they have served me dinner many times, plus I'm always here for wi-fi, and they're all lovely and so interested in America. I encourage anyone, future interns, lovers of travel, etc. to visit New Lanark, and really get to know the people here. They're amazing, and I know I've made some lifelong friends here. I could never thank them enough for their encouragement and wonderful hospitality. It truly brings a tear to my eye just thinking of how kind everyone has been. :) But, on to business. I visited the National Museum and Mary King's Close the other day. Both were absolutely amazing! Mary King's Close is basically what used to be the natural level of Edinburgh, until the Royal Exchange was built and then the neighborhoods below, including Mary King's Close were covered over, but left as they were. So when you go down into Mary King's Close, you're seeing the houses, workshops, etc. as they were centuries ago, dating back to the 1640s. It's a really eerie, awesome experience to be in peoples' homes and to be walking along the streets where they once walked. One of the houses you visit includes "Wee Annie"'s room. Back in 1998, a psychic visited Mary King's Close, and the story is that she went into that particular room and felt tremendous pain and sadness. As she was about to leave to escape those feelings, she saw a small child standing in the corner weeping. She asked the girl her name, to which the girl responded Annie. The psychic then asked why she was crying, and the girl said she was crying because her parents had abandoned her and she had lost her doll. The psychic immediately instructed one of the members of her entourage to go into town and buy the girl a doll. He did, and as soon as the doll was brought into the room, the feelings of pain and sadness vanished. Ever since then, hundreds of people have brought and left hundreds upon hundreds of toys and dolls for Wee Annie. I find this to be such a touching story. Even if Wee Annie doesn't exist, it makes the whole experience in the Close that much more human and real. On a different note, the National Museum offered TONS of Natural Science exhibits, Egyptian Artifacts, and many other curiosities. I took lots of pictures at the museum, but unfortunately none were allowed in Mary King's Close. I will post pictures from the museum here as well as the pictures from Hamilton Low Parks Mausoleum here, that I did not post last time. OH PLUS!! I saw the Olympic Rings!!! The torch was due to go through Edinburgh that night so they were up! Will put a picture of those too. :))) I hope everyone has been enjoying my blog. I will post more before I leave! Stay tuned!
---Catherine

P.S. As a small reminder, the pictures from the mausoleum are of the inside of the chapel above the mausoleum, including the bronze doors that once hung outside of it, and they are based on Ghiberti's Baptistry Doors in Florence. The rest of the photos will be from the National Museum.


















































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