The Falkirk Wheel and Guy Fawkes Night!

My lovely parents arrived to the UK last Friday!!! I met them at the train station on Friday afternoon and we spent the rest of the day catching up.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to eat breakfast, take the bus to Waverly (the city's train station), and get on a train to Falkirk. Falkirk is a small town (about the population of Gloucester) northwest of Edinburgh. It took about half an hour on the train to get there. Why this small town you ask? Because it is home to one of the world's coolest engineering marvels!

The Falkirk Wheel is an alternative to locks in a canal. A boat can drive onto the wheel to go up (or down) the 60 meters (almost 200 feet) to the next level of canal.

This shows the two levels of the canal. The boat on the left of the picture took us to the top.

 Probably the most interesting part about the wheel is that it is suuuuper efficient. Because the structure is balanced by the weight of the water in both ends (where the boats can sit) it takes the same amount of energy to go around once as it does to boil a few tea kettles!

At the top of the wheel, riding down the canal!

 When we arrived at the train station we got directions to the nearest bus station instead of making the 30 minute walk to the wheel. As we were walking towards the bus station my mom decides to ask a man and woman walking by where the bus station is. Let it be known that my dad and I knew just where it was...around the next corner. But anyway the man offered that if we would just wait there he would go around the corner to get his car and he would take us to the wheel! Apparently feeling the nice Scot vibes, my mom eagerly agreed. Let it also be known that this is the same woman who advised me against ever talking to strangers...let alone accepting a ride from them. The man was, of course, actually very kind and told us a bit about the town of Falkirk and we saved on bus fare! Moral of the story: it's sometimes okay to get into a stranger's car. Go figure!

The family at the base of the wheel.

After a lovely ride on the wheel, a short ride down the canal, lunch at a cozy small town pub, we were back on the train to Edinburgh. That afternoon we took a bus tour of the city which was really interesting! I saw many things that I still have not gotten to visit in my time here. Sunday morning my parents were off on their Scottish adventure! They will be back this coming weekend and more fun will ensue!

Monday night, the fifth of November, was Guy Fawkes night. Guy Fawkes tried to burn down parliament in London on November 5, 1605. So every November fifth, Britain celebrates the fact that Mr. Fawkes was unsuccessful with fireworks. I took a break from the essay that I was writing to go up to the ridge of Arthur's Seat to observe the city's fireworks. There must have been hundreds of people up there and it was fun to see the city lit up at night. Unfortunately my camera along with my reflexes were not good enough to get a photo.

Check back soon for more stories of the Bishop-Evans clan!