Me and the North Sea...

So today was our day trip to St. Andrews. IT. WAS. COLD. Miserably cold and rainy. I have determined that St.. Andrews' history is more interesting than the city is today. Because of that and the fact that things didn't get interesting till I left the city, I will just talk about the history of St. Andrews that I learned on the walking tour.

 I can't remember his name but this was the place a Protestant martyr was burned. It took six hours for him to burn to death because they kept pouring water over him. I cannot imagine how horrible and gruesome that must have been. He was only 23. P.H was just one of like 4 that this happened to.

 Legend goes that the face in the stone was caused by the spirit of the martyr after his death. The mason claimed no one had ever carved the stone... ;). It looks like a Roman legionary to me.

 The ruins of St. Andrews castle. After the burning of the Protestant martyrs angry Protestants broke into the castle and stabbed the head Catholic guy and hung his body from the top of this roof here. Again, these people were gruesome and hateful. This castle had a very extensive bloody history. This castle was also the place Mary Queen of Scots came for a while. I *think* the tour guide said her jealous husband and his accomplices murdered her supposed lover in front of her in this castle by stabbing him 30 times while she was 7 months pregnant. The plan was to have her miscarry her baby at witnessing the horror of her beloved so savagely killed. (Even though he wasn't actually her lover, just her lute player). But of course she was too strong for them and escaped with her baby still alive. She delivered a few months later in Edinburgh the future king of England and Scotland.

The ruins of the cathedral was next up on our walking tour. It used to be the largest cathedral in Scotland. It is said that this location was chosen a very strange way. After St. Andrew (a disciple of Jesus) was executed, Christians took his bones on a ship and swore that wherever the ship crashed that is where they would bury his remains and build a church. True? I don't know. From Greece to Scotland seems like a very difficult feet, but what do I know about sailing? Anyways the original chapel they built was behind the remains of the Cathedral. Unfortunately I was just too cold and miserable to go take a look at it. The first photo is the original entrance of the cathedral from the side.

 The second photo is what used to be the aisle leading to the back of the cathedral.

 This is a drawing of what it looked like before it fell. In case any of you were wondering, it was abandoned over time as people abandoned Catholicism. It still seems like a shame it has been reduced to mere ruins to me.

OKAY! Enough history, let's get to the fun stuff! SO a couple days ago I signed up for a extreme beach activities thingy. The two activities were land sailing and ocean kayaking. The beach was amazing but it was SO COLD and not to mention raining half the time. The land sailing was pretty fun. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but once I did I could go pretty fast. It was exhilarating. For those of you who don't know what land sailing looks like... (unfortunately I am not in this photo)

After land sailing I was getting pretty numb so I went back behind the sand dunes into the tent to try to get warm. After everyone finished we decided, despite the cold, we were going in the water. We wanted our money's worth! I questioned my decision a little at first but I was worrying for no reason. We put on wetsuits, which was an experience in itself, and immediately were warmer. I must say I looked quite good in my suit :D. Then we paired up. I ended up pairing with one of the guys who ran the business, which was a good thing because it would turn out I did not have the upper body strength on my own to operate the kayak successfully. We dragged the kayaks down to the water, and after a bit of instruction, went into the water. I was surprised to find the water was actually warmer than the air! A lot warmer! I was so happy! The waves as it turned out were very mild. I had swam in bigger and rougher waves in the Atlantic. The kayaking was a BLAST! I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. we paddled through the waves, sometimes flying off the water and landing again. Then, when we got far enough out, we would turn around and ride a wave into shore. We would be going so fast and it would be so much fun! It started to rain pretty hard but it only added to the experience.

Yes I look like a total dork, but ignore that. The helmet was so we wouldn't get a concussion from the kayak when we capsized (which was inevitable) and the life jacket was for insurance reasons. The water, at its deepest, was like 3 feet. They were really unnecessary. It was still so much fun though! Can't you see the joy in my face? Haha! The kayaking was seriously probably the coolest thing I have ever done and I really hope I can do it again in the future! The North Sea and I are on good terms :D