The Texas Girls' Choir Long Tour 1999, Scotland

1999 British Isles Tour

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Scotland

Day 7 - Wednesday, July 14, 1999

Leaving Homestays at York

Today we left our homestays. Mrs. Erp gave us breakfast and we gave her gifts, then she walked us to the bus w/her two little dogs.
Marissa Reyes
...the hardest thing I had to do on tour was to say goodby to Alice on my homestay BOO HOO!! Then we departed to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Alyssa Harrison

I ate some cereal for breakfast, we packed up and said "Thank you" and left for the British Sugar Car Park. We said goodbye to Alice and began our trip to Scotland. Brittany Trobaugh

Mr. Priddy and Mr. Gilley loading our luggage

Curtis Priddy and Sam Gilley load luggage

On the Bus from York

Back on the bus
On the Bus Again!
Samantha Sleadd hands out cookies
Laura Hagen, Sarah Miller, Abby Satterfield, Kade Stevens, Rachel Tyler

It was a really long drive, but I had fun on the way. We listened to CDs, I wrote cards, played games and last but not least, we slept.
Amanda Fuentes
It was a very long drive but it was very entertaining ‘cause I was listening to CDs and singing. Sara Pitts
Our bus driver’s name was Tom. We had him for the rest of the trip. Sarah Miller

Ahh, Wonderful! Heading for Bonnie Ol' Scotland!
Ruth Bryant, Megan Starkey, Caitlin Kramer
Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Reyes, Lindsey Power

Darrell Kennedy and English water

We settled in for our twelve hour bus ride to Edinburgh, Wow!!! The hills and rocky cliffs are soo beautiful! Everything here is so clean and natural. Ruth Bryant
On the bus we saw wild flowers, a white house up in the mountains, it was like planted or designed with flowers. Anyway it was neat! Rachel Cleveland

Berwick-Upon-Tweed

We are now in Berwick-Upon Tweed
Our bus in Berwick-Upon-Tweed

We stopped at Berwick-upon-Tweed. We ate lunch at McDonald’s. Laura Hagen
They gave each of us a little flag. That was pretty nice. Samantha Sleadd

Lunch at Mc'y D's

Off-loading the bus at McDonalds for lunch

We had lunch about 12:30, and we stopped in Berwick-upon-Tweed (meaning near the river) for some shopping and sightseeing. Catherine Weber

Mrs. Reyes, Lori Kreger, Marissa Reyes, Lindsey Power
Ruth Bryant, Mr. Priddy

Suddenly there was a long line thanks to TGC!

Traveling on to Edinburgh

The North Sea, on the way to Edinburgh, Scotland

The road to Edinburgh

Beautiful Edinburgh

St. Giles Cathedral

We arrived at 8:00 pm at the Braid Hills Hotel in Borg, Scotland. My hotel room was huge. I got a suite because I am sweet. Alyssa Harrison
We arrived at about 9:00 at our Castle - like hotel. It was so big and beautiful.
Catherine Weber
The hotel is very elegant. Most of it is made of dark wood. Samantha Sleadd

On the bus heading to the Braid Hills Hotel
Mr. Kennedy, Chantal Carey, Karissa Torrez, Lori Kreger

We reached the Braid Hills Hotel and it had a beautiful view but didn’t have an elevator or a lift". Valerie Burton
The bad thing about that hotel was that there were no elevators. So we had to climb 3 flights of stairs. But the nice thing about the hotel is that it looked like a castle. Karissa Torrez

Then our bus driver, Tom Barnett, was so nice and drove us into town to shop. The most anyone accomplished was exchanging money, but we still had two days for shopping. After that we came back to the hotel for dinner. It was the best salmon I have ever tasted.
Jennifer Mitchell

"You have 30 minutes to shop!"

My first course was leek soup. My main course was salmon. For dessert I ate an apple tart. Samantha Lau
We then got to go shopping for 30 minutes. We got to sightsee a little bit too. We got back to the hotel and had dinner. I had leek soup, beef, and dessert. Laura Hagen
I sat with Mr. Priddy who gave us a physics lesson! We all made music with our glasses! Lindsay Power

The seat I had was right by a window and the hotel is very 17th century. The lamp in front of the window went wonderful with the scenery and made the view even more picturesque. While gazing out the window I got lost in my surroundings, I thought I was really in the 16th or 17th century. I was in total awe! Ruth Bryant

Day 8 - Thursday, July 15, 1999

Good Morning, Edinburgh!

Our hotel lobby
Lobby of Braid Hills Hotel
Stephanie Fisher, Laura Hagen, Amanda Fuentes, Rachel Cleveland, Mr. Kennedy

Today we got to sleep ‘till 8:45. That has been the longest we have slept on this whole entire trip. Laura Hagen

Breakfast at the Braid Hills Hotel

Rise and shine
A beautiful morning in Edinburgh
Mrs. Carter greets Rachel Cleveland
In background - Lynne, Mr. Kennedy, Winter Vasques, Kathryn Kuczaj, Megan Starkey, Stephanie Fisher, Laura Hagen

Bus tour of Edinburgh
Karissa Torrez, Mrs. Satterfield, Lindsay Power, Samantha Lau

Edinburgh Castle as seen from the bus

Edinburgh Castle

St. Giles Cathedral

St. Giles Cathedral

We first had to do a performance at the St. Giles Cathedral. We wore our Western outfits with the hats and new scarfs. We had a full performance. Laura Hagen
The queen had been at the same church a couple of days before. Winter Vasquez
It is another beautiful church shaped like a cross. Alyssa Harrison
It was so gorgeous. I loved the stained glass. Sarah Miller
The Cathedral was one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen. Valerie Burton

We perform at St. Giles Cathedral
The Texas Girls' Choir performs at St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland

The girls give souveniers to the audience

Gifts from Texas

Packing hats after the performance

Mrs. Holland, official hat packer!

After the performance we got to go shopping for two hours!!! I bought a blanket and 10, yes 10, postcards for 1, yes just one, pound!
Abby Satterfield
When we left the church to go shopping a Scottish man, dressed in full outfit, was outside playing the bag pipes. Kathryn K. and I started doing Scottish gigs. It was fun. Ruth Bryant
I bought a hat for my grandfather - it’s what he really wanted. Chantal Carey
After all that shopping I didn’t even want to hear the word shop. Stephanie Darbo

Scottish Piper outside St. Giles Cathedral

Laura Hagen and the Piper

Stephanie Darbo, Rachel Cleveland, Stephanie Fisher, Samantha Sleadd, and Mrs. Carter with the Piper

A few local Bobbies
Stephanie Fisher, Rachel Cleveland, Stephanie Darbo and Samantha Sleadd with local Bobbies

Lunch at Pizza Hut

Time for lunch
Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Reyes talk over pizza
In background - Laura Hagen, Lindsey Power, Chantal Carey, Sarah Miller

We went to go eat lunch at Pizza Hut. I had my usual cheese pizza. A lot of us got our picture with Darth Maul from Star Wars!
Lindsay Power

Mrs. Priddy and Jennifer Holland

Alice Priddy, Marissa Reyes, Stephanie Fisher, Samantha Slead, Alyson Johnson, Rachel Cleveland

Lunch at Pizza Hut

Darth Maul, from the new Star Wars movie

Darth Maul, Darrell Kennedy and friends
Winter Vasquez, Valerie Burton, Kathryn Kuczaj, Ruth Bryant

Darth Maul and friends
Amanda Fuentes and Lindsey Power

Dinner and Ghost Walk in Edinburgh

Then we had a classic European dinner at Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips or "fries". I don’t know why but one of my favorite hobbies is eating. Valerie Burton
We ate fish and chips (french fries). Amanda Fuentes
We ate dinner at Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips. The fish was so good. I ate it all. Laura Hagen
We ate dinner, then went back to St. Giles. We went on a ghost tour of some of the places in Edinburgh. Megan Starkey
The Ghost Walk was really neat. We walked down the old cobblestone streets of Edinburgh - ya scared yet? Jennifer Holland
Our guide told us a story of grave diggers who would steal corpses from their grave. Our guide was wearing a black cape and black clothes. He looked kind of scary. Karissa Torrez

It was creepy. I stayed with my buddy Mr. Kennedy. He wasn’t afraid, well maybe. Amanda Fuentes
When it was almost over we went behind St. Giles - there was a homeless guy. Well, right as we were walking past him he scared us by yelling. When Debi came by him, she told him Good Night! And he said NO and started yelling some more. Laura Hagen
. . . the Ghost Walk Tour . . . was pretty cool and it had some pretty cool stories too. When the tour was finally over we went back to the hotel and then took our showers and after a long day we went to bed. Catherine Weber
My roomate enjoys listening to classical music before and while she was in bed. It was quite soothing. Samantha Lau

To go to day 9 and more of
Edinburgh, including Holyrood Palace,
Click Here

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