This week we had our biggest adventure since arriving in the UK. My supervisor, Professor Lewis Ayres, was invited to present a paper to the theology seminar at the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland, and invited all of his new students to go along with him. When I checked the prices for train tickets to St. Andrews, the cost was basically the same for Brandy and the girls to go, as it would have been for me to go by myself, so we decided to all go on the trip. We left early on Wednesday morning (6:30 am) and met the rest of the crew at the train station. We first rode a train for about two hours to Edinburgh, and then got on another train for another one hour ride to Leuchars (the station nearest to St. Andrews). The train ride up was very smooth and comfortable, and we were able to enjoy lots of great views of the English countryside and coastline. We had about a 30 minute stop in Edinburgh, so we had just enough time to get out of the train station and see the city. Here’s a picture of Edinburgh castle. It sits on a prominent peak in the center of the city.

This is another picture of Edinburgh. The twin towers on the right side of the image are the location of the faculty of divinity at the university.

Once we arrived at Leuchars we took a taxi to St. Andrews (another 5 miles), and quickly ran to the theology seminar, arriving just in time for the presentation. While all of us students were intently listening to our learned master, Brandy and the girls wandered around the town with the company of the wife of another student, also from the states. The took lots of pictures that you can see at the link below. After the seminar was over, we all joined back up and walked around the town a bit more. Here’s a few choice pictures from our trip:

This is a picture of the cathedral at St. Andrews. As you will no doubt notice, it is in ruins. At one time the cathedral was the largest one in all of Scotland. It took 150 years to complete and consecrated in 1318 in the presence of Robert the Bruce (whom you may remember from the movie Braveheart). However, in 1559, in the midst of the Protestant Reformation, John Knox preached a fiery sermon that roused his congregation to attack and damage the cathedral, stripping it of its Roman Catholic trappings. The cathedral was eventually abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin.

Near the cathedral is the castle, as you see above. It was built in the 1100s, but has also turned into rubble over the years.


Here’s a couple of pictures of the beach just beneath the castle. The rocks jutting out into the ocean are significant, because it was there that I took a tumble. Trying to be cool, I walked out on the rocks, only to find that they were covered with wet seaweed, and so were very slippery. I quickly lost my footing and ended up on the ground, getting my trousers (= pants) and shirt wet and smeared with seaweed.

This is a picture of the 18th hole of the old golf course at St. Andrews, believed to be the oldest golf course in the world (600 years old).

Finally, here’s a picture of another beach in the town called the West Sands. Besides being a beautiful beach, it is significant because this is where the famous opening scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed.
That’s about it. It was a long day for us, but we loved it. The city was charming, and it was wonderful to get to know everyone who went along.
Oh, a couple of other things. If you want to see the whole set of pictures from the trip, you can click here. And if you want to hear a sound clip of Camille snoring on the train ride back home, you can click here.