Week Two: The Spa, The Law, and Some Other Things I Saw

 PART ONE: Classes

Monday was a full day in St Andrews.  After Latin and Palaeography, I had a few hours of spare reading time before I met with the supervisor of my Directed Study, who assigned me more reading.  Rather than narrowing in on a topic, I'm actually expanding, both geographically and temporally.  So I really hope I find something specific to do by next Monday.

Tuesday's Latin class was followed by my core module which sort of overlapped with the palaeography we've been doing.  So nothing really new there.  After class, we went to the spa at the Old Course Hotel.  During Fresher's Week, people were handing out coupons for a free 2-hr use of the spa facilities: pool, jacuzzi, sauna.  One of my flat mates grabbed one, and the rest of us were convinced there'd be some kind of catch or fee, but nope, absolutely free.  They also had this 8-feet deep tank of cold water that reminded me of the tank they put Luke in after Han rescues him from the snowy wastes of Hoth.  We now interrupt this blog post for a sci-fi joke:  

What's the internal body temperature of a Tauntaun?  

Luke warm.

That afternoon was then spent swimming before a postgraduate history meet and greet in the Undercroft with free wine and crisps.

On Wednesday, I stayed in Dundee and did some reading, both at home and in the nearby Dudhope Park (pictures to the left) which has a castle (top) and a cannon (bottom).

PART TWO: The Ascent

Two things you should know.  

First, 25 September, 1915: The Battle of Loos.   It was a British offensive on the Western Front, lasting well into October before ending in a British defeat.  It was also a battle in which many Black Watch (among several others) lost there lives.  

Secondly, in Dundee is a place called The Law.  It is an extinct volcano which was the sight of early settlement dating back to 1500BC, later Roman settlement (possibly as a lookout of some sort), and now is home to a large war memorial commemorating both World Wars.

Because Thursday was the anniversary of the Battle of Loos, the war memorial was to be lit, and I figured this would be the perfect day to check it out.  It's a relatively short walk from where I live, just up the hill, through Dudhope Park, up another hill, and there you are!  I took over 100 pictures on the walk, so I tried to be selective in posting them below.

1st Flight of stairs

2nd flight of stairs

3rd flight of stairs

PART THREE:  The Top

After three ramp/stair sets in a narrow alley, the path spills out onto a grassy area with a stand of jack pine on the right, and a more varied miniature wood to the left which curls around the North side of the hill.  I was having troubles formatting the photos, so some are out of order, but they're of The Law itself, the surrounding greenery and some of the views from the heights.  Also, if you didn't already know, clicking on a picture will bring it up in full-size in a picture-viewing mode which you can navigate with your arrow-keys.

A view of the monument between some trees.

View from the grassy area (looking South toward the Tay).  I know what you're thinking, and despite the blue in the sky, I assure you, this is still in Scotland!

Cool door on the monument

East-facing view

Northwest-facing view

West-facing view

View of the monument from the grassy hill

South-facing view (the bridge in the top left takes you across the Tay into Fife)

South (and slightly East)-facing view.  Apparently you can see St. Andrews on a clear day, but I think you'd actually have to be higher up due to the way the land curves in on itself.

View of the monument from the final staircase leading up to it

View of Fife (Southward across the Tay) and the rail bridge from beside the monument

The monument, the Tay in the background

The final staircase up the hill to the monument

The top of the monument.  If you look REALLY closely, you can see the flame peaking out of the top

Interesting bricks in the grass

Path through some trees and shrubs

Nice flowers growing out of one of the walls on the path with the stairs

Trees

Trees

Path in the trees

After The Law I had band in the evening which was just as awesome as last week (our first gig is 6 October which is only a little over a week away).  Friday I went to Crail for Old Norse which is an really stunning little town right on the ocean (gotta bring my camera next time).  Our prof hosted us in his study (more of a library) with a lovely bay window overlooking the sea.  We ended up covering more on English philology than any Old Norse, but it's good background info. to have, to understand all the sound changes and more easily associate Old Norse words with modern cognates.  Today and tomorrow will be reading and studying.  Also, my application to be one of the writers for the History Society's Historical Journal was accepted, so I'll be going to an introductory meeting for that on Wednesday.