This morning I went out to see Edinburgh. The first thing I did was go to Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle is a huge castle that sits on a mountain. Technically it is not really a mountain, it’s just a hill of volcanic rock. I saw cannons, towers, and a big moat. After a while I started walking toward the Salisbury Crags. The Salisbury Crags are part of the bigger volcano Arthur’s Seat. The castle and the volcano are over a mile apart so I went into a gallery all about the camera obscura. A camera obscura is somewhere between a pinhole camera and a periscope. It makes it so lights or pictures can trick your eye. There were lots of things you could do, but my favorite was the Vortex Tunnel. The Vortex Tunnel was where you walked across a still bridge while a circular vortex spun around you. It felt like the bridge was spinning even though it never moved! After the gallery I went to a Scottish restaurant. I had Haggis, made from parts of a sheep, and chips, a food like fries. 
Today we woke up in St Andrews. We are in a hotel and our room is named after Alfred Dunhill. The room overlooks the 18th hole of the Old Course. I learned golf was first played in St Andrews in the 14th century. But in the 1800s the town lost lots of money so they used the Old Course to raise rabbits. They must have needed a lot of carrots! When we were walking down the street that overlooked the water, we also got to see the ruins of St. Andrews castle.
Today we are in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is the third largest city in Scotland. As we were walking, we looked up and saw a magnificent building. This is Marischal College. After a little research, we found out it is used by the city council and it is the second largest granite structure in the world (the first is in Spain). No wonder Aberdeen is called “The Granite City”! It is also called “The Silver City” because the granite looks like silver when the sun shines on it. Over the door to Marischal College there are seven shields. Each one is special in some way for either the building or the college. My favorite shield is the one on the far left. It has part of a lion on it. Each shield also has a saying. My favorite saying is “Truth Concurs” because I think it is very true.
I flew into England on Tuesday morning. The pilots were nice and let me sit in the cockpit and talk to them before we left Michigan. The controls and switches were cool! After a few hours in London we hopped on a train at King’s Cross and headed to Scotland. The train ride was 7 hours, so I read and played cards. I can’t wait to hear what you got for Christmas and what was your favorite present! 
Hi, I am Brock Wandel, which hopefully you should already know if you are reading this. I will take you on an adventure throughout Europe. On December 26, the day after Christmas, my family and I will take a trip. A very long trip. We will be going to England and a few other places in Europe. We will be moving to England for almost four months because my mom is a professor at UE (University of Evansville) and she is going to teach at Harlaxton College for a semester. The cool thing is that we will live by a castle. That’s where my mom will be teaching college students, and she will also be homeschooling me. I will be using some of the same books I would be using if I were still at school with my EXCEL buddies (and buddiettes—those are my friends that are girls). I will get to see a lot of historical sites during the semester including visits to Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, and possibly many other cool things. I will share whatever I can so we can be on this expedition together.