Two weeks in Edinburgh! - London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Back again! What an amazing two weeks it has been since I left Dublin. I feel like I have done so much, I don't even know where to begin.
So, days 82 to 95 (plus 96 - 99)!
After my god awful early flight I found myself in Edinburgh. The first few days are a blur. I was exhausted from lack of sleep plus the early flight, so I spent my day chilling out waiting to check in, trying to sleep on a couch. Of course the couch was in close proximity to the cleaners cupboard so there was a constant stream of staff going in and out, someone broke an electronic locker so it beeped angrily at us for 20 minutes, and the fire alarm went off twice. A peaceful morning. Needless to say I didn't get a lot of sleep. After checking in and showering, I had a bite to eat in the cafe under the hostel before going to sleep early. The next day, was a non-event also. After sleeping in sufficiently, I realized that I was not equipped for the crippling cold weather of Edinburgh, so I tackled that particular problem in the only way a girl knows how...shopping! In the UK they have a department store named Primark, catering to men's, women's, children's and homewares, generally over about four to five stories. It is so cheap. Sooooo cheap. Underwear for 1 pound a pair, tshirts around the 5 pound mark. I got a huge bag of jumpers and warm clothes, replaced my falling apart jeans, and got a few other essentials for less than 100 pounds. A girls dream. I made a pact with myself on the spot that I would not step back in Primark again for the rest of the fortnight...I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to close my bag!
On day 84 I started sight seeing properly, now that I was equipped with warm clothes! As I had done in other cities previously, I decided to start off my adventure with a walking tour. Edinburgh is built on no less than seven hills, so we wandered up hill and down dale, taking in all sorts of awesome sights. We saw the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, the cafe where J. K. Rowling penned Harry Potter, the graveyard from which she got a lot of the names for her book (McGonnagal, Moodie, Thomas Riddle), as well as heaps of other stuff, all while getting a quick rundown of the history of Edinburgh! The walking tour culminated in a trip to a local pub for our first taste of Scotland's national dish...haggis! Made from offal ground up with oatmeal and spices, and cooked inside a sheep stomach like a sausage, before being cut into slices and served with traditional 'neeps and tatties' (mashed parsnips and potatoes), all drowned in whiskey gravy. It was AMAZING. So delicious! It was definitely a lot nicer than what I was expecting, and I hope we can find it in Australia somewhere for my future enjoyment! Later that evening I went on another walking tour of Edinburgh, this time the 'Dark Side' tour. We were taken through graveyards in the dark, down a treacherous stair named 'Jacob's Ladder' (used by grave diggers to transport bodies from home and hospital to graveyards for burial), all the while regaled with stories of Edinburgh's dubious past, including grave robbers and murders, with lots of spooky voices and flashlight waving. It was very interesting, and very entertaining, even if we didn't see any ghosts!
The next day I went on yet another walking tour! (In case you hadn't already figured out from the amount of walking tours I do, I think they are the best way to see a city, and also get orientated to your surroundings!) So it was off to Edinburgh Castle. The beauty of doing the Edinburgh Castle walking tour is you get priority entry...that is, you skip the lines! Can't get any better than that! We were given a comprehensive run down on the history of Edinburgh Castle, as well as the significance of all the buildings on the site, which has understandably changed over the years from the 1300's, when it is believed the first ever castle was built on the current site. After the history component finished, we were left to look through the rest of the castle, including a look at the crown jewels of Scotland, and the Stone of Destiny, upon which all the kings of Scotland were originally crowned. These days the castle is mainly a tourist attraction, although it does house a barracks worth of soldiers. After the tour I looked around the Royal Mile with another girl who was on the tour, before heading back to my hostel for a bite to eat and a cider or two before bed.
Edinburgh has largely unpredictable weather, and very short summers. By the time I arrived they were finishing off their summer and the weather had turned, with lots of typical Scottish sideways rain. So when I got up the next morning and was greeted with blue skies and sunshine, I did the most logical thing: attacked Arthur's Seat. What is Arthur's Seat you ask? Well to understand, let me explain a little about Edinburgh. Known as the precipitous city, Edinburgh literally hangs over the side of around seven hills, with Edinburgh Castle built on the foremost crag. Edinburgh Castle is on the highest point of the crag (crags run from ground level up in a line ending in cliffs, the castle is built on the edge of these cliffs, and is therefore practically impenetrable). You walk down the crag, along the Royal Mile, steadily going downhill, until you reach the bottom. At the bottom is the Royal Family's official Edinburgh residence, Hollyrood Palace (Edinburgh Castle is a cold, windy, cramped establishment, hence they have a palace instead). Behind Hollyrood Palace, is Hollyrood Park, which contains Arthur's Seat, and extinct volcano, flanked by the Salisbury Crags. It was this extinct volcano I tackled on this beautiful morning. Our tour guide on the walking tours had claimed it was a half an hour walk to the summit. Well it took me nearly an hour of puffed out pain, but I made it. I nearly got blown right off the top when I did make it up there, as it has to be one of the windiest places in Edinburgh, but I made it nonetheless. It was worth it too, for the 360 degree views of Edinburgh's new and old towns, the Lief estuary, the North Sea, the outer suburbs of Edinburgh along the coast, the Kingdom of Fief, and all the other hills and rolling farmland surrounding Edinburgh. A truly spectacular view. After heading back down the volcano, I decided I would go through Hollyrood House before heading back up the Royal Mile. After eating cake for lunch (I decided I had earned it), I grabbed an audio guide and went through the Royal palace, which was quite beautiful in all its splendor. It was also interesting historically, as you got to see possessions of and the chambers in which Mary Queen of Scots lived. They also have a gallery next door to the palace called the Queen's Gallery, which was displaying the original anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, compared with modern imaging techniques. His work was spectacular, with stunningly accurate detail and understanding, 500 years before his time. After digesting all of that, it was time to get some dinner, so I headed back up the Royal Mile to a cute little pub next to my hostel, boldly claiming to be the oldest gastro pub in Edinburgh, for piping hot soup, delicious haggis drowning in whiskey gravy, and a decadently chocolate dessert to top it all off. I washed it all down with my latest favourite discovery, a Scotland brewed cider called Thistly Cross. We better have it in Australia, is all I can say!
Day 86 saw the demise of my second handbag so far on this trip. I tend to overload the poor things. So my first mission of the day was to go bag hunting. I ended up deciding to give up on the big handbag idea, and bought a backpack instead, that I can properly load everything I need into, as well as a small bag for going out at night with. And some gloves. Edinburgh is cold! With that important task completed, it was time to go learn stuff. I headed to the National Museum, in which I spent around 5 hours, taking in all the fascinating Scottish artifacts, an exhibition of amber, and an exhibition about Mary Queen of Scots. While there I also got to see Dolly the Sheep. My favourite exhibit in the museum was a display of minature coffins with small dolls dressed in silk clothes. Seventeen in total were found by school boys hunting for rabbits in a cave on the Salisbury Crags in the 1830's. No one really knows where they came from or what they represent, but the most common and popular theory is mixed up with grave robbing. Edinburgh was notorious for grave robbers, or 'resurrectionists' who would steal a freshly interred corpse and sell in to the local medical schools for dissection, each body attracting several months of wages. Two men, Burke and Hare, thought this was an excellent way to earn money. Unfortunately, there were already plenty of grave robbers operating in Edinburgh at the time, so Burke and Hare resorted to murdering people to sell. They devised a method of suffocation that left not a mark on the body. Eventually they were detected, and Hare was granted his freedom after selling out Burke as the mastermind behind the whole scheme. The theory goes that before fleeing Edinburgh, Hare made the 17 miniature dolls and coffins and 'buried' them in the cave as a way of reconciling himself with his actions and laying the 17 murdered people to rest. No one knows if this is true, or if they were some sort of witchcraft voodoo doll, but they were still very cool and eerie to look at. After overloading my brain on Scottish history, I went for a wander through Greyfriars Kirk graveyard (kirk is the Scottish name for church), to take photos of the Harry Potter related gravestones. I really do like old graveyards, the names are so interesting, and they look so cool with all the old falling over gravestones. The weather deteriorated rapidly while I was looking around, so it was back to the hostel to read and have some dinner before an early night.
There always comes a point on holiday where you need a rest. The next day was the perfect day for it, as it was cold and wet. I stayed in bed and watched movies, and then, as the weather miraculously dried up by the evening, I headed up Calton Hill, one of the higher points in the city, to catch the end of the Fringe Festival fireworks. It was cold and windy, and the fireworks were very disappointing, as the smoke was blowing towards our vantage point, partially obscuring most of the show. The fireworks were also designed to be in time with music played at a concert in the Princes Gardens underneath Edinburgh Castle, but the city didn't think it was worth putting speakers on Calton Hill, so it all just looked very disjointed and silly. After thoroughly freezing my butt off for two hours, I headed back down the hill and to my hostel, where I consumed a large quantity of peppermint tea trying to defrost before bed!
After a nice warm sleep it was time to do some sight seeing again, so I headed to the Real Mary King's Close to get some more history on. Originally houses were built down the side of the crag that Edinburgh Castle was built on, and there was no Royal Mile as such. The city decided they wanted to create a nice street along the Royal Mile, so they basically cut the tops off all the buildings built into the sides of the crag, and built street level buildings over the top. People continued to live in these weird basement dwellings for years. Mary King's Close is what is left of the original hillside buildings. They have the buildings set up as they would have been when they were last inhabited, telling fascinating stories about the plague, sanitation, and grisly murders. It was all very interesting, and such a different look at Edinburgh compared to the grand buildings built above the Close. All I can say is, I am glad I never had to live there!
I had another lazy day on day 89, but definitely not a lazy night! I sat down by myself to eat dinner and read a book in the hostel cafe, when a group of three Canadian girls asked me to join their table. I couldn't very well refuse, so I sat with them, and we swapped travel stories over dinner and a drink or two. We managed to gather a group of about five Aussie and American guys around us, and we all had a few drinks (including one pint that ended up all over my phone and jeans!). Eventually the Canadian girls peeled off for a ghost tour, and most of the guys went off for a pub crawl, until it was myself, an American guy and an Aussie guy left. We decided to enter the pub quiz that they had running that night in the bar, and what do you know, after three crazy rounds, we won! Our prize was a 30 quid bar tab, which we quickly demolished with five jager bombs each. Already well drunk by this stage, we decided to head out to catch some cover bands at a popular bar in Edinburgh, Whistlebinkies. Many ciders and gin and tonics later, I was as drunk as I had ever been on this trip (except sangria night in Barcelona!) and I stumbled home to bed, thoroughly worn out from all the dancing! A great spontaneous night!
Understandably, the next day, I was useless. After a greasy breakfast in the hostel, I headed straight back to bed and watched TV shows on my computer all day before going back to sleep! I may enjoy drinking a lot, but I don't enjoy the hangovers the next day!
Day 91 was definitely more productive! I decided to head to the Surgeon's Hall Museum. Edinburgh has a rich history of medical advances in surgery and otherwise, with a lot of hospital practices originating there. The Surgeon's Hall Museum is full of preserved dissections, skeletons, and antique medical equipment. It was fascinating, especially seeing some of the equipment used for early surgeries. People definitely have nothing to complain about now when they go to hospital! After getting my medical on, it was time for a stiff drink! I went to the Whiskey Experience, where you go on a funny little ride that tells you all about the process of whiskey making, before you learn about the different types of whiskey that come from the different regions of Scotland (whiskey is their national drink). You then get taught how to appreciate a whiskey of your choice while surrounded by the worlds largest whiskey collection: over 3500 bottles! You are then sent on your merry way with a whiskey glass and the hope that you will spend lots of money in the gift shop! Whilst a 15 year old aged bottle of Drambuie did tempt me, my bag is already weighed down by two bottles of schnapps I bought in Vienna, so I couldn't really justify adding to that weight! After adding a few more ciders to the mix, it was time for bed, so I could be up bright and early the next day!
Why did I have to be up bright and early you ask? Why because the next day I had a day tour our into the Scottish Highlands! Called the Highland Walks and Wildlife tour, our first stop was the Hermitage Walk. Set in a beautiful forest, we walked to Ossian's Hall, a beautiful rotunda built hanging over a stunning waterfall. Surrounded by conifers and other towering trees, it was a tranquil place. We then drove to Queen's View, a vantage point overlooking one of the 30,000 Loch's in Scotland. The views up and down the valley were spectacular. As a side note, because of the amount of Loch's, Scotland has utilized them for hydraulic power, as well as tidal power and nuclear power, meaning they are well above on track for their target of being 100% powered by renewable energy by 2020. Australia could do with taking a leaf out of their books! After getting our happy snaps it was time for the highlight of the day: feeding red deer! They are absolutely stunning animals, and the run wild all over the highlands. A highland safari group has a small herd for breeding purposes, and we got to feed them. The males antlers were incredible to behold, and the fawns were adorable in their skittish ways. After having some homemade lunch at the adjacent cafe, we jumped back on the bus to go have a look at a birch forest before making our way to Scone Palace, the original home of the legendary Stone of Destiny. We got to tour the state apartments, see the chair on which all Scottish Kings were crowned, as well as stroll through the beautiful gardens before getting some happy snaps with the absolutely adorable hairy highland cows! If we had them in Australia I would buy a small farm and keep some as pets, they were so cute! It was then back to Edinburgh after a long day on the bus, in time for a hot meal and a cold drink before bed.
And all of a sudden it was my second last day in Edinburgh! Where did the time go? I decided to take it easy on this day, so I went and had a look at Princes Park, the main park in the city center. I sat and read for awhile until the weather clouded over and looked like rain. While I was in the park, I was trying to take a photo of a squirrel, and it totally suprised me by deciding to come over and sit on my knee! It was so cute, but as I didn't have any delicious snacks for it, it lost interest after about 30 seconds and disappeared. The weather was turning fast by this point, so I headed back to the hostel, put some laundry on, and curled up to watch some more TV! Only good thing about dragging my laptop around is I get to catch up on my favourite TV shows.
There was time for one last day tour before my time in Edinburgh was up. On an absolutely picture postcard day weather wise, I headed off into the Scottish countryside once again on the Viking Coast and Alnwick Castle tour. We headed south of Edinburgh, through the Scottish border-town of Berwick-upon-Tweed before stopping at Holy Island or Lindisfarne. Only open twice a day thanks to the tides flooding the causeway, we were very lucky to get across to see the castle, the upside boat shaped houses, and the ruined priory. A very picturesque little fishing village, and a site of Viking invasions a couple of times throughout history. After getting lots of gorgeous photos we headed to the interesting Alnwick Castle (pronounced Anick), a still currently working castle. It was a little bit strange in as much as there were TV's and family photos clearly on display, as a family still lives there to this day. Alnwick Castles other claim to fame is that it was in the Harry Potter films, with a well known scene shot there being the first broomstick class in the first movie, where Neville loses control of his broomstick. All the walls and roof footage you can see in the movie is this castle. After spending a few hours there, we headed to the picturesque village of Etal, where all the buildings were painted white and black and some still had thatched roofs! Proper little cottages! We had a traditional cream tea of scones, jam and cream with tea, before heading back to Edinburgh for my last night in this fantastic city!
And then it was all over. It was back to London I was heading on the 1.30pm train, and four and a half hours later I found myself in the bustling capital once again. After a struggle to find my hostel, it was time for some dinner before bed. I have now been back in London three days, have been shopping and dined at the original Hard Rock Cafe, after having met up with a friend from home with whom I will be traveling for the next four weeks! Tomorrow I leave London yet again, this time on a Contiki tour through Great Britain and Ireland, returning briefly to Dublin and Edinburgh and seeing so much more besides. At least that is the plan...you will just have to wait and see what I get up to!