riakaruda

Travelling and eating my way around the world

Tag Archives: Edinburgh

Edinburgh pics

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This gallery contains 17 photos


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Wrap it up!

April 18th saw the end of Edinburgh for me. Sad, because not only did I fall in love with the city, I met some awesome people there who I had spent every day with! Woke up and packed up and checked out, leaving my backpack in left luggage. I finished off the food I had left, and gave away the rest (apparently I was VERY hungry when I went grocery shopping…)   Margaret is in search of a job (good luck Margaret!!) so she was heading to New Town to shop, and I stalked followed went along with her there. I had thought about taking a day trip out to St. Andrew‘s but I decided against it for something more relaxing.

I then struck out on my own (the first time in three days!) and headed back to Old Town to visit the museum. I didn’t have my map, but figured I could find it. When I did, I thought, hmmm, this is not the grand exterior I was expecting. I entered, walked through quickly and then realised I had entered the Museum of Edinburgh, not the National Museum (I know, big difference). I exited and set out to find the real museum, er, National Museum. Finally, I found it and what a museum it was! I highly recommend it, and the price of £0 makes it even better! I saw Dolly, the cloned sheep, and a robot who spelled my name for me. Reading this back to myself, I realised I’m not doing the place justice; just know that I would have paid money for this even (and THAT’S saying a lot).

After that, I wandered the street of Old Town, looking for my postcards and souvenirs. I stumbled upon a place that makes tartan and where you can get a pic taken of you in traditional Scottish costume! Yes. I’m THAT touristy. Don’t judge. So, obviously I had my photo taken. While waiting for my time slot (yes, other suckers fell for it too), this little Chinese girl of about 3 years old carried on a conversation with me for 10 min. I have no idea what she was saying, but my well-placed yeses and noes seemed to appease her and keep her going 🙂

I was scheduled to meet Margaret and her cousin (from PEI!!!) for dinner at 6pm, so I still had time to kill. I headed to the Starbucks because I could drink a coffee and scam internet. I managed to scam 1.5 hrs out of my one drip coffee, and during that time, I got a surprise facetime call from Madelyn! It was great to see faces from home!

Met up with my friends, went to dinner and then rushed to catch my bus to the airport. Turns out that Ana had the same flight as me! We sat near each other, but not beside. Instead, Ana had the pleasure of being seated next to a lovely little boy whose parents did not appear to believe in discipline. He’s lucky he was sitting beside her and not me. She just sporadically gave the evil eye when he jumped up and down, screamed, yelled, poked her, etc. I would not have been so passive. I’m very happy that the flight was only 1 hr as even that felt like several!

Arrived at Gatwick Airport about 11:30pm, where Ana and I parted ways; she to her awaiting taxi, me to my search for the softest bench, until my flight early the next morning.


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Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

Today we did the Castle, which was RIGHT next to Castle Rock Hostel. Once inside, we were talking to an employee and she mentioned that the day before they had to close the Castle grounds due to dangerously strong winds. Did you catch that? The day before. As in, the same day Margaret and I climbed a hill WITHOUT rock walls to shield us from said wind. Hmmm. We had actually wondered on the way up, if, as tourists, we wouldn’t be aware of any precautionary warnings or closures due to wind. (I know. You’re thinking, well if they wondered it, why did they keep climbing? In my defense,…  hey, it’s me. And Margaret? Well, I guess we share the same sense of obliviousness mixed with stubbornness and daring.)  The employee’s eyes became as big as saucers when we told her that we had climbed to Arthur’s seat that day. Probably in admiration. I’m sure she wasn’t thinking we were idiotic tourists….

In total, we spent 4 hours inside the castle walls, and it was worth every pence of our £18. In the Memorial to soldiers who had fought in the First and Second World Wars, there were books for the Honour Roll of each division / troop. I found several Calders, both officers and regular military. Being a daredevil (re: Arthur’s Seat) I ignored the “No Photos” sign and snapped some shots of the role call of the Calders I found. It’s not a common last name where I’m from (except of course for the Calder Cup) so I was excited to find their names.

We walked around and saw many cool things and a great view of the city, then gathered with others for the One O’Clock Gun, named such because that’s when it is shot off every day. Very original. Anyway, it was cool to watch as a Scottish female military officer prepared & fired the gun in true military style. After that, we went to the Great Hall (which also had the Listening Window) and heard a guy in Jacobite costume talk about the kilt and give a demonstration on how to properly fold and don a kilt from an 8m length of tartan material. He also showed the versatility of the garment, the many ways it could be worn or used. Pretty awesome!

After the Castle, we went back to the hostel and I ate a late lunch / early dinner. Later that evening, a group of us went out for haggis, neeps & tatties, and whiskey. The haggis was DELICIOUS (and I’m not just saying that!) and tasted somewhat like peppered meatloaf. The neeps and tatties were mashed (turnips and potatoes). Margaret and I decided to share whiskey, as neither of us were super-keen on it. But when in Edinburgh…   so the barkeep recommended 2 kinds, one of which was rubbish, and we didn’t drink it. The other (Laphraoig cask) tasted like campfire smoke which had been made into a liquid, and although that may not sound appetising, it was fairly good. But strong. We took our time and took turns finishing the whopping half cup that was served to us.


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Thar she blows!

To get us all back on track, this blog is talking about the 16th of April. Which means, despite my best concerted good efforts, I keep lagging behind. I guess just thinking about blogging doesn’t ACTUALLY get the blogging done. Huh.

Anyhoo, on the 16th I woke up and met my roomies, Margaret (fellow Canadian) and Ana (Portugese). We went upstairs and had the cheap breakfast (1.50 pounds) and got ready to go on the free walking tour. On our way out the door, we rounded up Ethan, and shortly after starting the tour, we picked up Kendall. Our tour guide was Ben (a true Scotsman! Not all tour guides were…) and began our 3-hr walking / story / sarcasm tour. Ben rocked it. Although later we learned it was a script, we wouldn’t have guessed it at all from his presentation, ease and tongue-in-cheek wit. I learned all about the greats and the infamous, like David Hume, Adam Smith, Deacon Brodie, Maggie Dickson and obviously, Greyfriars Bobby.

Hume, a philosopher, spent his life trying to prove that superstition was bogus, and was commemorated for his great thoughts through a statue of himself with a gold toe, which brings you luck when rubbed. Oh, the irony. Adam Smith was a colleage but apparently his statue isn’t nearly as lucky. Hard to say if he’d be happy or jealous of that fact, given his shared views with Hume.

Deacon Brodie falls under the infamous category. He was a skilled safe-cabinet maker who developed a gambling problem, and cunningly decided that he would steal from the very people who trusted him, seeing as he had made the locks. It worked for a while, but then….  well, I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say when the locals figured it out, he wasn’t very popular.

Maggie Dickson earned the nickname Half-Hanged Maggie for surviving a hanging. When they found out she wasn’t dead, they were going to hang her again, but she was saved by a law student claiming double jeopardy. Embracing her infamy after she recovered, she would reportedly hang out her window and yell down to the poor souls who were to be hanged, “Take heart! I went through it and look at me now.”  Hahahaha! A woman after my own sarcastic heart.

Greyfriars Bobby is apparently the most famous Ediburghian, despite not being a human. He was a dog, and he has his own statue and bar, and tourist traps. He’s famous for his dedication to his owner, even after his Policeman owner passed away, staying close to his grave for 13 years.

After the walking tour, we ate some lunch, then Margaret and I decided to walk up to Arthur’s Seat for a great view of the city. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was windy in Edinburgh. And by windy, I don’t mean a lovely gentle  breeze; the wind was strong and made it hard to hear people talk if they were upwind of you. But Marg and I thought, meh, how windy could it be?

Yeah.

So….  it was WINDY. At times, we had to stop and brace ourselves, and sometimes even crouch down, until the wind died down (a bit). We kept walking up, wondering how long it would take, when FINALLY we saw the top. I could lean into the wind and not fall over. Literally. Of course, being the smart people we are, we totally realised that this could be unsafe and we stopped before getting to the top. <pause until you stop giggling> Ok, more likely, we threw caution to the wind (hahaha! see what i did there… I’m so witty) and scrambled up to the monument on Arthur’s Seat, held on for dear life, and got our pics. It was at this point we noticed we had taken the “scenic route” up, and shortened our trek back down.

We stopped at the local grocery store and I bought my first groceries for the trip. I had forgotten how much cheaper it is to buy groceries instead of eating out. My splurge was some apple pork sausages which were delish! The wind had worn us out completely, so we finished the evening by just hanging out with the others at the hostel.

…and now I must hit the sack, so I will continue to fall behind on blogging…

 


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Edinburah!

Touched down late at Edinburgh airport, collected my backpack and headed towards the customs area. I had two choices, and seeing as it was so late at night, I probably stared at it for 3 or 4 minutes while others walked past me, making their decision with ease. When I finally decided which door was mine, (because there were big signs saying “NO RE-ENTRY!”) I walked out and found the bus into town. Halfway into town, I realised I had not spoken to ANYONE about re-entering the UK!  I panicked a bit, wondering if I should go back / call someone official / visit the embassy, because I didn’t want to be in the country illegally – I mean, I’m only just halfway thru my trip!

Turns out my original stamp into UK was good for 6 months, so it wasn’t necessary. But I kinda feel ripped off for not getting a Scotland stamp (I paid good money for this trip!). Oh well.

Off the bus at 11:30pm, I tried to orient myself to find the hostel. Just then, two guys (Kendal from Kansas, Ethan from Portland) yelled out, “Anyone going to Castle Rock?” to which I replied I was, so we struck out to find the hostel together. Up a hill that looked like a fairy tale mountain town, directly opposite the Castle, we found our hostel and checked in. I managed to find my stuff and climb into my bed in the dark, thanks to a friendly and helpful fellow roommate (who I found out the next day was Margaret, from Canada and my new Edinburgh bestie).