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Published: April 29th 2022
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Glass and Steel
The roof of the National Museum of Scotland Edinburgh
This was originally planned to be my first trip on my own as a treat for my birthday. At that time, I had been with my boyfriend for two months and I was unsure if I should ask him to come with me or if he could come due to work commitments. Luckily he said yes! So I changed the Airbnb I had booked and managed to get one in the city centre.
We got the train from London's Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley station. The trip was around 5 hours long and the seats were not very comfortable and there was very limited leg room. I grabbed something to eat and drink while I was waiting for my boyfriend to arrive. We then went to a nearby store and bought some food and drinks for the train ride. We in the city at around 6pm and went to find the place we were staying at, when we got into the room - we were really disappointed. The room was small, cold, damp and had mould around the window and in the corners of the ceiling. We decided to stay as we couldn't find another place and we
Church
Stained glass window in an old church that is now a mini museum and shop were only there for a few days - plus we were only there to sleep. On exploring the house further - there was a shared bathroom which was spotless - however the kitchen was filthy. An old cooker with which looked like years of burnt on grease and food. There were pot, pans and plates that still had food on them piled up in and around the sink. Thankfully we never used the kitchen - not even for a drink of water.
That night we made our way into town and had dinner at a pub called The World's End. This 16th Century pub is located on the lower part of the Royal Mile and is a listed building as the exterior wall is part of what used to be Flodden Wall which was used to protect the historic old town. The brass cobble stones outside represent the exact location of the original city gates. The World's End is a very popular pub and it was full of locals and tourists alike. We had a few drinks and a nice meal - I can't remember what we had now, and I am certain that the menu has changed since
Steam Power
One of the first steam powered locomotives we were there. After our dinner, we decided to go for a night time walk around the local area to see what was around and to burn off the calories.
The next day we got up early, had a shower, got dressed and went out for the day. It was very cold and windy, we decided against taking more than our hoodies as we were walking around, we soon got uncomfortably hot. We ventured around the new town where we found a hog roast shop and that was our breakfast - a large hog roast roll with apple sauce and pork crackling and an orange juice - that lasted us well past lunchtime. There are a load of shops selling Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and many Scottish clothing stores. We walked down to the Palace of Holyrood House and attempted to climb to Arthur's Seat - which is the name of the summit of a long dead volcano. We managed to get half way as the climb was steep and it was to hot for me. I wanted to reach the top but my body was telling me to stop. Maybe one day we will go back and
Purple
inside of a giant Amethyst geode try again. Even from half way - the views of the city are amazing from the ruins of St Anthony's Chapel which overlooks St Margaret's Loch.
That night, as it was my birthday, we took a walk through the old town up to Edinburgh Castle, which was built on the remains of an extinct volcano. There are a lot of old and historical buildings to explore, a few of which were featured in Avengers: End Game including the train station. I took note that there were a lot of places selling deep fried goods - and yes most of them were offering to have a bar of chocolate of your choice deep fried. We didn't partake in this as we were just about to head for dinner at a very posh and expensive Indian Restaurant. The meal was amazing, we had a tikka sharer, which had chicken, lamb, beef and prawns in a dry tikka coating. The main was a duck tikka masala, chicken tikka masala with naan breads, poppadums' and the various chutneys that come with them. We didn't have dessert as we were both too full. after the meal we took to walking through the old town
Looking up!
an upshot of a memorial in Edinburgh again. It was around 9pm but the streets were full of people. There were a couple of bagpipe players dotted around which added to the atmosphere with the long droning music which I find to be both haunting and relaxing.
We walked randomly and got lost, but we found a place called Calton Hill, on top of which has a building that resembles a Greek Parthenon which houses an art collection. On this hill there is also a monument to Nelson's victory at the battle of Trafalgar, the Playfair Monument honouring the mathematician John Playfair and the National Monument of Scotland which commemorates the sailors and soldiers who fell during the Napoleonic Wars. We visited here at night and the views were astounding. If we had come during daylight hours, we could have climbed Nelson's Monument and would have been gifted with clear views of the surrounding city.
I really wanted to visit The Real Mary King's Close which is 16th Century town underneath the Old Town of Edinburgh. Unfortunately all the tours were booked up and the only one available was on the day we were due to return to London. Hopefully we will go back there
Spooky
A dark and gloomy staircase one day and spend more time exploring the city and surrounding towns.
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