Advertisement
Published: September 29th 2008
Edinburgh Castle
One of the many views at the castle.I just got back from Edinburgh, Scotland last night ~ it was pretty amazing! I only wish I had more time there. The Marquette group stayed at the Globetrotter Inn's location in Edinburgh. It was a litle out of the way but worth it with the view we had. The back of the hostel looked right over the lake behind us. The 6 of us shared a room so it felt a lot like a sleep-over.
We arrived late afternoon on Friday, settled in at the hostel and headed back into town to find dinner. We ate at some pub right off of Princes Street (the main street in the downtown area). Kate had a friend from high school who was born in Scotland and now goes to college there so he met us for dinner. His name is Alan and he's a cutie! He took us on a short tour after dinner down the Royal Mile that leads up to Edinburgh Castle. At one time it was the main market area of the city but is now stores, pubs and restaurants. We walked to Grass Market Street which is the nightlife district. He introduced us to a few of
his friends from school and we sat around in a pub for the night.
Alan also taught us how to pronounce Edinburgh correctly. The Scottish say a soft "e" and it sounds like "Edinbra" So "ur" is more of a "ra" and the "gh" is silent. Good thing we asked because we had spent all day butchering the word.
We took the Edinburgh Tour Bus around the city on Saturday. It's a hop-on/hop-off system so you get off at the stops you want to visit and are able to get back on without any problems. We got off at Edinburgh Castle. I would say that the castle is more of a fortress. My personal opinion is that Windsor is much more beautiful, probably because it is still used as a house for the Royal Family and Edinburgh is more of a tourist attraction. The Queen stays in Holyrood Palace when she visits Scotland but we didn't have time to visit it. After touring the castle we walked down Castlehill Street and stopped in the Tartan Weaving Centre where I got to see the plaid of St. Teresa's Academy everywhere!!! I had learned from Alan that plaid is called
View from Hostel
How beautiful right? tartan if it is the official design of a Scottish clan. Otherwise the plaid should just be called a checkered pattern. You learn something new every day. I never found which clan the STA tartan came from though.
On our bus tour around the city, our tour guide told us the story of Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby was the dog of John Gray, who died in 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Churchyard. Bobby was such a loyal dog that he lay on the grave for an entire 14 years before his own death. At 1pm everyday Bobby left the grave and was fed lunch by the graveyard gardener and then returned to his master's grave. Bobby became famous and when he died, he was buried next to his owner. The community made a statue of Bobby after his death which is still there today. Sometimes I do like dogs...
My favorite thing that we did was going to Arthur's Seat. It was a hike up the tallest hill in Edinburgh and has the most amazing view. You could see Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and nearly everywhere in the city. It was beautiful and by far the best part
Bobby
The statue of Bobby the Dog. of the trip.
I received my absentee ballot today! I don't have easy access to a TV but I have read a bit about the US election in some UK papers. England LOVES Obama! There are ads on the Tube that have a picture of Obama and read "hope." No joke.
One last thing ~ I have been talking to other people in the dorm and trying to figure out the best way to describe Islington, the neighborhood in which we live. The final decision is that we live in an urban suburb. Two blocks east are small houses and two blocks west is St. Paul's and central London.
I'm trying to work English words into my vocabulary without sounding ridiculous so hears it goes...cheers mate!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0229s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Rozanne Prather
non-member comment
Awesome photos!
Abby- Your mom shared the link to your blog - hope you don't mind. You are right: many of us are relying on you to share the good times of your semester abroad. After reading your first entry, it sounds like it will be a pretty easy mission to accomplish! Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos - windblown hair and all - and your insight to this corner of the world. Enjoy and be safe.