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Published: December 1st 2006
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I (Leigh) spent the day yesterday in Edinburgh. I went on this trip with the LLM Society, I thought it would be great opportunity to see Edinburgh for the first time ever and to get to know some more of my LLM peers.
The day was quite an interesting one. We were to leave the Aberdeen train station around 7am for Edinburgh (and return later that night about 9pm). Not wanting to venture the 30 minute walk alone in the early morning and in complete darkness, I decided instead to book a taxi for that morning. Little did I know that was going to be the one mistake that would influence the rest of my time in Edinburgh as my sleepiness didn't subside at all. I tried to book the taxi for about 6:30am...but the taxi company insisted that if I didn't book it an hour before I needed to be at the train station, that they wouldn't be held responsible if I didn't arrive on time. Too tired and careless to bother arguing I agreed. This meant I had to wake up around 5am to get ready and meet the other 2 LLM students who were going to split
Jenner's
This is Edinburgh's oldest shopping mall. on the taxi with me. the taxi ended up arriving EXACTLY on time...6am on the dot! And we arrived at the train station at approximately 6:10am. Fantastic! Now only about an 45-50 minute wait in a cold, uncomfortable station with two people (one from Latvia and the other from Italy) that I had never met before...and now they were probably cursing having let me make the taxi arrangements as our day had just begun and we were already exhausted.
Then about an hour later everyone else has arrived (25 ppl total), many of them from Germany or Eastern Europe. Of course word got around that we had been there for about an hour already, and of course I felt like a complete ass. But I met up with a friend from my Intellectual Property and Development class, and we all boarded the train, none of us were awake, but we were all excited to embark on our one day excursion to Edinburgh, just a quick 2 hr train ride from Aberdeen.
The day started out well, with a walk around town, visiting castles, art galleries, the German Christmas Market (which is a big thing in Europe!). We then
made our way to the infamous Scottish Parliament - "Holyrood".
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/holyrood/index.htm] Scottish Parliament Website
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/scottishparliament/index.html
The architecture in this building has some of the most modern design I have ever seen! From some viewpoints it looks like quite the fortress on the outside, but once inside the angled walls and windows allow for a great amount of natural light to enter into the building. I took advantage of the natural light and tried to pretend to be "artsy" and take some black & white and sepia photographs. And the designs of the entire building, I believe, are based on the Holyrood Park and the plants/natural elements in that parkland area. We had a meeting with one of the MPs which I had a very difficult time keeping up with as I was trying to concentrate very hard on staying awake! After we had a little question and answer period with the MP for Aberdeen, we were given a little tour and the Debating Chamber which has quite an intimidating feel to it.
Oh! Also, directly across the street from the Parliament building there is the "Queen's Gallery" and directly behind that building is beautiful Castle, which
Edinburgh
A Scale model of Ediburgh is actually the Castle the Royal Family stays in when they are in Scotland.
After our tour of the parliament, we were free to roam the city. Myself and two others decided to check out the shops, many of which contained anything and everything you could ever want in a tartan pattern! On the "old side" of Aberdeen there were many little shops, but once you trek over to the "new side" you experience the major brand name clothing stores, including GAP which is priced almost triple what I would pay in Canada for the same piece of clothing! Insane!! I was informed by my friends that the GAP shops in Germany closed because people just wouldn't pay those prices.
I have to say that I'm still not sure whether I enjoyed myself or not on this day trip. Like I have said, I was extremely tired and I think that taking a 7am train was a ridiculous idea! Also, we were outside for the entire day, and it just so happened there were gale force winds ALL DAY. We had to fight this wind all day and on many occasions were almost blown over in the street
due to the strength of the wind. So this made it very hard to concentrate on the scenery and enjoy my time there. It also made some of my pictures turn out a bit blurry which you might notice.
So, I have to say that I think Edinburgh is a very beautiful city, with some of the most amazing architecture I have ever seen. But I think that in order to fully appreciate it, I will have to go back again, and really take the time to appreciate it.
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Brian
non-member comment
Old and windy
Beautiful pics, especially the night shots. Too bad the early start and the wind but, you did get to see an old beautiful city and meet some new people. Should be worth another trip with Justin in the summer.