Edinburgh

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On Thursday afternoon I finished my last two assignments, giving myself a three day weekend between the end of Semester 1 and the start of Semester 2. I figured, with all this free time suddenly on my hands, that I should go somewhere to celebrate.

Then it occurred to me that Julia, who you may remember from this entry and this one , had a birthday on Friday.

So I went to Scotland.



The University of Edinburgh structures its academic calendar around the strange concept that the stretch of holiday time in December and January should actually go BETWEEN semesters, rather than WITHIN one. So her semester has already started, and Friday afternoon I wandered the city of Edinburgh while Julia was in class.

I had been briefly tempted to just show up without warning, but it felt imposing, and I'm not familiar enough with Edinburgh to be able to pull it off. (i.e. "Hi, Julia? For no particular reason, could you give me detailed walking directions to your flat from...say...the train station? Just...curious.")



A view of "Old Town" from a park called the Princes Street gardens. The center of Edinburgh is divided into Old Town and New Town. New Town - as the name suggests - is relatively modern, with a semi-grid type of street pattern, multiple high-end and chain stores and more than a few night clubs. Old Town features narrow, winding cobblestone streets, small pedestrian lanes, multiple historic sights, and a famously touristy stretch of road called The Royal Mile.



At the (quite literal) bottom end of the Royal Mile, we have the Queen's official Scottish place of residence...



...the Scottish parliament, which saw its competition for historical architecture and thought, "sod that"...



...and a mountain. Because they can.

This area is called Holyrood Park, and the mountain called "Arthur's Seat." I did not have time to climb it this weekend, but I fully intend to go next time I'm in the area. I'm told the views of the city from the summit are spectacular.



Funny tourist shop on the Royal Mile. I loved this stretch of the road because the shopfronts went: pub - souvenir shop - wool shop - pub - souvenir shop - guy with bagpipes - wool shop - pub... etc. With a few churches, statues, and signs saying 'COME TO OUR RESTAURANT, IT'S THE BEST' sprinkled here and there.



Street performer from Florida. Very good. Hilarious. He kept interrupting his own show to heckle the people walking by. Everytime the bell rang in the cathedral, he reacted as if Jesus were responding to his show ("I KNOW, hang on, I'm not ready yet..." "Okay you're right, that was a lie, I'm sorry..." etc).



St. Giles' Cathedral. Also sometimes called a "Kirk" or a "High Kirk."



I did eventually go inside and take 23,423,098 pictures, but that wasn't until the second day.



Looking down the Royal Mile from near the top. You'll notice that in my pictures from earlier in the day, the sky is completely overcast. Coming out of the train station, I actually wondered if I was going to get caught in the rain. Two hours later? Not a cloud in the sky. Oh Britain. The only consistent thing about the weather is that it constantly changes.



Brief detour down a street called George IV Bridge for tea and shortbread at this cafe, famously known as the place where JK Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books by scribbling on napkins. When I visited Edinburgh in 2007, I came in here to write. I did it again this weekend. Judge me. I don't even care.



At the top of the Royal Mile: Edinburgh Castle. I've been told that the inside is not worth the admission price, even for students, so I didn't go in. But the views from the car park are spectacular.



Such as this one of New Town.



And this one, of Arthur's Seat and the less-touristy part of Old Town.

Unknown to me, sometime after I left The Elephant House, the main zipper on my backpack - which, to be fair, has been failing for some time now - burst open, leaving my overnight supplies for all of Old Town to see. I didn't notice it until a few minutes before I went to meet Julia, which means that my backpack could have been hanging open for anywhere up to an hour.

Which is the kind of awkwardly unfortunate thing that happens all the time if you're me.

I keep wondering what people must have thought, seeing this tourist walking down the street with a backpack literally wide open. I'd be amazed nothing was stolen, but I didn't have much that would be classified as "valuable" by conventional means. I'm imagining people having a look while I was gaping and taking photographs in the Castle car park, seeing the cheap souvenirs on top of some rolled up pajamas, saying "hmmm...no" and walking away.



I got this backpack for my first year at Hamilton. Since then, it has carried books to and from all my classes at Hamilton and UEA, overnight supplies on every more-than-one-day trip I've taken, and hiking necessities in all of my countryside wanderings. It has been my carry-on for every single flight I've taken in the past 8 years, and traveled with me on walking and/or biking treks in multiple countries, on 3 continents even. It was with me for a 26 mile bike ride across the North Yorkshire moors, a temple stay and hike over Seoraksan in South Korea, even into Children's Hospital Boston for my AVR. To say that it has been with me through a lot is a little cliche, and very much an understatement.

And then I had to stuff all my clothes into a souvenir shop bag until we got to Julia's flat, where I could re-fasten my loyal compainion with safety pins. Tried to make that work for our day out on Saturday, but the backpack wouldn't have it. The safety pins kept bending and coming undone, until eventually I gave up and spent my last hours in Scotland buying a new backpack from Argos.

Argos. That's a whole other blog entry right there. For those of you who don't know, Argos is a chain store with a very unique concept, which this comedian explains better than I ever could.

Anyway. After awkwardly stuffing my old backpack INTO my new one and bringing my overnight supplies onto the train in a plastic bag, I am now at peace with the fact that it is time to retire that backpack for good.

A big thank you to Julia for putting up with me through all that.

Anyway, before that happened, Julia and I walked from her flat into city center via a route that took us behind the castle:



As I said before, we went inside St Giles' cathedral. If this series of pictures bores you, just remember that the whole time while I was finding benches and things to brace my camera - kneeling and crouching and propping myself against pillars - I was blissfully under the impression that the safety pins were holding my backpack together (they weren't). Maybe that will make this more entertaining.



I had to pay £2 for a special "camera permit." Worth it, because the place was absolutely beautiful.







The pictures don't do it justice, but these lights and the stone above them were so beautiful together. And all the stained glass windows were a treat to look at.

And the organ...







The "camera permit" was a little sticker with a camera on it, which I stuck to the front of my coat. It was not until a few minutes after we left Argos (keeping in mind everything that had gone on in that time) that I realized I'd forgotten to take it off.

And somehow made it back to my flat in Newcastle without being mugged. I consider that an accomplishment.

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Comments

[Julia]

Great entry, as always! The backpack saga was particularly entertaining in written form. ;-) It was so good to see you, thanks for coming up!

[Kristen]

The camera permit and tourist- shame were definitly worth it for those great pictures! Sorry about your backpack, it's really a sign of how much you've done! My friend Kevin has a duffle bag in a very similar state... Did you get good inspiration in the HP cafe?

[Aunt Cindy]

Edinburgh!
Oh Sarah, these pictures brought back such wonderful memories of my year at the U. of Edinburgh about 100 years ago! I miss it! Rick and I were there again in 1998 and it really had not changed much from the medieval city that I remembered! I was surprised at how green the grass is my the national gallery! When you return, please go on the ghost tour...touristy, but a lot of fun! I am so glad you are taking advantage of everything Great Britain has to offer! Have fun!