Something old... something new (17th century new)

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Geo: 55.9503, -3.18761

July 3, 2010

I woke up about 6:30 a.m. The room became cool during the night, but she had turned the fan to low sometime, and I woke up warm. The noise outside wasn't too bad, but my roommate must be coming down with a cold due to all the sneezing and sniffling she was doing after 3 a.m. I got out of the room as soon as possible and headed down to breakfast. I ate my normal fair and sat with two people who each had single rooms. They ask how things have been going with her. After I told them a few things, they informed me that they are surprised I lasted this long. Apparently Cherry has spoken to both of them in detail about her dead mother and husband, the various illnesses in quite vivid detail, and about the details of the sheep farm they had. They both said they try to avoid sitting with her. So, I feel better in thinking its just me that has been nerved by her. I spoke with Dylan just before boarding the bus at 7:50 a.m. about getting a single supplement. He said that he would take of it this afternoon, but that it will be subject to availability. Since we are traveling in the off-season, I am hoping it goes well and that I get my own room for the rest of the trip. We did a quick 30 minutes orientation tour of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is one city that has two distinctive areas, Old Edinburgh (early 17th century) and New Edinburgh (Building began in 1767 and, what was then the world's largest planned city development, was completed in 1810). About 9:15 a.m. we arrived at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland's number one visitor attraction, which sits on its own volcanic rock at the top of the Royal Mile. I viewed the Scottish Crown Jewels, the tiny one room St. Margaret's Chapel, the Stone of Destiny on which previous Scottish Monarchs were crowned, and the dungeons. Since I was touring the Royal Britannia afterwards, I only had an hour to quickly view everything. The view from the top of the city was well worth the time. About 10:30 we headed north to Leith - a former independent burgh and historic port and home to the Royal Yacht Britannia which is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal. Decommissioned in 1997, the Yacht belonged to the Queen and was used for official state occasions and private holidays by the royal family. An audio handset, guided me around the 5 decks of the Yacht. Then I was dropped off at Waterloo Street about 12:30 p.m. I took a hop-on hop-off bus for £ 12.00 to Holyrood Palace. The Queen's official residence in Scotland. The place is home to centuries of fascinating history. I was able to visit the royal apartments, the throne room and the great gallery. I then toured the royal gardens and the Abbey ruins, which were cool to look at. Then about 3:00 p.m. I hopped on the bus again to take a one hour sight seeing tour of the city before heading to the Royal Mile which connects Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace. However, due to street construction, the bus took me near Georgian House, which I was going to skip due to time. After remembering that it stays daylight to well after 9 p.m., I decided to visit Georgian House first. Three floors of the Georgian House have been beautifully refurbished by the National Trust for Scotland to reflect the lifestyle of 1796. They even had people dressed and acting the parts of the former owners and servants. The lady who was pretending to be the cook, was really into her part. It also had a nice 16 minute video showing a the way the people in the house lived. By now it was 5:00 and I was again hungry due to skipping lunch. I was planning on eating somewhere on the Royal Mile, but saw a McDonald's near the bus stop. I have eaten at McDonald's more times here in Great Britain that I have in over 5 years in America. I then went to the bus stop. Unfortunately, the bus I needed didn't stop for me. When different company's on/off bus came by, I asked him if another one of my buses was coming soon. We said that there was. I told him what had happened. The driver was nice enough to let me get on his bus even though I had a ticket for another company. Both buses had the same route to the Castle where one can walk downhill to the bottom of the Royal Mile. I walked the length and enjoyed it. I stopped to watch a mime statue dressed as a knight. He was having a tourist take a picture him and her together, but she walked away without giving him any money for his pot. So I through in a £ 1 coin. He took my hand and kissed it. There were street vendors, many stores, and performers along the sides. I could really imagine this place in the past. However, I didn't have to worry about human waste being dumped on my head when the people who lived along the Royal Mile had to dump their wastes out the windows. I made it to the bottom, but by then it was almost 6:30. Many of the shops at the end were closed or closing. A found a Starbucks and went in to use the internet. Here in Great Britain it is rare to find a free internet café or any place that has free wifi. The lady at the counter was nice enough to give me a username and password that I can use in any of the Starbucks (I don't know if she means only in Edinburgh or in Great Britain, but the next time I find a Starbucks, I'll find out.) I stayed there only for 30 minutes since they were closing at 7. Then I remembered seeing a pub somewhere nearby, so I spoke to a cab that was waiting across the street from Holyrood Palace. He took me up the hill and around the corner to The Regent Bar. It had free wifi and so I grabbed a corner table and ordered a light salad and the best cheesy garlic bread I have ever tasted. After sorting my photos from the previous day, answering emails, and doing my blog it will be very late. Even though the hotel is only 5 minutes walking distance according to the cab driver that dropped me off, it is up the steep hill and through a park that is not well lit. I will take a cab to the hotel instead of chancing it. Edinburgh is very cool place to visit, but I could use another day to see places that I missed, especially the museums and the tour of the underground vaults of the city.

Post blog note one year later: The Regent Bar was a great place for me to hang out for about 3 hours. Towards evening the place became busy. A young man sat next to me on the long wall length cushioned benches. He was a the table next to me and we chatted up a bit. He was waiting for a friend and couldnt remember which bar he was supposed to me him at. After 20 minutes he left. The rest of the clientel was a mixture of couples and same sex people sitting around chatting and dining. I finally decided to head back to the hotel about 10. I went to use the restroom and discovered while in the restroom pamphlets regarding gay pride information. When I entered the bar/dining room area, I didnt notice a single gay pride decoration. When I walked out to meet my cab that the bartender called for me, I looked at the front of the building. Now that it was dark outside all the neon lights in the windows were lit, and right above the main entrance was a neon sign proclaiming this place as the "gayest place to hang out!" I had been in a gay bar for over 3 hours and never noticed. Many gay bars in CA loudly proclaim that they are a gay bar to the point its abnoxious. I like how the Britains make no major display of their gayness and act just like regular human beings.



　
　
　

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Comments

[Joann]

Wow!