A Week in Edinburgh

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It was a struggle to get back into classes after such an amazing weekend, but we managed. It was the first full week of classes and reading. It was also the first time I made real Scottish and British friends. In the middle of that week, I realized there was not enough time to do all the things I wanted if I didn’t start exploring during the week. So we spontaneously decided to go to Calton Hill to get a great view of the city and see some monuments. I knew it would be a good view of the city but as we walked around, we found it was a 360 degree view including the coast and Arthur’s seat.



We also explored the graveyard and found the grave of David Hume. It wasn’t my favorite place, since I’m not a fan of dead people, but it was beautiful. There is an observatory and a neo-classical monument that looks like ½ of a Greek temple. We climbed it with some difficulty and I still have bruises on my knees two weeks later. You could see the castle, palace, and where we live.



In the spirit of exploring the city, we used our Friday off to take a tour of Edinburgh. We started near Old College and learned about some of the history and some of the people. We had a great guide with a great accent. We learned that Edinburgh was slowly built up because they couldn’t grow outside the city walls. Therefore there are two levels of streets, which makes navigation a bit confusing. We also learned about John Knox and how he is buried in a parking lot. And finally, we learned how the term s**tfaced came about. Edinburgh fended off the Romans so they did not get a sewage system. The buildings were close together and they were built up and up. At night the chamber pots would be emptied into the streets and you had to shout to warn people. However, drunk people returning home from the pub would hear the sounds and look up only to be covered in sewage. The term is now a synonym for drunk because of Edinburgh.







David Hume is another famous Edinburgh resident and we found his tomb a couple weeks earlier. He is commemorated by a statue across from St. Giles and it is popular to rub his toe for good luck. Our tour guide told us in 1997 they were celebrating Hume throughout the city and University of Edinburgh philosophy students were fed up with learning about him every day. So when the statue was put up they decided to protest by starting a rumor. Hume was a skeptic and thought you should only believe in what you could prove. So the students said that if you rubbed his toe it would bring you good luck on your tests. Hume hated superstition so they turned a monument to honor him into a joke. Braden can give a more in depth philosophical analysis, I just rubbed the toe.

Finally, we woke up early Saturday morning to hike Arthur’s seat. It is an old volcanic cliff that overlooks the city. We were trying to make it for sunrise, but it was a cloudy day and we were a little late. Instead we hiked up when it was lit, which was probably better. The hike was more strenuous than I was expecting, but that was because we were hiking so fast. Upon reaching the top it was crazy windy and difficult to walk.



There is a summit marker which shows how far you are from major landmarks around Edinburgh.





It was incredibly cold but we walked down a little bit to eat a breakfast picnic. Cream cheese bagels and fruit were pretty nice. Even if Braden accidentally fed a dog and we spilled all of the blueberries. On our way down it was much more enjoyable and the sun even came out to warm up the mountain. The sun makes the landscape just look so beautiful. There is so much color here and I am very lucky to live here.

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