Advertisement
Published: February 6th 2011
Edit Blog Post
So Sunday, I had my first pub quiz experience. It was just me and Ada on a team and we lost...badly. But hey, it was hard! Especially when some of the questions were British knowledge. Anyway, t'was fun. Tuesday, we went to the Burns Supper and it was set up all nice and fancy. There was a band playing traditional Scottish music and a bag-piper. Haggis, tats, and neeps were served for dinner and cranachan (berries and creme) with a little short cake for dessert. (side note: I promised myself I wouldn't look up what haggis was until I left Scotland but a couple days ago, Colleen decided that instead of just asking me whether I had haggis or not, she should post a wikipedia link on my facebook wall with a description of what haggis is and THEN ask me if I had it. Needless to say, I'm never having it again. Wasn't that crazy about it to begin with). The people at our table were super fun and it was definitely multicultural: English, Australian, Danish, one other country that I forgot, Scottish, and with Ada as Chinese and me as American, we each represented a different country. Apparently, immaturity
is universal (I knew that actually it made a nice segue), because we decided that making paper planes and throwing it into each others' mouths made for a good pass time. Chalk it up to the wine which we made a game out of sneakily stealing from other people's tables.
Wednesday, I got sick. MEH 😞. I had a fever and sore throat. The fever is gone but I'm still all congested and stuff.
Yesterday, I went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Scottish Parliament with my friend Katie and one of her friends. The palace is where the royal family stays when they come to Edinburgh, which they usually do at least once every summer. There was a detailed audio guide that explained each room and how the family used them. The rooms included the throne room, drawing room, dining room, and bed chambers. There was also a Mary Queen of Scots section which included her bedroom and supper room. This was where her private secretary was stabbed 56 times after rumours of an affair with Mary caused her husband to get jealous (Mary's entire reign was just complete insanity). Sadly, I couldn't take pictures of the
interior, which is a shame because it was quite a sight.
The Parliament is free and we made perfect timing because as soon as we got there, a tour was starting. It's a modern building that was completed in 2004. What's interesting about it is that it has very symbolic architecture. It was made to look like petals opening up, like it was growing out of the Scottish land (belonging to the Scots). There were a lot of glass walls to convey the feeling of openness to the public. In the debating room, there were abstract people figures to remind members of the parliament who they were serving and in one part of the building, there were abstract pictures of Scottish maps to convey the idea that the parliament belonged to everybody in Scotland.
Today, I took the train to Stirling. Like the Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle is set on a volcanic rock formation. I had to huff and puff all the way up a hill. I took a guided tour of the castle and then walked around on my own, seeing the prisoner area, guard rooms, kitchens, Great Hall, and Chapel (where James VI was baptized and
Queen Mary was crowned). Unfortunately, the palace, which is probably the most interesting part of the castle, was closed due to renovations. Also unfortunately, the Old Jail and the Church of the Holyrood down the street from the castle were closed for the winter. So I settled on seeing a 17th century townhouse, which I could see for free with my castle ticket. Stirling is a pretty nice town, with hilly scenery and lots of steeples and towers sticking out. There's a decent-sized shopping district too. But the trip was kind of a disappointment with its major attractions being either partially or completely closed. Bummer.
So, I haven't had any comments in awhile. They would be nice...just saying....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0534s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gemma
non-member comment
Why are all your pictures so amazing? There most be something ugly in Scottland!