Scotland: Ends (Saturday)

I was awakened by the Chinese Contingent in our room talking and I thought, "they are going to open up the blinds very soon". Not even 30 seconds later the blinds were pulled open. I hate it when I'm right. Our first destination of the day was the top of Salisbury Crags. Before we did that, we checked out of the hostel and left our luggage in another room again.

We walked down the Royal Mile (picture 1) which starts at Edinburgh Castle and ends at Holyrood Park. Salisbury Crags are some cliffs that kind of rise out of the ground right next to Arthur's Seat. The walk up was pretty uneventful. Beautiful sunshine, winds, great views, stuff I should never get jaded about (picture 2). At the top of the Crags (pictures 3), we met some girls from Texas. As is the custom when meeting people at the top of anything, they took our picture (picture 4) and we took theirs. Next we walked to Portobello (picture 5), the suburb to the northeast. Portobello was really popular as a little village on the North Sea with a huge beach in the 50's. On the way, at the base of Arthur's Seat, was a pond with a ton of birds. Some people were feeding them bread. As I said, Portobello has a beach but the crowds of the past were not there, at least not on a Saturday morning at 11. We walked along the beach for a really long time west, making our way to Leith. While we were walking, a dog ran up to Vanessa who proceeded to pet it. After it ran away she said, "That alone was worth the walk up here". Haha. The beach ended and we ate our lunch high up on a hill overlooking Portobello and the beach (picture 6 has our vie while we ate lunch). Very pretty with the morning sun but not as nice as St. A's. The next part of our journey was not as good. We followed a path along the sea but the path ended in an industrial area (picture 7). We walked around for a while continuing our direction west. Eventually, we made it out to a main road but not before passing by some putrid smelling landfills. Yuck!

At Leith, we walked through the newly built lofts and flats (just like Mill City in Mpls and Chelsea Harbor in London). We went to Ocean Terminal which ended up being a mall (picture 8). It was odd walking around in a place that easily could have been in California or even Minnesota. Lots of people here walking around and shopping. Vanessa bought a necklace. I bought a fruit smoothie which had pineapple, strawberries, oranges, and bananas in it. AMAZING!! It was nice to have something other than my diet of the trip of bagels, pasta with sauce, PBJ, and water. I didn't really mind having all that stuff, it was just nice to have something else. Anyway, we perused the mall some more and then decided it was time to go back. I had not realized how far down we were. The entire walk back to our hostel was uphill. Granted it wasn't very steep but still. Walking uphill for two and a half miles straight is not that awesome. Especially when you have been walking and standing everyday for three days straight. One the way up, in Leith, I looked up the road and all I saw was Arthur's Seat framed by buildings (picture 9). It reminded me of the mountain towns in Colorado and Montana with the exception of people driving on the wrong side of the road. So we walked back up to the Royal Mile. Earlier Vanessa had said that she wanted to go to some of the free museums on it. The museums were further down the hill so we went down and into some of them. We reached the end of the Mile and I said, well, I guess we have to head back up now. Vanessa said, "What?!?! I thought we were going back to the hostel?" I told her I thought she wanted to go the museums so that's where I led us. Miscommunication. Oops. Oh well. We walked back up and it was productive because I bought some souvenirs and it wasn't that bad of a walk really.

We got back to the hostel and decided to go out for dinner. We couldn't find anywhere that had room and was cheap except The Elephant Room. I had remembered hearing the name before but it wasn't until I walked in that I realized what it was. JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter in this very restaurant about 10 years ago on some napkins. Weird. I had haggis, neeps, and tatties (picture 10). Which to normal people means meatloaf-like stuff, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Vanessa tried some haggis and hated it. She got scarakopita which was fillo dough with spinach and goat cheese. I tried some and didn't like. It was a good thing we didn't switch orders! After dinner, we went to a pub and I had a pint. It was cool just being around all the Scottish people there. We went back to the hostel and hung out (i.e. reading and just relaxing) until it was time for us to walk to the Coach Station. The coach ride back was pretty uneventful except that I got about 3 hours of sleep again. Ugh.

Scotland was really cool. I had such a great time there and saw so many things. It did feel like kind of a whirlwind tour but that's what it was, so it makes sense. St. Andrew's was perfect and so was Arthur's Seat. Like I said, I had a lot of fun and it was nice to kind of get a primer of being away and traveling before our spring break (in 2 days!!!).

Athens of the North

I already typed most of this entry once and then the computer didn't save it :-( so I have to do it all over again. That stinks but now it will be better... maybe. Haha. I packed a little bit before we left. As I said on Wednesday, I was really anxious to leave so I packed really fast (I had already made a list in my head of what to pack). My backpack was about to bust open, it was so full. I took my backpack along with this cloth bag thing we got from FIE. I brought some food (PBJ for lunch ;-) and pasta and sauce for dinner). Vanessa did as well (lentils, vegetables, fruit, and rice). I only brought a small amount of clothes. Most of my stuff was books and food. Anyway we could save some money traveling, we did. Including walking to the Coach Station instead of taking the Tube. We got there about an hour early (better safe than sorry). The Coach Station is similar to an airport but in reduced form. There were gates (actually just some automatic doors that opened up to the buses) and really uncomfortable seats. While we waited, Vanessa and I played Canadian Rummy. I thought of my mom and sister while we played because the three of us play that in our tent when we go camping together in the summer. I missed them a lot at that moment. We got on the bus next and tried to settle in (impossible). It reminded me a lot of the PCMB coach buses we used to ride. Only difference is that I couldn't sleep on the floor this time because it would have looked weird (no one else was). It was pretty full at first but after each stop along the way more people got off and eventually Vanessa and I had our own seats. I slept on and off for about 3 hours. I woke up and watched the sunrise over the southern Scotland hills to my right. Out the left-hand side window there were clouds and the North Sea. The clouds and sea seemed to come together on the horizon, it was a really cool effect. We arrived in Scotland after almost exactly 9 hours of being on the bus. I need to mention, the bus was super cold, I think the driver would have liked MN...

So we walked from the Coach Station to our hostel. That included a big climb up the north side of the ridge that Edinburgh Castle sits on. We walked in front of the Castle to the other side of the ridge to our hostel (the view from the outside of the hostel to the castle is picture 1). Our hostel was called Castle Rock Hostel. If you visit Edinburgh, stay there. It was really nice and the people were really cool (not super informed about tourist type questions but still nice). We left our bags there because our room wasn't ready. There is a really big kitchen with about 8 ranges and ovens and sinks. They also had a bunch of dishes to use and plastic bags for storing food. They also had a room with a pool table and other tables and a jukebox and ping pong. This was the room where people would hang out at night and drink and stuff (needless to say, I didn't spend much time there). They also had a quiet lounge where people could read or use their laptops. We left the hostel to go on our first adventure in the town.

I suppose I should give you all a little overview of Edinburgh first (see map). I will explain all of the points of interest when I actually talk about visiting them, I am just giving a quick overview of where we walked. On the map up top, the castle symbol (it looks like an H) is Edinburgh Castle (duh). Coming straight out of the castle is the Royal Mile (along Cannongate and High Street picture 2). The area right around the Royal Mile is called Old Town. The area with the grid just above the castle is called New Town. The green to the far right is Holyrood Park where Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags are. Off the map and to the right is Portobello and just straight above the map would be Leith. Both are suburbs of Edinburgh and are located on the Firth of Forth, a wide expanse of water that opens up to the North Sea by Portobello. Most of the older buildings are stained black because of all the coal fires that used to be in the town. The best example of this is the 243 ft. tall Scott Memorial.

OK, so we started by walking from our hostel to Calton Hill. We passed by a really sweet graveyard with tombs with no roofs and really green grass. We got to Calton Hill (picture 4) and I was really impressed. In some of the books, they called Edinburgh "The Athens of the North". I didn't really get way until I got to the top of the Hill . There are a bunch of monuments spread out all over the hill including a replica of the Parthenon that was never finished (picture 5). They ran out of money. It has 12 columns and is still referred to as "Edinburgh's shame" by some. There were other things on top of the Hill, like a tower built to honor Admiral Nelson and a monolith like a mini Washington Monument (picture 3). Calton Hill also offered really cool views of Arthur's Seat and the Firth of Forth. We walked down and continued on to Holyrood House. It is one of the Royal Estates (like Buckingham Palace). Neither of us wanted to enter because we didn't care and because it was £11. We also walked by the Scottish Parliament Building (picture 6). A super modern building that elicits groans from most residents. There are weird branch like things that cover the windows and the building has no symmetry or form whatsoever. I thought it was interesting but kind of impractical. I guess that that is not the point.

We started our ascent of Arthur's Seat (2,500 ft. about sea level). Arthur's Seat is a mountain like formation that just comes straight out of the middle of the town. Right next to it, but not as high up, is Salisbury Crags. It was a beautiful day out. We stopped at the ruins of St. Anthony's (picture 7) chapel. They were really cool and not too far up. It was exhilarating walking up on the trail. Its pretty much what I live for. We kept going up and up and up along some ridges. The higher up we got, the windier it was. We finally reached the top after having to use some chains to deal with the wind. At the top, it was so windy that I could not stand up and hold my balance. I joked with Vanessa that we could now say we experienced a hurricane (picture 8). It was really hard to talk up there too. Vanessa took my picture with the little marker and I had to hold on for dear life just to not fall over (picture 9). It was so much fun. The views all around we awesome and the sun was still pretty low so the light wasn't too harsh. After resting (no lunch though, too windy). We made our way down. We walked back along the south side of the park and through the southern part of the town. We passed by some University buildings. We went into the Museum of Scotland. They had a TON of artifacts from all over Scottish detailing their history. It was laid out very well and the building was really nice too. My favorite thing was this really tall sword that was made for the coronation of the king (picture 10). I was pretty tired (see 3 hours of sleep and a pretty steep hike) so the museum was not as impressive to me then as it is to me now. We went to the top of the museum and were rewarded with more views of the town.

After the museum, we walked by Grayfriar's Kirk. Kirk is the Scottish word for church. This is the place were Grayfriar's Bobby (a Scottish terrier) stood watch over his owners grave. It was turned into a Disney movie. I had never heard of it before but there was a little grave for the dog, a statue of the dog out front and movies for sale inside the kirk. It was a church so I liked it of course. The cemetery was really sweet too. Very spooky looking. We made our way back to the hostel and checked into our room. Each room of bunk beds has a theme (Roman, Scottish Phrases, etc.). Ours was currency and I had the Franc bed and Vanessa had Rand. I had a top bunk and Vanessa had a bottom (picture 13). We rested for a little bit and then decided to check out the castle.

The entrance fee to Edinburgh castle (picture 11) was £11 and Vanessa didn't really want to pay that much. I convinced her to just do it and we went in. The castle was pretty sweet and had A TON of museums all around. My favorite part was seeing the Scottish crown jewels (a sword, a scepter, and the crown). No pictures of them though. They were extremely extravagant and very beautiful. Vanessa's favorite part was the Prisoners of War museum. The castle served as a prison for a long time, including during the American Revolution. We walked through a recreation of the prison (picture 12). As we were leaving, we caught the beginning of the sunset. Back at the hostel, we napped for a little bit and then made dinner. Some people in the hostel, like actually made food. It was amazing to watch. I mean they cut up vegetables and actually cooked raw meat! Haha, I hadn't seen that for a long time! Oh well. I finished up reading The Diary of Anne Frank and then got ready for bed.

The other people in our 16 bed room was a 3 person family from what I assumed was China, a girl about our age sort of living there and looking for a job and a very attractive girl who was going on a tour of Scotland the next morning. She had an accent but I don't know where she was from. She was really nice. The father of the Chinese family was not (actually he was but that's beside the point). He snored. Loud. Deep. Snores. Ugh... I actually switched beds finally because he was right by me. I got 6 hours of sleep. After my 3 hours of sleep the night before, it sucked.