Edinburgh, Scotland - Day 1

George and I left at 4:50am on Friday morning to catch our train, which departed at 6:15. I started taking notes about the trip somewhere around the York train station:

-York was flooded and very gloomy to one side of the train, the sun peeking through the clouds on the other. It's an estimated 2.5 hours to Edinburgh (pronounced Edinbouruh), but the weather may get worse, so speed restrictions may be in place.
-Darlington
-Durham

-New Castle is most modern area we've seen yet with many new buildings
It blows my mind that the thousands of acres in front of me (that I can see) are all in neat and tidy squares, divided by fences and trees/bushes, which all had to be carefully placed by hand.

-Berwick-upon-Tweed (that's really the name of the place!) is on the ocean. Uniform buildings occupy the flat land, and past the lighthouse, water stretches as far as the eye can see. It's absolutely breathtaking!

We finally reached Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland. Our tour guide met us at the train station and we departed for our two-hour bus tour of Edinburgh.

You might notice that our tour guide looks a whole lot like Robin Williams. Not only did he look and talk like the famous comedian... but his name really IS Robin! I was stunned!

This is St Mary's. From what I understand, it's the queen's house (Mary became queen at 1wk old), which she stays at one week a year.

We passed the Grass Market square, where 18,000 Scotts were hanged between 1661 and 1688 because the king demanded they give up their religion for a more English Christianity or move to America. When they refused to do either, they were killed.

I saw 4 Starbucks cafes, an H&M, GAP, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, and a few other typical American shops. What a disappointment.

We learned that Alexander Graham Bell was actually born in Edinburgh, not in the states, as was Lister, who is famous for his discovery of and works with anteseptics.

This is part of the park that sits next to Edinburgh Castle (right in town).

After the tour, Robin dropped the group off at our hotel. We could do whatever we wanted for the rest of the evening, so while some folks hung around and took naps, George and I dropped off our bags and headed back out. We didn't know where we were going or what we wanted to see, but we surely weren't going to see anything if we sat around the hotel. Well, we found some of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It was like being on a movie set.

All of the buildings are stone and covered in a dark sooty substance. I'm not sure if it IS soot or if it's mold from the damp air or something else entirely. Moss and lichens spread over everything, giving the stone a great deal of character.

This is used to hold back water.



Edinburgh Castle.
It's situated on a huge rock and is the center of the city, which was built around it. It's impressive day or night (it's lit). I must have taken two dozen pictures of it, but you get the idea here.

A cemetery we found.

And then we got hungry, so we turned back and found a restaurant/pub that a man selling magazines told us was good:

It wasn't the "hole-in-the-wall" pub we were hoping it would be - more of a cozy restaurant. But we were hungry and I'd already set my heart on the vegetarian haggis, so we stayed.

Now... haggis is Scotland's national dish. Basically, it's sheep's parts with mashed potatoes and turnips or cabbage. That's what George ordered. Mine was the same idea, but with fake meat:

And it was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. Amazing. I think it was the dressing they drizzled over it (some sort of herbal whiskey sauce) that really made it. We also found our favorite Scottish beer: Tenant's. It's the most flavorful beer I've found since being in the UK.

After dinner, we continued down Rose Street to this place. Hoping to find a place with more locals than tourists, we popped in for a Tentant's. They were watching a countdown of the top 20 Queen songs, and though we wanted to see which song made No. 1, we didn't stay long.

I'm not sure what this building is, but it can be seen from the National (art) Gallery, which we visited. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside (like you can in the Philly Art Museum), so I can't show you my favorite paintings.

We wandered a bit more before deciding to head back to the hotel. An hour and a half, one downpour, four tired feet, and one wet map later, we brave explorers arrived at the hotel to get a good night's rest for our Highlands adventure, which lay ahead. What a fantastic day, we had!

(part 2 to come shortly)