Part 2: Edinburgh
So we get to our hotel in Edinburgh, the Kenneth Mackenzie Suites, around 6 PM local time on Wednesday. In my head, it's just after 1 PM, and at this point I've been awake for about 30 hours straight. But dammit! I'm in Scotland! So after we get to the room, Jacquii is (wisely) ready to sleep, but I don't want to. I know that I need to, but I don't want to, if that makes any sense. I say cool, I'm just gonna lie down for a few minutes but then I want to go look around. She says I was snoring within seconds, and I believe her. The next thing I know, I'm wide awake and it's 4 AM. She was already up, and they didn't start breakfast until 7, so we decide to do some early morning exploring, and let me say that I'm glad we did. Not 20 feet from the front door of the building, we turn a corner and see
I need to find out the name of that ridge line. I thought it was what's called Arthur's Seat, but I've decided that I'm wrong and haven't gotten around to figuring out what's right. Anyway, there it was. And in the picture, it looks looming and far-off, but I'll tell you, a day or two later when I got a look at it in the afternoon, it's close enough that I could make out the people walking around on top, and tell what color backpacks they were carrying.
We walked towards it, and there was a walking trail that went around a little bit, and came back up through the university. (Our hotel is actually on the campus of the University of Edinburgh, and the buildings on the left side of that picture are some of the dorms.) We spent a couple hours doing that, and then headed back for breakfast.
Ah, the breakfast. That first morning was the one and only time we went for the "full Scottish breakfast." This consisted of a sausage link, a barely cooked piece of what Americans call "Canadian bacon" but was all they had as bacon anywhere over there, two fried eggs, a McDonald's-style hash brown, half a grilled tomato, two grilled mushrooms, and a scoop of baked beans. All with absolutely no seasoning. Those of you who've known me for any length of time know that I do not salt my food. In this case, I was forced to. There was no seasoning to any of it. That plate of food, except for the mushrooms, had no flavor to it at all. That was also the first of many cups of coffee that I had on this trip. I'm not a coffee person, but when soda is the equivalent of $2 for a 16 oz. bottle, but they can't throw enough free coffee at you, you learn very quickly to get your caffeine where you can.
After breakfast, we headed into town. The main drag, as it were, in the touristy part of Edinburgh at least, is called the Royal Mile. It's called this for two reasons - it's about a mile long, and at one end (on top of the hill) is Edinburgh Castle, and at the other end (bottom of the hill) is the Palace of Hollyrood House, which is the official royal residence in the city for the Queen. (Side trivia: "Rood" is an old Gaelic word for 'cross', so in modern terms it's the Holy Cross Palace).
The castle was my main goal in Edinburgh, so we turned up hill and wandered. We passed St. Giles Cathedral, we passed numerous shops, with many straightforward names (The Cashmere Store, The Kilt Store, The Scottish Shop, for example, making me think they put as much imagination into naming their stores as they do seasoning their food), and, in another of a long string of fortuitous timings, got to the castle at exactly 10 AM, just as they were opening up.
The castle was an impressive thing. Just to throw some numbers at you, it's built on a rock that is the highest point for miles, and from the top you can see something like 100 miles to the South, which was the direction they were most concerned with when they built it to defend against the British. Humans have inhabited the rock for thousands of years, and St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest and highest part of the castle, dates back about 1100 years. It's old and I could feel it. It's also cold, from the outside bits at least. You could sort of tell that it was built to put up a fight, and to hell with details like looking pretty. The tour guide did point out some of the more recent aesthetic decorations, like the main gate house, that had been rebuilt since Scotland and Britain had been joined together and so didn't need so much in the way of protection. Beyond that, I"m going to let my pictures speak for me.
I created an album courtesy of Picasa, and they're all loaded there with little captions and everything. The rest of Thursday daylight consisted of more wandering around Edinburgh, and a nice afternoon nap.
Coming soon: Thursday night, and Absinthe. :)
I need to find out the name of that ridge line. I thought it was what's called Arthur's Seat, but I've decided that I'm wrong and haven't gotten around to figuring out what's right. Anyway, there it was. And in the picture, it looks looming and far-off, but I'll tell you, a day or two later when I got a look at it in the afternoon, it's close enough that I could make out the people walking around on top, and tell what color backpacks they were carrying.
We walked towards it, and there was a walking trail that went around a little bit, and came back up through the university. (Our hotel is actually on the campus of the University of Edinburgh, and the buildings on the left side of that picture are some of the dorms.) We spent a couple hours doing that, and then headed back for breakfast.
Ah, the breakfast. That first morning was the one and only time we went for the "full Scottish breakfast." This consisted of a sausage link, a barely cooked piece of what Americans call "Canadian bacon" but was all they had as bacon anywhere over there, two fried eggs, a McDonald's-style hash brown, half a grilled tomato, two grilled mushrooms, and a scoop of baked beans. All with absolutely no seasoning. Those of you who've known me for any length of time know that I do not salt my food. In this case, I was forced to. There was no seasoning to any of it. That plate of food, except for the mushrooms, had no flavor to it at all. That was also the first of many cups of coffee that I had on this trip. I'm not a coffee person, but when soda is the equivalent of $2 for a 16 oz. bottle, but they can't throw enough free coffee at you, you learn very quickly to get your caffeine where you can.
After breakfast, we headed into town. The main drag, as it were, in the touristy part of Edinburgh at least, is called the Royal Mile. It's called this for two reasons - it's about a mile long, and at one end (on top of the hill) is Edinburgh Castle, and at the other end (bottom of the hill) is the Palace of Hollyrood House, which is the official royal residence in the city for the Queen. (Side trivia: "Rood" is an old Gaelic word for 'cross', so in modern terms it's the Holy Cross Palace).
The castle was my main goal in Edinburgh, so we turned up hill and wandered. We passed St. Giles Cathedral, we passed numerous shops, with many straightforward names (The Cashmere Store, The Kilt Store, The Scottish Shop, for example, making me think they put as much imagination into naming their stores as they do seasoning their food), and, in another of a long string of fortuitous timings, got to the castle at exactly 10 AM, just as they were opening up.
The castle was an impressive thing. Just to throw some numbers at you, it's built on a rock that is the highest point for miles, and from the top you can see something like 100 miles to the South, which was the direction they were most concerned with when they built it to defend against the British. Humans have inhabited the rock for thousands of years, and St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest and highest part of the castle, dates back about 1100 years. It's old and I could feel it. It's also cold, from the outside bits at least. You could sort of tell that it was built to put up a fight, and to hell with details like looking pretty. The tour guide did point out some of the more recent aesthetic decorations, like the main gate house, that had been rebuilt since Scotland and Britain had been joined together and so didn't need so much in the way of protection. Beyond that, I"m going to let my pictures speak for me.
I created an album courtesy of Picasa, and they're all loaded there with little captions and everything. The rest of Thursday daylight consisted of more wandering around Edinburgh, and a nice afternoon nap.
Coming soon: Thursday night, and Absinthe. :)
Labels: England 2006, The Trip
posted by joe at 10:17 PM
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