A Quick Jaunt to Edinburgh

On Friday morning, we walked to King’s Cross for our 9 am train to Edinburgh. The ride was beautiful – blue skies, some clouds, green hills, and yellow flowers. We saw some sheep and were right on the coast at one point, too. An adorable boy named George sat with his mom and sister in front of us. He kept looking back at me and smiling. He was looking out the window and saying “Wow!” We passed through Newcastle and it looked like a beautiful city. We got into Edinburgh around 1:30.

 

^the coast!

 

At the train station, we met Tom and Katie, who were Blair, Caroline, and Cassie’s friends from Furman. We stuffed our bags into a taxi and rode to our hostel. We stored our luggage and then walked up a hill to a park area. Tom and Katie, who were studying in Edinburgh, led us to our lunch spot, a crepe stand owned by a Brazilian couple. I got “Release the Chicken” which had chicken, cheese, sweet corn, sundried tomatoes, and spinach. The guy asked if I wanted avocado and butternut squash and I said YES! And the price didn’t even change even though I had that extra goodness. He also made a chocolate smoothie for one guy and Rachel said it looked good and he gave her the leftovers for free!

 

^stuffed into the taxi

^my future husband

^YUM!

We ate our crepes and walked with Tom and Katie to the Royal Mile. Then they had to leave to catch a bus to the airport for their spring break. We checked out St. Giles Cathedral and some souvenir shops on our way back to the hostel. We went up to our room and saw that there was a guy in one of the other beds already. We had an eight-person room but there were only six of us, so there were two leftover beds, and they just happened to be occupied by two young, handsome, Australian guys. This was definitely one of our better hostel experiences! They live in London. If you live in Canada, New Zealand, or Australia, you can get a two-year visa to teach in England.

 ^rub his nose for good luck

^St. Giles Cathedral

^dog made of rainboots

^our hostel

We walked into a few pubs but there weren’t seats for dinner in any of them, so we finally stopped at a place called Nando’s. The host asked if we’d ever been there before and we said no. He explained the menu to us, saying “basically, it’s all chicken.” After dinner, we walked back towards the Grassmarket, which was the area our hostel was in. I bought a Scottie dog tea towel and Edinburgh patch in a souvenir store on the way. Also continued on my quest to sample every Kinder product and bought a Happy Hippo – pretty similar to a Kinder Bueno but it had chocolate and vanilla inside. Cassie wanted a crepe and I decided to order one, too. It was cinnamon sugar and it was delicious. We went back to our room with the intention of relaxing for a bit and then going out, but everyone was too tired to leave again!

^Grassmarket

^Kinder Hungry Hippo!

^Cassie and me with our crepes

 On Saturday morning, we got breakfast at The Elephant House, which is where JK Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter. I got pancakes with maple syrup. The pancakes were kind of like crepes and the syrup was REAL (and heavenly). Our table had drawers in it and they were full of notes to JK Rowling. The bathroom was also covered in graffiti

 ^Blair and Cassie looking through the notes

 

^Rach wrote a note

We did some shopping as we walked to Edinburgh Castle. As we waited in line, we talked to a really nice guy who noticed Blair’s Barbour jacket. He was wearing one, too. He told us that the Barbour factory is in Newcastle, and he was wondering if Barbour is big in America. This was another thing that made me realize that not only am I being exposed to different European cultures, but also different American cultures. It’s interesting to notice the subtle differences between different areas of the country. I’d never even heard of Barbour until I met Blair (and Caroline – she has one, too) and I noticed that the Southern version of North Face is Patagonia. The guy also said the farther north in the UK you get, the water is better and the people are friendlier!

 ^Castle from below

^view of Newtown from the castle

There were some really pretty scenic areas in the castle. I learned that the “Newtown” area of Edinburgh was designed in 1760 and the first draft was completed by 1820. I saw a big cannon that was used to level castle walls over 500 years ago. I went in St. Margaret’s Chapel. Then we went into the bottom of David’s Tower. They hid the Scottish crown jewels here during WWII so that they wouldn’t be bombed.

^Saint Margaret’s Chapel

 

We went through an exhibit about the Scottish crown jewels. It was long and informative but hard to read because there were so many people. The Scottish crown jewels are called “Honours” and it’s the crown, a scepter, sword, scabbard, and sword belt. The Honours were buried for 111 years and rediscovered in 1818. They were buried in a huge chest. During WWII, the Honours were placed in the ruins of David’s Tower. We also went in the Scottish War Memorial. I got a piece of millionaire shortbread at the Redcoat Café. There is a dessert just like it at UConn called “million dollar shortbread” and it was wonderful to have a familiar treat!

We saw a prisoners of war exhibit. The castle was home to prisoners of war of many nationalities, including American. Some of the prisoners made some really nice crafts, like jewelry boxes. They slept in hammocks. There were three original doors on display. They had carvings in them from the prisoners. The carvings were made clearer on panels next to the door. One was a boat with the stars and stripes!

Lastly, I saw a “Castles in the Air” exhibit. It was about how Edinburgh was seen as a really romantic city, and the castle didn’t fit that romantic feeling. The exhibit had plans for different castle proposals, but none of them were ever selected. I bought a bagpipe player ornament in the shop.

We left the castle and got lunch at the Royal McGregor on the Royal Mile. After lunch we walked over to Newtown. We did some shopping along the first street and then went back to the hostel. I got two magnets with real sheep’s wool – one for my friend Ellen that says “friend-sheep” on it and one for me that says “Wherever ewe may wander, there’s no place like home.”

 

After we shopped, the girls got crepes at the same place Cassie and I bought them the night before. As they were eating them, Rachel said “Wow, these are probably so bad for us,” which was hilarious because 1) they are terrible for you, and 2) we’ve been eating them in various cities all semester long. We sat around until Carla came in – she was in London for an extra night since she didn’t book her train ticket until the day before! We chatted with our Australian boys and then went out to Finnegan’s Bar. There was a really good live band. We also discovered that we like Kopparberg cider!

 Edinburgh was a fun city to be in and I’m glad I got to go with the girls. We woke up early Sunday morning to catch a flight to Dublin!

^signs in the airport

^plane to Dublin