Edinburgh!

This weekend, I met Alissa, Anik and Liz in Edinburgh. On Friday, I slept in, then got up and prepared for my trip. Alissa and Anik were in Edinburgh for the day for school, so the plan was to meet them in the afternoon when they were done. My friend Liz from St. Andrews also went to Edinburgh on Friday afternoon to meet up with us. I packed my backpack and headed off. I got to the train station a little early, so I had time to sit and ponder. There are no garbage cans in any of the train stations, presumably so no bombs can be placed in them to bomb the train station. There were also many pigeons in the train station, and I saw at least two with deformed feet/claws/toes. And they fly really close to your head.

After I time, the train arrived, and I found my seat. I am not sure what the protocol is for assigned train seats, but a gentleman was in my seat, and his friend was next to him. I politely asked about the seat, since it was assigned to me, and he got his stuff to move. Meanwhile, there was a line of people behind me, waiting to find their seats. Awesome. So I sat by the window, so I could look out at the countryside. While listening to "Don't Panic" by Coldplay, on the Garden State Soundtrack, we passed through some really beautiful Scottish countryside. The lyrics go "we live in a beautiful world..." so I thought it was really appropriate at the time. The train followed the coastline which was glorious.

I got to Edinburgh around 5:15, and then made my way to the hostel. It wasn't too hard to find, and I was meeting all three girls at 5:30. Checking in was easy. I was given a quick run down of my keys and other various tidbits of information about the hostel. I was in a room with five other girls. There were three sets of bunk beds, and we each had a locker. I placed my backpack in my locker, and then met the ladies. We found a place to eat dinner, and then went to a pub for a drink. We had tickets to go on an underground tour at 9pm.

The tour was called Mary King's Close, and it went through the "closes" of the old part of Edinburgh. The closes were streets perpendicular to the Royal mile, and headed down to the lower loch. So basically they look like tiny little alleyways, but in fact thousands of people would live on each street. They had gates at each end that could be shut, I guess to keep the people in. All classes lived in the closes, from the very poor, to the well-to-do. In the 18th century, most of the closes were closed up in an effort to make the city nicer. But during their heyday, which was the 16th and 17th centuries, they were bustling with activity. In fact, Mary King's close was the second busiest street in Edinburgh next to the Royal Mile. Because they were closed up, it is like being underground. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the streets had the world's first sky scrapers. The buildings could be as tall as 11-13 stories high. The streets were on a steep slope, which led down to the lower loch. Because it was the most densely populated area of the city, some really poor families lived in horrible conditions. Up to 15 people could live in one room at a time, with ceilings no more than 6 feet tall. Often multiple families would live in one room. There were no windows or chimneys. The fire would be kept by the door to try to eliminate smoke, but Scotland is very windy, so the smoke would inevitably end up and stay in the house. They also used one bucket for the toilet, garbage and drinking water. Most people drank ale at this time, for good reason. The bucket was allowed to be emptied twice daily, 7am and 10pm. With 15 people, it would be quite full. And when it was time to empty it, you just chucked it out your doorstep, and yelled "guardi loo!" In addition to human feces and garbage, animal waste was also deposited on the ground of the close, and it eventually trickled to the lower loch, where the city got their drinking water from. The poor could not afford shoes at this time, so they walked around in the poo. It was a very informative tour, and one that I highly recommend.

After this, we went pub hopping. We went to 3 pubs, and then settled on a dance club. Anik and Liz were tired, and not much in the mood for dancing, so they went back to the hostel. Alissa and I were all about dancing, so we stayed and had a couple drinks and busted some moves. The thing about the British Isles is that no one has rhythm. And they don't care! They just get down with their bad selves and have a great time. So Alissa and I were quick to join in the rhythmless happenings. We had a couple of guys come dance with us, and they were very nice, if not really drunk. Around 1am, we decided to head back to the hostel at an attempt to sleep for the exciting day ahead.

Once back at the hostel, I was the last of the girls to go to bed in my room. That meant I had to try to get my stuff in the dark. I managed all right, and then went to my bed on the top of one of the bunks. I somehow only managed to bring one earplug to bed, so I alternated it between ears. I didn't get much sleep the first night, so was pretty tired the next day.

In the morning, the four of us had breakfast. Anik had family friends in the country, so she left to hang out with them. That left Alissa, Liz and myself to go on a free walking tour of the city. It was a long walking tour, and there were some interesting bits, but some stuff we had already been told the night before. Our guide kept referring the the "layer of crusty poo" on the lower loch in former times. Incidentally, when the city closed up the closes, they also drained the lower loch, so it no longer exists. We also learned that bodies were dumped in it by criminals, witches were drowned in it, and the corpses of plague victims were thrown in with rocks to weigh them down. Mind you, this was still the city's source of drinking water into the 18th century. There was a myth that there was such a "layer of crusty poo" that you could walk across the loch.

After the walking tour, we went to the Elephant Tea Room, where J.K. Rowling wrote most of the Harry Potter books. We had a bit of lunch before heading off to the castle. The castle was pretty cool. It contains the crown jewels and the seat of destiny. It was fun, but not the most thrilling of castles. We saw two weddings there, back to back, which was crazy.

Liz had to head back to St. Andrews in the evening. Alissa and I decided to go to a pub to watch the rugby finals, which was England vs. South Africa. It was fun to watch the game, but since we were in Scotland, the Scots were for South Africa, because of some love-hate relationship with England. South Africa did win, so the Scots were happy. A nice Australian couple sat with us so they could eat since the pub was packed, and the guy explained some of the rules of rugby, so that helped. After that, we went to a few more pubs, but were so exhausted from our day and lack of sleep, that we went home kind of early.

On Sunday, we had breakfast, and then decided to climb Arthur's Seat. This is a mountain on the edge of the city, overlooking the city. It was a steep climb, but worth it. There is some myth that Arthur was there, or had something to do with the mountain, which is why it's called Arthur's Seat. You could see the Sea from the mountain, the castle, and everything else in the city. It was windy and cold, and drizzled for a bit, but that didn't take away from it's awesomeness.

We then went to The World's End pub on the Royal Mile for lunch. I had nachos, the first nachos I ordered since I have been here. Allissa had fish n chips. For dessert, we decided to try a traditional Scottish dish called Cronach(?) it was berries soaked in honey and whiskey, on top of oats with whipped cream and a shortbread. It was yummy.

We then went to the hostel to get our bags. Incidentally, the hostel was built in 1564 and was the home of James Douglas, fourth Earl of Morton. He was found guilty of conspiracy against the queen, Mary of Scots, and her husband Lord Darnley, so he was executed by guillotine. The hostel wasn't bad. It certainly wasn't a hotel, but it was pretty clean, and everyone was really nice. There were communal toilets and showers. I forgot a towel, so I got one from the front desk for 20p. Granted it was a used towel, but it worked. The shower was much nicer than my own, you could adjust the temp, and it had nice flow, so on Sunday, I took a long shower to bask in the gloriousness of it. In all, my hostel experience was a good one, so I will definitely look into them in the future.

After picking up our things, we decided to sit and have a whisky since we had time to kill before our train arrived. I ordered the first one, and asked the bartender what he recommended. He suggested something light, which I agreed with since it was our first time. It wasn't bad. It wasn't too strong and had a nice initial flavor. However, the after taste was like vomit. Maybe I have thrown up some Jack Daniels or something, but the aftertaste was not pleasant. Alissa ordered the second one, and she picked one that was a little darker and stronger, it was also organic. This one wasn't bad either, but for some reason, I still kept getting a vomit aftertaste. Whisky also creates breath of fire, which Alissa appreciated when I blew into her face!

After our whisky experience, we walked to the train station. It took a little over two hours to get home, which was longer than my trip up there. Once we got back to Newcastle, we commented to each other how happy we were to be home. Walking our familiar streets, we realized that we truly consider Newcastle home! Of course I love to travel, but I love Newcastle, and how it's my home for the next nine months! It's good to be back!

I will post pictures later, as I want to get some from Alissa before I post them on the blog. So stay tuned for my exciting pictures of Edinburgh!