Edinburgh

Our next stop was Scotland. We woke up ridiculously early and got to the airport for our 7am flight. Before we could congratulate ourselves however, the SAS crew were not so diligent and neglected to show up. So after a 1½ hour wait, we left for London. We were on time for our noon train, and headed north to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a visually beautiful city. It has a large castle built on a hill, very nice old buildings, and a lot of good restaurants (take note England). It also had the best B&B of our entire trip - we had a huge room, great breakfasts made to order, and a real shower (unlike the hose attached to the sink in Copenhagen).

On our first full day, we climbed Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano with great views of the city. It took a while, but it was worth it when we got to the top (and didn't lose our keys like the other tourists up there).





We climbed down and headed towards the Scottish Parliament building, which was just built since they finally got their own parliament back from the English. It had these really weird window seats where the MPs can sit and think in their offices.

Next we crossed the street to go see the Palace Holyroodhouse. This is where the Queen hangs out when she comes to Edinburgh. Attached to it was the ruined Holyrood Abbey from the 12th and 13th century.












That evening we went (at the suggestion of Wilma, our parliament tour guide) to Sandy Bell's to hear some live celtic music. Apparently it's known all over Europe, and musicians just come in at random nights to jam. We saw a 93 year old woman playing a bodhrán (drum). She had just learned to play a few years ago, and also smoked 60 cigarettes a day (a testament to big tobacco). We also hung out with a good Scottish guy named Andrew and his girlfriend, who bought me a bunch of alcohol. He was from Glasgow, and he (among other people we talked to) told us we should have gone there. Glasgow is apparently uglier to look at, but the people are much nicer, and the nightlife is better. Of course, this was information from Glasgowians, so they might be biased.

The next day we went to Edinburgh castle, which was a big waste of time. The highlights though were the kilt walk (every Sunday people walk around the castle in their traditional kilts), and the gun that fires every day at 1pm to set the time in Edinburgh.







We left and went to the Botanical Gardens, which was much nicer than the castle. Really nice to be in, and just out of the city so as to be really peaceful.