I enjoyed my second full day in Edinburgh solo. Almost everyone in the group took a day trip up to Loch Ness. it took them 5 hours to get up there, only one hour to explore, and 5 hours back. I'm glad I passed on going because I had the most fantastic day solo.
I went down for another Scottish morning breakfast and found only a few people stayed behind. I ended up taking an easy morning leaving a clothesline in the room full of hand washed clothes and left around 11 and hit the town.
I got off a couple stops before where I had previously because there were a couple churches around with art fairs around them. And taking after my mother I had to explore around the cemeteries in the town. Every cemetery contains so much history and it seems that especially around Europe they all have a different feel to them.
I walked into the church where they were rehearsing for a show a couple hours later. Its always nice to have some extra ambiance while wondering around.
On the outside of the church there wad an art fair but there was not too many things that tempted me so I walked out without anything added to my bag. I headed into Prince's gardens and walked around in the rain taking pictures of the Edinburgh Castle from a different angle.
From the park I went the Scottish museum Mostly paintings and busts inside. Nothing stood out to me too much. Some of he landscapes were worth a stop for but how many can you truly look at. My favorite was a display from various artist and their depiction of turn of the century fairy tales like the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.
After the museum there was a bit more Fringe fest to see. There was a woman contortionist doing a show with hula hoops out front. She was very talented and extremely flexible but for her own safety when it started to rain she ended the show. Well I didn't pay for it so I can't complain.
I headed off to a part of town that I had not visited the day before, New Town. This part of town had more upscale shopping and hotels. I was hoping to run across the international book fair. I was close by when I was walking but I did not find it at the time. Oh well. Nothing in that area interested me too much so back I went to Old Town and the Royal mile.
I headed towards the castle again and stopped in some of the shops and literal tourist traps. One shop I couldn't figure out how to get out. Easy in not so much out. After walking by bagpipers, William Wallace, and old timey soldiers I walked into another church. I had a nice conversation with a local man inside about the Stone of Destiny and the various myths about it and if the one that is in possession by the government is the real one. Who knows? I got directions from them to a restaurant that was in the KC paper before I left and headed down alleyways and stairs to find it. The place was called Oink and they serve pig roast sandwich They were excellent and I got there between the lunch and dinner rush because there is usually a line out the door.
I walked down the road to Grey Friers cemetary. The story goes there that a man passed away and his dog came to his gravesite every day. For 10 years the dog came to his masters grave and even when they locked him out the keepers would always find him in the morning. Amazing story. So much so that there is gravestone for the dog and people leave dog toys for him. Also around the area is a coffee shop that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. Sorry about all he Harry Potter mentions. I realize I have a problem.
Around this area is the former city meeting place and the place where hey hung he accused. There is another great story from his area as well. There was a woman who was hung in the square who lived an entire second life if you will. She was hung and when she was about to be buried she woke up and had not been killed. The town rallied to the judge that she should be hanged again to follow though on her verdict. But he judge disagreed because she had already been hint so she had already served her sentence. So now that is why the sentences stay hung until dead. Good to know!
So off from the hanging spot I went down one of the lower streets to where ever it lead me. I ended up around the other side of the Royal mile from the castle and at he Scottish Parliament building. Scotland reinstated their parliament in 1997 and are currently proceeding to become their own separate country from the UK within the next few years. The building is very strange looking. If you looked at it from above the buildings would look like leaves and then connected with walkways. Very strange. But I ended up talking to a couple of employees of the building. The woman instead of saying yes to answer said aye, awesome! We talked about the summit that people were climbing behind the building and abut how long it would take to get to the top.
Well needless to say but my next adventure was he climb to the top of Hollyrood rock. It took me about 45 minutes or so to get to the top with many stops in between I've been working out at the gym before leaving but certainly not in preparation to climb mountains When I finally got to the top I was rewarded with a 360 degree view of the city. I could see the inlet, the other side of Scotland to the north, the ports along the water, a cruise ship in the water, the neighborhoods surrounding the city, the downtown area and the Castle. It was totally worth the effort. I got some other people at the top to take my picture while trying to stay upright because of the super heavy winds. Wow is all I can say about the view.
I got a little lost when I was walking back into town. I figure if you don't get at least a little lost while traveling you didn't do it right. I found my way back to he middle of the Royal mile and found the bar where our group was meeting for he pub crawl. We went to 5 fifteenth bars around the center of town, getting a shot at each and drink specials where we went. Some of he shots were good, others were terrible and i ended up taking the shots of some of he lightweights. The last bar we went was the best with a great DJ and a Frankenstein theme including the shots coming from test tubes. I had a couple drinks and barely felt anything.
So after a really long day a couple of the girls and I caught a taxi back to the hotel for a good nights sleep for our next city of Glasgow.
No comments:
Post a Comment