Auld Reekie and the Athens of the North--Day 31 (Saturday, Oct 1)

"Auld Reekie" is a nickname for Edinburgh, alluding to its unsavory collection of bars and other places of license that lured good Christians from the right path. "The Athens of the North" is a more noble title suggesting the great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment and the high culture that can be found in Edinburgh.

Wow! Edinburgh was fantastic! I loved it so much! I really want to go back again because I felt like we didn't get enough time to see everything we wanted to see. I would say that this day was one of the highlights of my trip to the UK so far. It was a beautiful city, and it is full of culture and charm. The main problem was that we got distracted in all the cool, cute shops on the Royal Mile, a collection of shops and restaurants stretching from Edinburgh Castle to the Scottish Parliament building.

But let me backtrack a little bit. Our first activity was driving through the Old City, a collection of Gothic/medieval buildings near (and including) the Royal Mile, and the New City, a collection of Georgian buildings closer to the south of town. After our quick tour, we left some of our classmates to tour Parliament for their sociology class, and the rest of us walked along the Royal Mile to see the castle. Along the way, we saw the Canons' Gait Church, which is where Zara Phillips (the Queen's granddaughter) was married in July. We also saw Holyroot House, the Queen's "residence" in Scotland (I think it's actually Balmoral, but they just use Holyroot as the "official" place). It actually looks pretty understated to me. At least compared with Buckingham (there's that English snootiness creeping in). Finally, we saw Edinburgh Cathedral on the Royal Mile. We didn't go in, but I think it's pretty impressive just from the outside.

Canons' Gait Church.

Holyroot House.

Edinburgh Cathedral.

My friend Elizabeth and I decided to look in some shops first so we could see the castle after lunch with our friends who were in the sociology class. I bought some souvenirs for my family and a nice wool hat for myself. I absolutely adore tassel hats, and even though I have one at home already, it isn't 100% wool, and it definitely isn't from Scotland.

I love my new tassel hat!

After a quick lunch at a cafe, we went back to the shops with our other friends and then climbed to see the castle for real. The mist was just descending as we reached the top, so I was able to get this picture in time. It was actually pretty cool to see the castle enveloped in the mist with the Old City curving away down below. The castle struck me as being of a more modern design than I expected based on the pictures I have seen of it. But it was no less beautiful...just unexpected! One of the cooler shops was an international bazaar, where we took pictures of ourselves wearing silly Mardi Gras/masquerade masks. Hopefully, my friend Haley will post mine soon so I can show you (there are also other pictures from the trip that I will show you once my friends have posted them). One of the best shops was a charming little store full of Scottish clothing and crafts, including Scottish glass and green marble necklaces and adorable wool bags. It's a good thing I had limited funds, or I would have gone crazy! We also watched a really funny Australian street performer. He made fun of the England/Scotland rivalry and of Americans, which was hilarious (most of his jokes had to do with the fact that other countries think we are stupid). Near one of the shops was a couple with their dogs. We asked if we could pet the dogs, and the owners said yes! I was very happy because they had a little brown, black, and white dog that looked sort of like a dachshund who was very cute. I went right up to her and starting petting her head and back, and she rolled right over so I could scratch her belly, too! Her owners thought that was pretty funny. Their other dog also came for some kisses because he wanted some attention, too. Before we went to see the castle, we stopped at a convenience store to look for traditional Scottish shortbread. We didn't see anything interesting, but I noticed a package of Jaffa Cakes on the shelf, and I had to try them. Jaffa Cakes are soft cookies spread with orange filling and dipped in dark chocolate on one side. They were pretty good and were a nice late afternoon pick-me-up.

Edinburgh Castle.

I was glad to get back on the bus at the end of the day because it started raining, and I was tired of walking. Good thing I had my warm tassel hat! It will be great for later on in October and in the winter months back in the States. On the way back, we stopped for a view of the Forth Rail Bridge, 1.5 miles long and spanning a major tributary of the Clyde. Unfortunately, the mist prevented any good photos of it, but I did what I could. This area of Edinburgh was charming and had a very sea-faring feel to it. Once we were back at the hotel, no one felt like going outside again for dinner (I had suggested a Tesco meal to offset the costs of all our souvenirs from Edinburgh), so we just ate soup, bread, and salad at the restaurant located in the hotel (I guess this is weird for the British). After dinner, we got Ben and Jerry's ice cream from a vending machine (why don't we have those??) and ate our dessert while watching British stand-up comedy and laughing our socks off.

The Forth Rail Bridge (quite a unique design, don't you think?).

Like I said before, I would definitely go back to Edinburgh if I had the chance. I really wanted to see the National Museum of Scotland, but we ran out of time. Tomorrow is Loch Lomond and our last full day in Scotland. I'm humming the tune in my head already! I can't wait to show you how beautiful it is!