Edinburgh

On Monday, I caught the train to Edinburgh, Scotland. Remarkably enough, all this required was being at the Stevenage station at the right time to catch the train north. No connections, no transfers, just four and a half hours of riding. As we pulled into the train station in Edinburgh, the first thing I saw was a sign saying ‘Welcome to Edinburgh Waverley.’ Despite the warm welcome, I felt compelled to mention that, first, my father wasn’t with me, and, second, they misspelled his name.

Unlike my arrival in Cardiff, where I looked around and thought, ‘Great…now what?’ upon my arrival in Edinburgh, I looked around and thought, ‘What first?’ The train station is in the centre of the city in a somewhat low area. The hills of the city rise all around the station. I purchased a guidebook from a woman who asked if I needed a ‘wee bag’ for my book. Visitors to Scotland must realize that, even though meaning something totally different in England, ‘wee’ means ‘small’.

The first order of business, being nearly noon, was to get lunch. McDonald’s was, predictably, packed to overflowing. Instead, I went to a nice pub and had a wonderful chicken and ham pie while I read my new Scotland travel guide. It recommended that I first visit the Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately, everyone else in Scotland seemed to have the same idea. So, rather than wait in the long, winding line just to buy a ticket, I decided to save the castle for my next visit.

I was, however, at the start of the Royal Mile, a main street that leads from the Castle all the way down to the Palace at Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland. The distance is almost exactly one mile…hence the term Royal Mile…. Had I waited but a single day and gone to Edinburgh on Tuesday, I perhaps could have seen the Princess Royal who held the Scotia Centenary Awards Dinner for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. It seems as if my invitation got lost in the mail…again….

So I started at the top of the Royal Mile and headed down, visiting sights along the way. My first stop was at the Tartan Weaving Mill and Exhibition. Basically, they took their tartan weaving mill and built a gift shop around it, leaving space for a few ‘Let’s Talk About Weaving’ exhibits along the way. I did get to see two of their powerlooms in action.

Next, I made sure to visit a few of the seven million gift shops on the street. About the only thing made of tartan that I didn’t see was a toilet seat cover…which gives me an idea….

I did stop in at The Writer’s Museum and saw the exhibits about Scottish writers Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. I also visited both the Museum of Edinburgh and The People’s Story. The first has the requisite artefacts of Edinburgh’s history (from shards of Roman pottery to modern objects) and the second traces the lives of ordinary people of Edinburgh from the 18th century through to today. The museums are informative, interesting and free.

Since this is Europe, I had to visit a church or two. I popped into the High Kirk of St. Giles, a Presbyterian cathedral, which has a very nice Thistle Chapel built in 1911 for the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Scotland’s order of chivalry. I also noticed a church that seemed to be either wedged in amongst the other buildings or was built first and the other buildings crept up on it. The current building of the Old Saint Paul’s Scottish Episcopal Church was built in the 19th century. I wandered in and had the entire place to myself. (It seems that I am becoming quite good at occupying empty buildings.)

At the end of the Royal Mile, just before the palace, is the new Scottish Parliament building. Still being completed, this building is perhaps the most interesting one I visited in Edinburgh. It was designed by an architectural firm in Barcelona and appears to have very few right angles, instead having curves and things like that. In order to enter, I had to pass through a metal detector and leave my keys at the desk (it had my small, innocent Leatherman Micra attached to it). Even though Parliament wasn’t in session on Monday, I was still able to visit the debating chamber.

Throughout my visit to the city, I kept getting glimpses of this huge mountainous crag in the background of things. It’s as if this gigantic mountain just decided to lurch out of the earth and tower above the city. So of course I had to climb it. Evidently, it pays to seek out a less physically intensive route to the top. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t know about that. I decided to take the twisty, haul-yourself-to-the-top-by-clinging-to-clumps-of-grass route. After resting a bit and convincing myself that I wasn’t going to get blown off Salisbury Crags, I enjoyed the great view. It was also fun watching a seagull fly around in the air BELOW me.

Since I had some time left, I wandered to another part of town to see what I could find on Calton Hill. I found an interesting cemetery with a statue of Abraham Lincoln, the Coty Observatory, and huge Romanesque columns that are part of the unfinished national monument. I also found a tall column dedicated to Lord Nelson’s Victory at Trafalgar. And, since I seem to be a glutton for punishment, I decided to climb to the top. I had the entire column, including the balcony, to myself (except for the old Scotsman taking the admission). Despite being fairly calm on the ground, I experienced gale-force winds at the top. Of course, I had to squeeze myself through the narrow door to get out there. (And by narrow, I mean it…it probably wasn’t more than 14 inches wide.)

A few other things about Scotland…people here seem to be exceedingly polite. The kid in the red Mohawk certainly was: ‘Sir, could you buy us some cigarettes please?’ It also seems that banks in Scotland can churn out their own money. I have notes from the Bank of Scotland (and the Royal Bank of Scotland plc…I’m not sure if they’re the same) and Clydesdale Bank plc that say that those banks promise to pay the bearer on demand five (or ten, depending on the note) pounds sterling. I haven’t figured out if I can use these here in England…that should be a fun experience. ‘No, really, Sir, it’s money…well, Scottish money…but it says…oh alright…’

At the train station, my return train was delayed by 40 minutes. The nice train company woman told us it was due to sheep in the tracks. Later, on the train, they kept apologizing for the delay ‘caused by a late start from Cardiff due to a broken down freight train.’ I actually liked the sheep explanation better…it seemed so…Scottish.

At one stop, my seatmate and I ended up having three drunken guys sit by us. They were loud, and rude, and drinking even more. At the next stop, thankfully, they left the train. Or so we thought. As the train was pulling out of the station, it suddenly stopped and a recorded voice said, ‘Attention train crew…passenger emergency alarm activated.’ It seems that one of the three managed to leave the train while the other two weren’t so sure. Once they decided to leave the train, it was already moving so they pulled the emergency stop. Of course, once the emergency stop is activated, the train engineer has to wait for official permission from the controllers to restart.

But, restart we eventually did and I arrived back in Stevenage at about 12:30.