edinburgh
We visited Edinburgh this weekend. After months of wistful remarks that we "should" visit Scotland but not actually doing so, we finally found some inspiration in the form of some friends visiting Edinburgh from Norway. I had an e-mail asking if we'd be interested in meeting up, and "is it nearby?" (answer: not really!) and two days later, I'd booked a flight for us on the local budget airline to visit for the weekend.
Our landing in Edinburgh was insane due to gale force winds on Thursday. Not to say that our takeoff was all that smooth, but landing felt as if we were strapped to the top of a kite at the beach. I don't actually think I'm exaggerating here. Thankfully, the people near us on the plane were silenced in their terror, as opposed to the people I've sat next to on transatlantic flights who find God with every bump ("OHJESUSJESUSOHMYGOD") so I contented myself with gripping cookieman's leg and fixating my gaze somewhere other than the leaping horizon line outside of the window.
The city's airport bus service had a stop reasonably close to the hotel apartment I'd booked, which was handy and appreciated due to the cold and aforementioned wind. Yes, I booked an apartment. It happened that the friends from Norway, D and S, had booked their room first so when I made our booking, I obviously attempted to book in their hotel. Unfortunately, they had no other double rooms, so I looked for something else cheap and close to them. I ended up with an apartment which was cheaper than theirs, and which turned out to be really rather nice. It featured a kitchen with everything, including a clothes washing machine, and a nice-sized living area. We have agreed that we should absolutely stay there again if/when we return.
After much texting back and forth, it was revealed that D and S would not be joining us for dinner as planned, as their flight into Aberdeen had been delayed due to the storm. We made arrangements to meet for a late drink... which was subsequently canceled after their train stopped working (yes) halfway between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, resulting in them being carted back to Aberdeen to try their luck with some other form of public transport. The final SMS from them had a timestamp of 1:30am, noting their final arrival at their hotel. sigh.
We, in that time period, had a wander, discovered a cheap local supermarket and came back to the apartment to make some frozen pizza, watch the Family Guy, and bask in the amazing heat. Our house is a wee bit damp and drafty, so this was pure luxury. At several points during our stay, we remarked that it might possibly be too warm, a thought I have difficulty relating to as I type this while wearing two tops and a scarf!
(okay maybe the scarf is overkill, but it's cute: fluffy and purple!)
Friday morning we met up with D and S at the National Museum of Scotland. This museum contained many Scottish things... I'm at a loss as to what else to say about it. It was an informative overview of the history of the country. The Royal Museum of Scotland was adjacent to this museum. It was in an older building, which was interesting in itself, and we took a few photos there.
We went on to have lunch and chat for a while before heading to the large castle which dominates the skyline of Edinburgh. I will post a picture in hopes of illustrating this, but I think unless you actually are staring up the face of the cliff it's perched on, you can't really get the true impression of it. As with many of these sort of imposing structures, it's more interesting to see it from far away than to actually be in it, but it was a visit which needed to be done, I think.
The evening was a lot of fun. Some other friends had driven up from Wales to meet us, and we met the Scottish part of our group for dinner later that night. We carried on to a few pubs, and though we had an early night (left by midnight) there were tales of some of the others staying out until 3am... and then 6am when some managed to miss their bus and had to come back to the city to stay with the local couple. fun! You can bet there were some hangovers there.
Saturday was, no surprise, a slow start, but cookieman and I ventured out to do some shopping and visit Holyrood House. The tour there was extremely interesting, and probably the highlight of all of the 'cultural' things we did on the trip. Shopping included visiting Jenners department store, a local institution which I admit I only found by accident. I then went to Lush to purchase some shampoo, as I a) hadn't packed any since I thought the hotel would have some and I was lazy, and b) I've always wanted to try their stuff. more on that another time!
We met the group for dinner again in the evening. This was unfortunately at a TGIFridays, which someone else thought was a great idea. Well, at least the drinks were fun and I was able to try the fried macaroni and cheese appetizer I've heard about via someone on my friends page here on LJ. (verdict: okay, but not really worth the calories. I'd stick to the Jack Daniels chicken strips.)
We hit the pubs again afterwards, though not as hard as we hit them the night before. To wrap up the evening, several of us went on a mission to find a local delicacy, the fried Mars bar. We did find a chip shop which made them, and I have to say, despite the fact that it looked like a fried turd, it was really very tasty. Not exactly something to eat very often, but a fine treat.
Sunday was our last day there, and we spent it doing a bit more sightseeing and shopping. By the afternoon, the last couple of days worth of walking had caught up to me, and I was happy to let cookieman climb the hill near Hollyrood House on his own while I sat in a warm cafe with a mocha. Our flight that evening was blissfully uneventful.
I had intended to put some pics in here but it got a bit wordy and I felt they'd be better served in another post. I'm done for now, though. *edited to fix some small errors. I always hit post before reading for clarity on these long things!*
Our landing in Edinburgh was insane due to gale force winds on Thursday. Not to say that our takeoff was all that smooth, but landing felt as if we were strapped to the top of a kite at the beach. I don't actually think I'm exaggerating here. Thankfully, the people near us on the plane were silenced in their terror, as opposed to the people I've sat next to on transatlantic flights who find God with every bump ("OHJESUSJESUSOHMYGOD") so I contented myself with gripping cookieman's leg and fixating my gaze somewhere other than the leaping horizon line outside of the window.
The city's airport bus service had a stop reasonably close to the hotel apartment I'd booked, which was handy and appreciated due to the cold and aforementioned wind. Yes, I booked an apartment. It happened that the friends from Norway, D and S, had booked their room first so when I made our booking, I obviously attempted to book in their hotel. Unfortunately, they had no other double rooms, so I looked for something else cheap and close to them. I ended up with an apartment which was cheaper than theirs, and which turned out to be really rather nice. It featured a kitchen with everything, including a clothes washing machine, and a nice-sized living area. We have agreed that we should absolutely stay there again if/when we return.
After much texting back and forth, it was revealed that D and S would not be joining us for dinner as planned, as their flight into Aberdeen had been delayed due to the storm. We made arrangements to meet for a late drink... which was subsequently canceled after their train stopped working (yes) halfway between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, resulting in them being carted back to Aberdeen to try their luck with some other form of public transport. The final SMS from them had a timestamp of 1:30am, noting their final arrival at their hotel. sigh.
We, in that time period, had a wander, discovered a cheap local supermarket and came back to the apartment to make some frozen pizza, watch the Family Guy, and bask in the amazing heat. Our house is a wee bit damp and drafty, so this was pure luxury. At several points during our stay, we remarked that it might possibly be too warm, a thought I have difficulty relating to as I type this while wearing two tops and a scarf!
(okay maybe the scarf is overkill, but it's cute: fluffy and purple!)
Friday morning we met up with D and S at the National Museum of Scotland. This museum contained many Scottish things... I'm at a loss as to what else to say about it. It was an informative overview of the history of the country. The Royal Museum of Scotland was adjacent to this museum. It was in an older building, which was interesting in itself, and we took a few photos there.
We went on to have lunch and chat for a while before heading to the large castle which dominates the skyline of Edinburgh. I will post a picture in hopes of illustrating this, but I think unless you actually are staring up the face of the cliff it's perched on, you can't really get the true impression of it. As with many of these sort of imposing structures, it's more interesting to see it from far away than to actually be in it, but it was a visit which needed to be done, I think.
The evening was a lot of fun. Some other friends had driven up from Wales to meet us, and we met the Scottish part of our group for dinner later that night. We carried on to a few pubs, and though we had an early night (left by midnight) there were tales of some of the others staying out until 3am... and then 6am when some managed to miss their bus and had to come back to the city to stay with the local couple. fun! You can bet there were some hangovers there.
Saturday was, no surprise, a slow start, but cookieman and I ventured out to do some shopping and visit Holyrood House. The tour there was extremely interesting, and probably the highlight of all of the 'cultural' things we did on the trip. Shopping included visiting Jenners department store, a local institution which I admit I only found by accident. I then went to Lush to purchase some shampoo, as I a) hadn't packed any since I thought the hotel would have some and I was lazy, and b) I've always wanted to try their stuff. more on that another time!
We met the group for dinner again in the evening. This was unfortunately at a TGIFridays, which someone else thought was a great idea. Well, at least the drinks were fun and I was able to try the fried macaroni and cheese appetizer I've heard about via someone on my friends page here on LJ. (verdict: okay, but not really worth the calories. I'd stick to the Jack Daniels chicken strips.)
We hit the pubs again afterwards, though not as hard as we hit them the night before. To wrap up the evening, several of us went on a mission to find a local delicacy, the fried Mars bar. We did find a chip shop which made them, and I have to say, despite the fact that it looked like a fried turd, it was really very tasty. Not exactly something to eat very often, but a fine treat.
Sunday was our last day there, and we spent it doing a bit more sightseeing and shopping. By the afternoon, the last couple of days worth of walking had caught up to me, and I was happy to let cookieman climb the hill near Hollyrood House on his own while I sat in a warm cafe with a mocha. Our flight that evening was blissfully uneventful.
I had intended to put some pics in here but it got a bit wordy and I felt they'd be better served in another post. I'm done for now, though. *edited to fix some small errors. I always hit post before reading for clarity on these long things!*