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Monday, October 26, 2015

Scotland pt. 2



This recap is gonna be a long one with lots of pictures. Just a warning. 

There are pictures of food but I have to be honest, the food in Scotland wasn't the best. In fact, it wasn't very good at all. That's Kev's job when we travel, he finds the good food and tells me where to eat.  I make sure he doesn't leave anything behind. When left to my own devices I wander into places and end up with a steak and ale pie. 


Prior to this I was waiting 20 minutes at a pub and no one ever came over to take my order. It wasn't awful, but it was half burnt. That side with the gravy, under the gravy is the burn. More peas and some potatoes. Meh. The un-burnt part was OK.

I think it was Thursday after work I went over to Princes St and hit up some shopping. The night before I met some airline attendants who told me I had to go to Primark, and I did. I also was on the lookout for some better shoes. I planned my shoes for training, not for traipsing miles and miles over a city of hills and cobblestones. I had my running shoes, tall brown boots, short black boots with heels and and gold flats. In theory, I should have been fine., My feet were not.

My shoe choices for Germany will be much different. BTW, I'm taking shoe recommendations. I did find some cute black boots. I thought they were all trendy and European, then I found similar ones at DSW. Crap.


I don't remember what that building was but the view was pretty impressive when I turned the corner and saw it.

One thing you can't miss is the monument to Sir Walter Scott. Lemme tell you, prior to going to Scotland, I wish I'd read up some on Scottish history. They're all about the history there and a documentary or something would have been helpful.

I learned about Sir Walter Scott on the castle tour I took on Saturday. Here's what I know. Sir Walter Scott was a writer and wrote lots of poems and shit that everyone loved. In 1818-ish he "found" the Scottish "Honours" aka the Crown Jewels. From what I understood they were in the castle in room and he took a team of people downstairs, opened a box and there they were.

It'd be like if I took some people on a quest for my high school yearbooks and we went to the attic and opened a box. I don't think I'd get a statue though.


So cool, and huge

That night I had dinner at a tapas place. It was OK, nothing awesome. 


Meh.

Friday night I had planned to be super touristy and went on a ghost tour. Before that I stopped into Angels with Bagpipes for a little dinner. Sadly one of my best meals was French. I obviously had the tartatre, it was delish.


Then it was off to the super ghost tour. We went down into the "Underground City" and back to Greyfriars Kirkyard. I don't have any pictures, it was dark... But definitely spooky. No ghostly activity but I could totally see that people had spooky encounters there.


Just some dark spooky streets in Edinburgh. Old streets are scary.

When we were in Grefriars Kirkyard the guide told us that this was the cemetery that overlooked the restaurant where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. There are graves for McGonagall, Lupin and Tom Riddle (!!!) in there. Then she said "If you don't like Harry Potter, then YOU'RE WRONG". Preach it sister. 

Also in the cemetery is the Mackenzie Poltergeist. You can read all about it here. It's a pretty creepy story. Basically Mackenzie was a real asshat when he was alive and in 1998 someone came in, defiled his tomb and ever since then the poltergiest has been active in the cemetery. We didn't see anything but it was still pretty creepy.

After traipsing all over Edinburgh in the dark, I stopped for a kebab on the way back to the hotel. 


It was so good. Really one of the best things I ate there.

Saturday came bright and early and I was off to the Castle! I bought my tickets in advance and off I went!

View of the city from the castle. Look at the coast!


Holy Crap! A real live castle!


I didn't wear sunglasses for 10 days straight. That might be a record in my adult life. Light colored eyes + LASIK = super light sensitivity and sunglasses pretty much every time I step outside. 


The entrance to the castle.


There are 2 knights on either side of the gate to the castle


Walking on up.


You can still close the gate and keep the raiding hoards out. 


View of the city from the castle


More views


Walking through the different parts of the castle


Another view because I loved the contrast of the old spires and the newer architecture.

Edinburgh Castle is a historic site and has a crap ton of history and museums to wander through. A lot of the museums were focused on Scottish military history. It was definitely cool to look at, but I think someone who knew more about that topic would have really, really liked it.


I just like taking pictures with statures.


Here too. The sign said to take a selfie with the soldiers, so I did. 


The center square was where the majority of the cool (in my opinion) things were. 


I went to the Great Hall


Where something was happening. I didn't wait to see what it was. 


This was cool. Apparently the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth was in the castle.

Then I went through the line to see the Scottish Crown Jewels. That's how I learned about Sir Walter Scott. When you go through that exhibit, you see the history of the crown jewels.


Including when Robert the Bruce was crowned. It wound all the way around until you got to the jewels. Sadly, no pictures allowed. I'm assuming they want to avoid a jewel heist.





More parts of the castle. I think this was the war memorial.


This was a little cemetery for animals.


A wider picture of the war memorial.

Finally it was time to leave. I had a reservation at 230pm to do the Real Mary King's Close tour and I needed to get some lunch before I went.

But first, a view as I'm leaving.


Bye castle!

On the streets of Edinburgh you get a lot of random people trying to make a pound. All the signs say "worth a picture worth a pound"!


Remember the last post when I took a picture in the dark of St. Giles Cathedral? Well on Saturday I went inside.


Agh! So amazing!


And the stained glass was to die for.

After wandering around and lighting a candle, I needed some lunch.


Fun fact, you can't get a brewed coffee in Edinburgh, you have to get a Cafe Americano. Nothing but Americanos. I expect Germany and France to be the same.


For lunch I got a proper fish and chips, complete with the tiny fork. 

Then it was time for my tour, You couldn't take any pictures in the close but it was super informative and really interesting, I highly recommend it. I learned about the Black Plague and I'm pretty sure I felt a ghost down there. There was a room dedicated to a little girl where people left dolls. I felt a definite cold spot swirling around me and then it left and was warm. Yea, I got my ghostly encounter. 

I did the underground tour then the above ground and there was about a 45 minute wait between the 2. I walked up and down the street and did a little shopping, 


The owl wasn't amused. 

The above ground tour was pretty interesting as well but I'm pretty sure the guide was hungover. Like on the struggle bus hungover. He was good but mumbled a lot and his eyes were super bloodshot.



A view from the tour. 


Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel and drop off my shopping. Bye castle!

In my last night in Scotland, I had to have the haggis. I apparently went for the fancy version which was a haggis appetizer wrapped in filo dough.


Honestly, it wasn't bad. It was a rich, spiced ground meat. I'd eat it again and probably even try a less fancy version.

For dessert I had to have the sticky toffee pudding. 


I expected it to be less gingerbread-y. It was still really good, just too much sauce for me.

Then it was off to bed and to catch my 8am flight! Even though I was working, I still had a great time in Scotland. I can't wait to go back and maybe next time, Kev can come with me.

Linking up with BLoved Boston! AND


3 comments:

  1. It amazes me how much history is out there in the world - i mean castles and knights and everything so cool! Sorry the food was such a bummer but at least you did have some good meals! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  2. Wow, your pictures are amazingly gorgeous! Crazy how young the USA is compared to other nations. I've heard the food in Scotland and Ireland is just meh, that's such a bummer. Glad you had a great trip!

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  3. YAYYYYY Sticky Toffee Pudding.. IDK why there is so much sauce there. That should be cream/ice cream. But I am glad you got to try it. I won't even lie that I was following the adventures for the castle photos and to see if you took my suggestion because I'm a creepy stalker mcstalkerton. I wasn't overly impressed at the food situation there either, honestly. That said, their old shit is on freakin' point.

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