Day 2 - A Day in Edinburgh

Day 2

Saturday, March 17^th, 2012

A Day in Edinburgh

Happy for the conveniences of life.
Shower left, hot towel rack right.

It was decided to wake up by 9 and be to the city by noon. As my last few mornings happened, I woke up around 6 and had to take a breathing treatment. At this point I felt what was irritating my system was all the mucus in my nose and throat. Late I hoped to find a pharmacy and get womething from that. I did go back to sleep and woke up with Jackie at 9 to get ready for the day.

Three words: hot towel rack. It is a curious thing. A metal rack that heats up the towel as you shower. Jackie thought this was the most genius thing she ever saw. She wants her boyfriend to make one for her.

The shower was most grateful and great to start the day off. After we were all pretty, we walked into the kitchen to find Kristen had prepared the table and set out cereal and sconces for our breakfast pleasure. Hot chocolate again, and even the shortbread was brought out. We all had a nice chat.

First time on a double decker bus!

Then onward! A bus stop across from Kristen’s flat (that’s apartment) took us into the city center. It was a double decker, so we had to go on the top! Epic picture taking! (More pictures in other post!)

Though it was raining when we arrived the night before, it was gorgeous sunny today. This /never/ happens in Scotland. I kinda wish it were a bit cloudy, though, since then my pictures would have turned out better!

Walking on the Royal Mile we came across a cathedral called St. Giles. It was gorgeous! I had to pay two pounds for a photography permit, but it was worth it. Choir practice was going on as we explored the place. I found I love chandeliers even more now.

Second stop, Edinburgh Castle! *Castle, castle!* It is in the highest point in the middle of the city, so it is kind of like Piazzale Michelangelo. We could see the whole city. It was expensive to go inside, and Kristen said there were better castles out there, so we just stuck with taking outside pics. One pic looked like it said ‘dragon’ on first glance. So I took a picture and made sure it did!

You can see the original on the other post. ;)

Around now we picked up some sinus stuff. Like Kristen had told us, when weather is this nice in Scotland, which it rarely is, everyone comes out. There is a beautiful park that everyone converged on. You can tell the type of people who live here are used to a more temperate climate as some only wore t-shirts as they played soccer (football!) in the sun. We chilled in a war memorial for a bit, enjoying the sun before moving onto a museum.

To the museum!

All the museums are free! Which is epic. And the art gallery we checked out was packed full of art. Every inch of wall had a painting on it. Sculptures were strewn throughout. The paintings were huge. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Towards the end, though, my feet hurt and I was hungry!

Only tea! Wow!

Both sides of the menu.

The few pubs we tried to get into were bursting, so we followed Kristen to a tea shop. It was so much fun. I love tea shops! In the end, I was the only one who got tea (Jasmine Chu Hao), but the food was lovely and of course the conversation.

Kristen and myself.

Lunch!

After tea, we walked to the Royal Mile (which is 1.1 American miles, FYI). Kristen pointed out the train station we would be taking the next day. One less thing to worry about!

A guy we met on the Royal Mile.

Where the queen of England stays
when she is in Scotland.

Earlier today we had been on the Royal Mile. Edinburgh Castle is at one end of it, and Parliament and another castle for the queen are at the other end. Jackie had wanted to find a scarf, so we checked out a few souvenir shops along the way. Eventually we settled in a ‘Scottish-owned-and-family-run’ shop. Which was pretty legit. The lady behind the counter had a pretty Gaelic name that sounded like ‘Haley,’ but Kristen told us the spelling later and it started with an ‘e,’ I believe. We all had a good chat about ancestry and such. Unfortunately, all of my ancestry is too obscure for souvenir makers. I did buy a scarf, though, so Jackie could get the 2 for 10 pounds deal. I like the scarf. It is warm and Scottish. The shop had swords, too, which said ‘do not touch.’ I did comply with this rule, but I had to move to the other side of the shop to fully resist temptation.

We walked to the end of the Royal Mile and found Arthur’s Seat. It is a famous ‘hill’ in Edinburgh. It is more of a bluff than a hill, by our standards. Jackie really wanted to make it up to the top. It was steep! We made it about three-fourths before my energy started running low and Kristen’s fear of heights kicked in. On the way back down, two unicyclists dodged their way passed us. How did they manage that? I have no idea. All I know is it was dangerous, and very dumb, but insanely cool.

How far we made it.

The plan was to got o church at St. Patrick’s. Kristen does not know the times, though, since she generally is in Glasgow at her fiancee’s church on the weekends. We missed it, thought, but managed to find out if we ran we could make it to mass at the cathedral. So we did.

Mass was mass, always great. A really cool turn-of-events, though, was how we received communion. Instead of waiting in line and standing to receive it, we all conglomerated for a spot to kneel at the foot of the nave.  You could receive it on your tongue or hands. I enjoyed the added reverence with the kneeling. It would be cool if more churches were able to do that.

Candid picture of me reading the menu.

It was St. Paddy’s Day, so we attempted to find a pub to enjoy ourselves. To be expected, all of them were an hour wait on food, but we found an American-style restaurant with only a 15 minutes wait. Did you know in Scotland if you ask for a lemonade they will give you a Sprite? Now you do. That’s what Kristen ordered. Jackie took a leap and tried a drink called ‘P.S. I Love You’—too cool to pass up a taste. It had Bailey’s in it, whatever that means. She said it tasted coconut-y, so I am glad I chose something else. I found “Daiquiri’ on the list and thought of Jaclyn back home. I totally thought it was spelt differently than that! I ordered a strawberry one and enjoyed it very much.

Our belly’s full, we were tired. We hitched a ride on the bus back to Kristen’s place. Plans were made for tomorrow. We left with enough time for Kristen to catch the 11:00 train to Glasgow. All of us were wiped from the long day, so everyone crashed.