This entry was sort of a long time coming—our trip to Edinburgh happened almost 2 weeks ago. But there was other stuff to cover beforehand and we’ve been busy. Apologies. I think it’s still necessary to write something about the 20 hours I spent there because it was so jam-packed with activity. Luckily, I wrote it all in a journal on the bus ride back so I wouldn’t forget anything. It’s a little long-winded. Here’s the transcription, with pictures added here and there so you don’t get bored. Not that you would, anyway. Right?
Sept. 16th, 2010
“Took the bus to Edinburgh yesterday afternoon with Jon and Joe. Nine pounds for a round trip. Not bad. Here’s what we did:
“5:00 PM: We get off at the station and immediately head over to Calton Hill. Hike up and look out over the city/take pictures. Beautiful view—you can see the North Sea (I think), the West End, the Parliament/Hollyrood Castle, and Edinburgh’s centers, both new and old. Fantastic.
The view to the east
Joe, Jon and I in front of the National Monument, a Parthenon lookalike
The Nelson Monument, dedicated to Admiral Lord Nelson
A view on the back side of the hill: Hollyrood Castle and the base of Arthur's Seat
“6:00 PM: We descend the hill to Calton St. and find the Scottish Parliament, then walk up the Royal Mile backwards (not the walk itself but the direction) as the sun sets. Meet another girl from Dartmouth, a friend of Jon’s. Sarah. She shows us around a little more.
Jon in front of the Queen's Gallery, across from the new Scottish Parliament
The Royal Mile
“6:45 PM: Climb the Sir Walter Scott monument—400 + steps. The steps are tight and winding, and often we get stuck when someone is on their way down. Quite claustrophobic. Joe leaves his backpack at one point so he can climb the last tower. Yeah, that cramped. But at the top, we get an even better view of the city (we are higher up than Calton Hill). The three pounds admission fee seems worth it.
The Sir Walter Scott Monument
A view from halfway up
From the other side, near the top
“7:45 PM: Walk back to Old Town (had to cross just over the bridge to New Town to get to the monument) and dine on American-style pizza (woo-hoo) at a place on Grassmarket, the historical cobblestone street on which they used to hold public hangings not so long ago. The pizza is good.
“9:00 PM: Change and put down our backpacks in Sarah’s room and go back out to join a pub crawl, supposedly set up for the University orientation. It sucks, so we begin a pub crawl of our own. Starting point is Biblos, a bar near High Street. Meet up with a lot more Dartmouth people who are here studying either religion or philosophy. Socialize for a bit, then become bored of Biblos and its offensive prices. Some of the girls in our group begin to talk of dissolving the sacred pub crawl.
Not all pub crawls can be this exciting
“9:30 PM: Rebecca (a Dartmouth Glasgow friend) suggests that we look for a Hookah bar. Being tourists, we have no idea where to find one. So she asks the bartender. He looks confused at first, then smirks. Directs us to a place where there are apparently three different Hookah bars, all in the same block. We depart.
“10:00 PM: In Scottish, the pronunciation of “hookah” and “hooker” are very similar. We realize this after walking almost twenty minutes into sketchier and sketchier parts of town. Rebecca freaks out; we turn around.
“10:30 PM: Back at Grassmarket Street, we find a cool looking place called Frankenstein’s Pub, which is quite dark and dungeony both inside and out. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but we buy into it. Inside the main bar area, two large projector screens hang from the ceiling. On one, the black and white Frankenstein film plays on repeat (I know because I see it loop before we leave). On the other, people are playing Wii Mario Kart. This interests me. We buy a round of overpriced beers and three of us try our luck at the Wii. Play the manager and nearly beat him, but don’t. No prize, as was offered to the winner, but we are given Frankenstein pins for out efforts. Which is nice.
Texting while drunk driving (bad joke--sorry)
“12:00 AM: A lifesize Frankenstein puppet is lowered from the wall. He sits up, boogies briefly, then is returned to his hiding place above. Pretty lame. Dylan, our friend from our flat, and his friends arrive at the bar and persuade some of us to take a cab with him to the club. I am one of these people.
“12:30 AM: I am not a club person. Neither is Colin, Dylan’s french roommate. So we ditch, skipping the taxi ride this time and walking all the way back to the dorm area on the University campus. Colin and I walk the girls back to their room (5 of them pack into one single to sleep) and promptly realize we have nowhere to crash. I call Jon and Sarah. Turns out they are at a jazz bar not too far away. We begin a new quest.
“1:00 AM: The jazz bar is great. Not too big, but very crowded and close to the music without being so close that you cannot sit down. We sit down. Have a drink, talk to Jon and Sarah and Joe and his friend from back home. Jon has had a lot of wine to drink. He especially is really enjoying the music. We hang around for a bit, have a beer, and finally leave in search of some sort of late-night nourishment. Our party is now Sarah, Jon, Colin, and I.
“2:00 AM: The bouncer directs us to a late night pizza place. Take-away is closed; they are only taking sit down customers. We commiserate with a lonely graduate student, knowing that our party is not fit for a restaurant at this point. We leave and track down two hearty Scotsmen, who decide to accompany us in out quest. At first, every place they take us to is closed. They don’t seem to mind—the whole time, one of them seems concerned only with poking fun at our native cities and cultures. He even goes so far as to tell Jon he isn’t black. Just as we’re considering a quick split from our drunken companions, we find a 24-hour grocery. The promised land.
Bow down and give thanks
“3:00 AM: We finally return to Sarah’s apartment, our arms full of cookies, Snickers, and, in Jon’s case, chicken breasts and macaroni. Jon calls dibs on Sarah’s floor and Colin and I take the kitchen—but not before Jon uses it to cook up his frozen, greasy food. We make sure he turns the oven off afterwards. Colin sleeps on three chairs, and I on the floor, using my sweatshirt as a pillow. Colin forgets to close the window.
“7:15 AM: Colin and I wake up simultaneously. We have slept horribly. Colin is now sick and I have been dreaming of roaming the Edinburgh streets, searching for a place to sleep. We are both freezing. We each take turns showering in Sarah’s roommates’ bathroom and drying ourselves off with their towels (sorry!) and come back to the kitchen. We fall asleep again, this time both on the chairs.
“10:00 AM: Sarah’s roommates come into their kitchen to make breakfast and find two complete strangers sleeping on their chairs. We wake up but don’t budge from our places, so the roommates make breakfast and leave, a little spooked. It is only when the maid wakes us up and kicks us out that we go wake up Jon.
“10:30 AM: We grab coffee on Grassmarket Street (it’s a nice street, alright?!) and head toward Dylan’s friend’s flat so Colin can get his things. Dylan gives us terrible directions. We walk for two hours, twice across the city in search of this damned place.
A nice view of Edinburgh Castle from the gallows on Grassmarket
“12:00 PM: We see the Pope in his Popemobile, driving through town. Oh, hello, Pope. Check that off the bucket list. Colin is not thrilled to see him—it is the Pope’s fault that this city is so hard to navigate right now, after all.
The Frenchman
The Pope
“1:30 PM: We finally find Dylan and drop Colin off. I am terribly tired at this point and dying to lie down in a real bed. After grabbing a quick sandwich, I say my goodbyes and head for the bus station. I am gone by 2:30.
Giraffes. I don't know, it was cool.
I arrive in Glasgow after less than an hour on the bus. It has been quite the twenty hours."
Phew.
