They say you can tell the Scots from the tourists, because the Scots don’t wear jackets or carry umbrellas (in summer, at least), which I suppose is sensible, in the space of half an hour I took my jacket off and put it on at least 5 times, and the umbrella up and down about the same.
I don’t mean to be discussing such insanely boring topics such as the weather – but it was amazing, to me in any case, that it could be sunny and warm one minute, and freezing cold and raining the next. Repeat steps one and two over three days and even I considered throwing my umbrella into the river (weak? Definitely).
I only just made my train, doe to some prolonged farewells of the friends that was worth the run, and arrived late, following engine troubles the whole way. As friendly as the Brits always are, the driver would call out ‘This train currently has engine failures!So we will be travelling at a more comfortable pace today ladies and gents!’ To which I nervously twitched and wanted to scream ‘IF THE BLOODY ENGINE’S FAILED WHY ARE WE STILL MOVING!’ Luckily the brakes worked fine and I slept well after a busy weekend.
I woke early the next morning and could have sworn I was walking through clouds, so heaby was the mist, with light rain every now and again. It added an eerie atmosphere to the blackened stone buildings, old churches and cobblestone streets, so that if all the cars had dissappeared and been replaced with horses and carriages, I wouldn’t have batted an eye.
I made my way up to Edinburgh Castle, used as a fort by the English Redcoats during the Jacobite uprising (more on that later) and paid my £12 (ouch) to climb amongst the turrets overlooking the city. Except I couldn’t bloody see anything except grey fog past my nose could I. Luckily the castle was amazing without the view, and there were servaral museums incorporated into the castle that I ducked into when the cold got too much (weak? Definitely).
I walked down the ‘Royal Mile’, the main street in Old Town, all the wayto Holyrood House, which is the Queen’s official residence when in Scotland. Though it is a modern castle still in use, the anicent Abbey at the rear of the building and the historical remnants of Kings and Queen’s long passed made for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
The next couple of days were spent walking around the streets of Old Town, and wonddow shopping in the malls of the New Town (the Edinburians, bless their hearts, have discovered the art of putting all their shops under one roof with air conditioning, and calling it a mall. The rest of Europe are still selling umbrellas).
I made a visit to the port of Leith, just outside of town, to visit the Britannia – the previous Royal shop decomissioned in about 1985 I think. The tour took us around the shop to get a feel for the luxury that Royals are used to, and displayed personal photographs of various members of the Royal Family around the country-home style suites.
After a final walk along the banks of the river the next morning, I boarded a train to head up to the capital of the rugged highlands – Inverness.
-Sarah
Sarah