Haggis and bagpipes and kilts – oh my!
Okay, so maybe I didn’t try haggis (apparently, it’s a huge sausage made from sheep’s lungs, liver and hearts mixed with spices, suet, oatmeal and onions – I’m sure it’s as good as it sounds) but I did see some bagpipes and kilts while I was in the capital of Edinburgh, but not so much in the more metropolitan city of Glasgow. As I had no class last Thursday, I decided to spend the rest of the week in Edinburgh, which is only a 2.5 hour train ride away from Lancaster, and Glasgow, which is an hour away from Edinburgh. First trip alone and I think it went well, except for getting lost and getting sick
edinburgh.SCOTLAND tues.OCT11/05-thurs.OCT13/05
Right after 312, I rushed to the train station just in time to make my 2:00pm train, arriving at Edinburgh at about 4:30pm. Edinburgh, by the way, is pronounced Edinborough, for those of you who didn’t know. Cause I didn’t.
Just my luck, I arrive and it’s pouring rain, which did not stop for the two days I was there. Trying to tough out the rain without my umbrella, I walked all the way down The Royal Mile, which is four streets starting at Edinburgh Castle, successfully missing my hostel twice and successfully getting soaked. I finally found my hostel, checked in and was happy to see that it was really clean, fairly modern and generally very friendly. I think this is my favourite hostel yet.
While unpacking and drying my things in the room, I was talking to this one guy from France, and this Asian guy came in and started talking to the French guy in French. Somewhat logically (or so I thought), I asked the Asian guy if he was also from France.
Asian guy: No, I’m from China. And you?
Me: I’m from Canada.
Asian guy: (Surprised) Oh. I thought you were Asian.
Me: (Confused) Umm… I am Asian. I’m Filipino…
I didn’t know whether I should explain further that I moved to Canada from the Philippines, so I left it at that. I couldn’t think why he would think that Asian and Canadian were mutually exclusive nationalities. Maybe me being soaking wet threw him off??
It was still fairly early at this point and I hadn’t eaten supper, so I changed and went out walking – with an umbrella this time. I walked down Grassmarket, which is this street with a bunch of pubs and restaurants, and ate at this small Italian restaurant, whilst (I thought it would be appropriate to use 'whilst' here) I went through my brochures and things, figuring out what I was gonna see the next day.
I spent the rest of the night chillin out at the hostel, going on the internet and watching the most ridiculous game show, which was like an adult spelling bee, except they couldn’t spell most of the words. This night was also Night One of me being sick. Good timing.
The next day, I went out into town despite the cold and the rain, and Asian Guy, who was half-awake when I was getting ready, could not believe Little Canadian-Asian Girl was going out into the rain. He went back to bed after I left, I think. Armed again with my umbrella, I walked back down The Royal Mile, which is comprised of Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street and Cannongate, and I ended up at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is at the end of Cannongate and was once home to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Unimpressed and soaking, I decided, what the heck, I am already here in Edinburgh, I might as well walk up Holyrood Park and go to Arthur’s Seat, which is a hill in Holyrood Park that gives a great view of the entire city. Thirty minutes later, dripping wet and on the side of a mountain with nowhere to go but down, I regretted that decision. I walked up the gravel path as far as I could, passing by this local man, who gave me a look like, Good luck getting up that hill, Little Asian Girl. I don’t know how far away I was from actually reaching Arthur’s Seat when I decided to turn around, but this was the view I was awarded with after my trek.
Just to throw you off, you can’t tell it was pouring from this picture. Maybe I should have taken a picture of myself instead. In the distance, you can see Edinburgh Castle and the tall peak beside it is Scott Monument, built for the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. After taking a few pictures and videos, I quickly made my way back down, got back on The Royal Mile and treated myself with a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato and 10 minutes under the hand dryer, trying to dry off my pants, socks and shoes.
I also treated myself by heading off to Princes Street, which runs parallel to The Royal Mile, sandwiching in the Princes Street Gardens. Where The Royal Mile was once the main backbone of the Old Town, Princes Street is that of the New Town, and filled with blocks of shops and malls.
This is pretty representative of the day I had in Edinburgh – dreary rainy day in an otherwise beautiful city. This was taken on Waverley Bridge, right when you come out of Princes Mall, which leads to the Waverley Train Station.
Buying mostly pasalubong (gifts for other people), I exited Princes Mall, and walked through Princes Street Gardens, passing the Scott Monument, the National Galleries of Scotland, and getting a view of Edinburgh Castle from below.
I walked all the way around Edinburgh Castle and rewarded myself with a nice nap at the hostel, and finishing off the night with some awful British TV show, Super Nanny and Lost. Sick Night Number Two.
The next day, I woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh (go figure) as I walked to Waverley Train Station to catch my train to Glasgow.
Places I visited in Edinburgh:
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glasgow.SCOTLAND thurs.OCT13/05-fri.OCT14/05
Just coming out of Glasgow Central Station, you can already see how metropolitan and more modern Glasgow is compared to Edinburgh. Right away, as I passed this street full of people and full of shops, I designated that Thursday as a shopping day and Friday would be for sightseeing. I checked into my hostel, which was the hugest one I’ve seen with 9 floors, but not the nicest.
I walked down Argyle Street, ending up at Buchanan Street, which is this long pedestrian shopping street. Something I’ve noticed with all the shopping areas I’ve been to here in Europe is that there are 4 or 5 of the same shops down one street or even within a 5-minute walking distance from one another. And also, all the shopping areas are always packed no matter what day of the week or what time of day it is. Europeans love to shop. It reminds me of St. Catherine Street in Montreal, which is not surprising since Montreal is very European.
It was about 6:00pm when a lot of the shops closed, and not wanting to go back to the hostel just yet, I went and watched Lord of War starring Nicholas Cage at some local cinema. It was the only recognizable movie title that was playing, and it was Nicholas Cage, but I had no idea what it was about. It was an alright movie. Afterwards, I went to Borders and flipped through some books before heading to the ghetto hostel, and calling it a night. More specifically, calling it Sick Night Number Three. I was miserable.
I also realized that girls, particularly Asian girls, in hostels that I’ve been at are freakin loud. I don’t think they realize that other people are in the room. They don’t talk all that loud and I don’t understand it anyways, but it’s more when they’re packing or moving their stuff around. I think I’ll go with the mixed rooms next time.
Friday morning, after buying these fun runners for only £13.00, I went to George Square, where the Glasgow City Chambers are, and also where the City Sightseeing Bus Tour began. The hour-and-15-minute bus tour took us around to various sights around Glasgow, most notably, St. Mungo’s Cathedral built for their patron saint, the People’s Palace & Winter Gardens, the Glasgow Harbour, Glasgow University, and Kelvingrove Park.
After the tour, I walked back to some of the sites to take some proper pictures. My first stop was St. Mungo’s Cathedral and the Provand’s Lordship, built for a cleric of the cathedral, right across the street from one another. I then walked down High Street into Merchant City, to Tollbooth Steeple, where Glasgow’s four oldest streets, High Street, Gallowgate, Saltmarket and Trongate, converge.
Off of Gallowgate, I walked through the Barras Market, which is apparently bustling and lively during the weekends, to the People’s Palace & Winter Gardens on Glasgow Green, for a short but sweet tour of the Winter Gardens.
This is the People’s Palace, built for the industrial workers, with the Winter Gardens behind it. Walking through Glasgow Green, I’ve never seen such a nice park be so deserted. Everyone was probably too busy shopping.
I took the tour bus back up to Kelvingrove Park, which is this beautiful park up northwest of the main city centre, where Glasgow University, the Hunterian Museum and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum are.
This is the visitor’s centre of Glasgow University, which also accommodates the Hunterian Museum. If you could only see how amazing this campus is; Waterloo couldn’t hold a candle to it, I’m afraid. We should all be so lucky to go to a school in this kind of environment. Other universities in Glasgow are Strathclyde Univeristy and Glasgow Caledonian University, which are a 5 minute walk from each other and closer to the city centre.
Pooped, still sick, and tired, I took an earlier train back to Lancaster that night, getting home at 9:00pm instead of 11:00pm. I even walked up the hill back to school and did not take a cab. That probably didn’t help me being sick.
Places I visited in Glasgow:
I would have liked to spend more time in Edinburgh and, of course, in better weather, so I can get up to Arthur’s Seat properly, but I enjoyed what I was able to see. Glasgow, on the other hand, was also nice and Kelvingrove Park was definitely a favourite, but a more modern and shopping-oriented city.
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Last Saturday afternoon was spent preparing for Anne’s birthday party that night with the international students and her friends from Germany, Joe and Markus. For once, Mario (who was nicknamed Rodriguelez that night) wasn’t the only guy in the group. I think he was happier to have more guys with him than were Joe and Markus to be in the group of 25 girls.
Me, Anne and Essi finally chillin out after baking and preparing food all day for the party. At about 10:30pm, most of us headed down to Toast, which wasn’t that great because they played crappy weird oldies until midnight, when the “black” music (as Joe and Markus put it) came on. Anne, Essi, Joe, Markus and I left just as it was getting crappier. Joe and Markus left for London the next day, and apparently took my voice with them cause I have lost it and not gotten it back yet, almost 5 days later.
Monday night was Lena & Mario’s birthday party at Lena’s, so after some unofficial Moulin Rouge karaokeing, we went to Toast (can you tell it’s our favourite place?) for Rock Night. They actually played some good music that night, and everyone had a good time.
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Seeing as how it’s study week next week, everyone but Anne, Essi and myself left yesterday for their respective trips. Camille, Nora and Jana will be heading to Germany for the week, to visit Jana’s hometown, after which, I believe, they’ll be going to Norway to Nora’s hometown. Lena will also be going to Germany to her own hometown. Ana, Mario and Maria will be going to their hometown in Zaragoza, Spain for the week, while Jenna and Christina will be visiting Barcelona and other cities in Spain.
Left in Lancaster for the next few days, Anne, Essi and I will be heading to Dublin on Saturday until Tuesday, when we will split off; me, to Barcelona with Ate and the girls to London with Joe.
Dublin promises to be good partying and pubs, while Barcelona is promised to be simply beautiful, according to everyone I’ve talked to.
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Speaking of travels, plane tickets are booked for Italy trip with Jen in November. Plans are also underway for trip to Germany in December before returning (already so soon) to Canada. Still got a 6-day trip available in November, but gotta figure out where to go. Nice and Paris, maybe? I should also look into Stockholm. Decisions, decisions. Am I really here for school?
posted by Sarah & David @ 2:23 PM
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