Edinburgh

Over the weekend I decided to take a day trip to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is only about 50 miles away from Glasgow, on the east coast. Similar to the distance between Baltimore and Washington D.C., ironically. I decided to take the train, and got on in the morning on saturday.

The ride was a little under an hour, and I was able to see a lot of the country side in between the two biggest cities in Scotland, which is much different then the highland country side. I arrived at haymarket station and began walking. Although I had checked out information on Edinburgh beforehand and knew where I wanted to go, with map in hand, I have found in my travels over here that I prefer wandering at the beginning. In my wanderings in Edinburgh, I came upon a street performer from england doing an escape routine. He was quite funny and really got the crowd going. After he escaped from the chains by contorting his body, the show ended and I was on my way to see the sights.

(yes it was cold that day)

I first walked to the center of old town, where Edinburgh castle, and many of the other big attractions are. The city was bustling, and I heard more american accents then I've heard in the last two months in glasgow. There were hundreds of people waiting in the line to get into the castle, so I decided to see other things and try to see it later.

Edinburgh castle up on castle rock

There were many churches and cathedrals

After leaving the castle, I headed down the Royal Mile, which is a mile long stretch of old cobblestone road which connects Edinburgh castle and Holyrood Palace. Along this road I found the Camera Obscura, which is located at the top of a tower. The camera projects reflected light from all over the city onto a table inside the tower, and by turning the mirrors and lens inside the top of the tower, the guide can give you a complete 360 degree view of the city, which is pretty cool. She pointed out some historical structures and talked about the history of the city. It was quite interesting.

After the camera onscura, I decided to go down to the Holyrood palace and over to Holyrood park, where the peak of the city, "Arthur's Seat" lies. I hiked up the rolling hills until finally reaching the peak, where I was greeted by a 70mph gust that knocked me off my feet. Honestly, it was the strongest wind I have ever encountered. The view was fabulous. You can see 360 degrees around you for miles. It gave me a much better understanding of the entire city, which was built on seven hills.

arthur's seat

a view over the city, with edinburgh castle rising above the rest on the right

old church ruins in holyrood park

As I came back down from Arthur's seat, the sun began to fall, and sunset swept the city. By the time I got back to the castle, it was getting ready to close. I never did see the inside. Maybe another time. After about 10 miles of walking and hiking, I was getting quite tired, so I took the train home to glasgow, walked home and fell fast asleep. So ended another great day in Scotland.