Edinburgh Adventures - 2nd/3rd/4th (5th/6th/7th) January

Holy Mary Queen of Scots.

Took part in my first proper tourist-y experience today, which was the absolute delight that is Edinburgh Castle. And in the opinion of this broke traveler, it was worth every penny of the £16 entry fee.

Edinburgh Castle

That tall spire is the Hub, our NYE venue

Arthur's Seat, as seen from the Castle

But let me backtrack a bit and tell you about my day.

Shortly after I posted my last entry (c. 11:30am this morning), it began to snow. Or, I should say, sleet. Actually, the weather had an episode, much like I would have in the KFC drive thru, and couldn't make up its damn mind. In the space of roughly three hours, it went from sunny blue skies, to sleet, to snow, roughly eight times.

The oncoming storm from the Upper Ward

Calton Hill from the Upper Ward
(that tower on top is the Nelson Monument, as typically, I forgot to take a photo of it when I was there!)

The One O'Clock Gun (through the snow)

Unfortunately for me, the eighth time was as I waited for the firing of the one o'clock gun up at the castle, and consequently, caused me to freeze three-quarters (half is too-mild a description here) to death, forcing me to warm up with a mocha, walking tour, and a whiskey liquer tasting (where I met a Man Utd supporter who, upon finding out my father was a Scouse and a Liverpool supporter, told me to tell him "20-18". I'm not sure what this means but I'll presume upon reading that Dad will become quite riled up).

The walking tour, while I'm in the spirit of making recommendations, was fantastic, and I'd highly recommend taking part, should you plan on visiting. Our guide, Gary, had a thick enough accent to be authentic, but not so thick as to be incomprehensible, and was full of good cheer and even better humour, despite the atrocious Scottish weather. The tour lasted about 40 minutes and covered the outside areas of the castle, while filling us in on what each building contained, so that we could choose whether to bother with it after the tour had finished.

Foog's Gate (named after a Dutch architect), the entrance to the Upper Ward

Saint Margaret's Chapel (the oldest building in Edinburgh Castle, and indeed the whole of Edinburgh), built by her son David I, for his mother, after she died of a broken heart upon losing her husband in battle. c. 1130

The first building I should mention was the Crown Jewel Exhibit, which was housed in a beautiful museum that opened onto Crown Square, at the very heart of the castle. The exhibit was interesting, but I'll admit, I soon became tired of reading all the plaques (you would too if you'd seen how many there were!), and lack of heating, and skim-read my way through the remainder to get to the shiny bits (which, as terrible as it sounds, were a slight let down after reading eight hundred years or so of history that pertained to them). (I kid, I kid, they were great).

From there it was on to the Royal Apartments and the birthing suite used by Mary, Queen of Scots. Again, a lot of fanfare over a fairly small and empty room (blasphemous of me I know, maybe if I'd done Level 3 History I'd have appreciated it more), but the architecture and ceiling moldings were quite lovely, and at least these were heated! Following this I had a quick look around the Great Hall, which was beautiful (and dated back to the 16th century!), but was really too crowded to enjoy properly (and it wasn't the one from Harry Potter, so....).

The last building I visited in this part of the castle was the Scottish National War Memorial, and this was a very solemn visit. Built in 1927 after the Great War, it now contains alcoves dedicated to every regiment of the Scottish infantry. In each alcove stands a book (or series of books) containing the names of all the soldiers who perished in any particular conflict. The book(s) from the First World War have over 150,000 names in them, and the remaining books, from the Second World War (and every conflict since), still contain 50,000 names, the last of which was added only last year. My few minutes spent in the memorial reduced me to tears, and it is a very worthwhile, humbling experience for anyone visiting Edinburgh.

The Scottish National War Memorial (about 12:45pm)

The Scottish National War Memorial (about 1:45pm). What a difference!

After the war memorial I wandered down to the war prison exhibit, which was rather surreal. Edinburgh Castle's war prison has three vaults, two of which were open to the public. From the prison's creation in the early 1500's, right through to World War II, these prisons were used to house up to 1000 prisoners at a time. Talk about overcrowding! In the adjacent building was the military prison, which was home to soldiers who had committed a variety of offenses (the most common ones being 'desertion', and 'drunk on duty'). These were much more modern facilities than the war prison, and in the late 1800's even had flushing toilets installed!

War Prison Vault One

War Prison Vault Two

Military Prison Cell - looks a bit more comfortable!

Following the prisons it was a short walk back to the gate, making the most of the now-setting sun to capture some beautiful photographs (It still feels weird to be taking pictures of the sunset at 3:30pm).

New Town from the Castle

Sunset from the Castle

Inside St Giles Cathedral (free entry, on the Royal Mile)

Then off back down towards my hostel - where I promptly got distracted and ventured into Primark.

A word to the wise: When entering a five story retail store with two floors reserved purely for women's clothing, there are a few checks that should be undertaken. You must ensure that your bladder is empty, your stomach is full, you have on you only the amount of money you wish to spend, and you have plenty of time (and patience) to spare. Otherwise, it is very easy to find yourself getting caught up in the atmosphere, and making impulse purchases. Having said this, I think I got off quite lightly, spending just over £20 and coming away with a beanie (worn several times since purchase), a cowlneck jumper (worn every day since purchase and without a doubt the best £7 I've ever spent - I'm wearing it right now), and a grey knit dress (not worn yet as I have to wash some make up off the collar, but I got it at a discounted price so I'm counting it as a win).

Then, finally, it was back to my hostel for a spot of journaling and a chat with the group of Australians in my room, who invited me to join them for dinner and a drink downstairs. However, their enthusiasm for drinking was not to be matched, so after a single beer I said goodnight and retreated to bed. With the other group of rowdy Australians having departed that morning, I assumed I was safe from anymore 'nocturnal shenanigans', as I'd taken to calling them. Oh how wrong I was. Stumbling into the bathrooms at 2am, I encountered one of the Australians (have you people no shame?) engaged in something that's not fit to detail here. We all stopped. The young man that was with her then seemed very offended when she dropped what she was doing (literally) to say to me "Oh my god, I am SO SORRY". I managed to stammer out an "It's fine, as you were", before gapping it to the toilet in what was certainly the fastest bathroom break of my life, and then fleeing to my bunk to sleep and hope that it had all been a dream.

Putting all thoughts of the previous night out of my mind, I woke on my last full day in Edinburgh full of determination to see as much of the city as possible. Packing away a hearty breakfast and grabbing a day bag, I set off to tackle Calton Hill, home to the National Monument and the Nelson Monument. I definitely picked the right day for this particular walk, as the weather was on my side, and I managed to get some gorgeous photos of the New Town, with not a cloud in the sky to dampen my spirit. Wanting to get the best views of the city (and to warm up a bit), I forked out the £4 fee to climb the Nelson Monument, emerging 143 steps later slightly sweaty, very much warmed up, and with a truer understanding of how Dad's clients feel after a class.

New Town from Calton Hill

New Town (and the Forth) from Calton Hill

National Monument

The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking, and definitely worth the hard slog it took to get there. Before I go any further, actually, I should share a few interesting facts about the buildings on Calton Hill. The Nelson Monument is home to a large cross, and a ball that gets hoisted to the top for one o'clock every day, which is let go to to coincide with the firing of the one o'clock gun. This tradition began as a time indicator for any ships that happened to be out in the Forth (The Firth of Forth, for anyone wanting to know, is the name given to estuary at the edge of Edinburgh, where the River Forth meets the North Sea. I have been assured by a local, however, that The Firth of Forth is a nightmare to try and say with a Scottish accent, so it is simply called 'The Forth'), so that they could set all their navigational tools correctly. The one o'clock gun was incorporated as an audio marker after it was noticed that in heavy fog, it was not possible to see the ball drop from the top of the cross. The other building I mentioned, the National Monument, was a tribute to the soldiers that fell in the Napoleanic Wars, and was begun in the style of the Greek Acropolis in 1822, but work ceased when the funds ran out in 1829, and it has never been completed. 

Old Town from the Nelson Monument

Arthur's Seat from the Nelson Monument

New Town from the Nelson Monument

While I was at the top, wishing there was someone to take a photo of me (only to prove that I actually climbed all those stairs and didn't just grab photos off Google Images, I ran into a young American man (who I incorrectly guessed was Canadian, but only after he'd guessed that I was Australian, so we were both equally offended), who offered to take my picture. We got to talking, and after establishing that neither of us had any definite plans for the day, decided to wander around Edinburgh together.

It's 11:30am in this picture... How???

Oh hey! At the top of the Nelson Monument (with Arthur's Seat behind)

Graham, as it turned out, was a law student on a study abroad program from Boston College, staying in London for five months, and had been in Edinburgh for roughly an hour when I met him. We ended up doing a large loop of Edinburgh, stopping off at the free museum in Canongate (which had a fantastic section on the Old Town, complete with authentic artifacts, one of which I found particularly amusing), and then carrying on up the Royal Mile. 

I'm pretty sure everyone around me wondered why I was cackling at some old silverware...

The original plans for the construction of New Town, drawn by architect James Craig in 1767 (!!!)

The Burns Monument (because you can't go to Scotland without paying tribute to Robert Burns)

We did a complete lap of Edinburgh Castle, throughout which I attempted to play tour guide by recalling what few facts I'd picked up on my trip there (a good summary would be; it's really old). My cool and knowledgeable exterior fell to pieces, however, when we strolled past a park, and I freaked and grabbed my camera to take a picture of... A squirrel. Before you mock me, as Graham did, for getting so excited, keep in mind that this was the first squirrel I'd ever seen in my life, so I think a little bit of excitement was warranted.

Edinburgh Castle from below

My first squirrel (the real star of the show here)

After we'd wandered a wee bit further and worked up quite an appetite, we ducked into a pub off Princes St called the Rose and Crown, where I promptly became the one-man enforcer of a rule I've just introduced: you must try haggis on your first day in Scotland. Needless to say, Graham was not particularly enthused about eating a sheep's stomach (neither was I but it's tradition), but when he spotted a deep fried option on the menu, he became much more agreeable and in the end said he had really enjoyed it. We lingered in the warmth of a pub for about an hour before venturing back out into the cold, where we took in the Christmas markets, and all the weird and wonderful wares they had to offer, before we parted ways, swapping details and promising to get in touch should we ever end up in the same place again.

I'd had a rather long day out and about at this point, and was absolutely craving a nap, but there were showers to be endured (and endured is DEFINITELY the correct term here), and ciders to be had. My last evening in Edinburgh was an absolute delight as I managed to catch up with my friend Caroline, who I met working in Wellington back in 2013. It was absolutely brilliant to see her, and we had a fantastic gossip session over a couple of Magners, before she dashed off to a glamorous party, bottle of Moët in hand, and I hustled back to my damp, dark and generally disgusting hostel for a final night of (un)rest.

I made my departure from Edinburgh the next morning, and headed for Balloch (near Loch Lomond), where I've been staying the past few days with my pal Jim (#forthejohn) and his girlfriend Melissa. It's been absolutely lovely to slow the pace a bit, and get some R&R before I continue on my merry way. Unfortunately, I've been indulging in a bit too much R&R, and have subsequently not written anything for you all while I've been here (not that I've done anything of note - I'm sure none of you want to hear about all the washing I've been doing). So for the moment, this is where I'll leave you. I'm headed off to Liverpool tomorrow and I'm sure that will yield plenty of adventure; for now, Edinburgh is the best adventure I've ever had.

The Castle at Sunset