Well, I went to Edinburgh this past weekend and it was AMAZING! But before that, I had a pretty fun day Friday as well. I went with one of my friends to a restaurant in London (Holborn, specifically) called Hummus Bros. and it was absolutely delicious! I was so excited because I could actually eat it and I love hummus. It was really cool how they arranged it too – it was a bowl with hummus shaped around it and then your “topping” inside. I just got chickpeas as the topping but it was still so good. The pita bread they give you is freshly made in the restaurant and is given on the side. I’ll definitely be going back so I’ll take a picture the next time I go. Afterwards, we went to Trafalgar Square. It was so cool, I got a picture at the fountain Russell Brand – confession: I love him – was at for Get Him to the Greek and we climbed the lions (super touristy thing to do but it’s still so cool).
We left Trafalgar Square after a lot of pictures and went to a building across St James’s Park from Buckingham palace. It just so happened that we got there in time to see an “inspection” of the guards.
We walked through a part of St James’s park and then up close to Buckingham Palace. We wanted to figure out where we could see the traditional guards on Buckingham Palace so the friend that I went with approached the guards that were standing at the main gate. Well it turns out that they no longer have the “traditional” guards in front! UGH, modern times.
That night, we were scheduled to leave for Edinburgh on the National Express Coach at 11pm.
Since I’m a college student with limited funds and an unlimited passion for traveling, I decided that I was going to take advantage of the extremely cheap coach transportation available (even if it means hours and hours on a bus)! Other study abroad students: I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a cheap way to travel and don’t mind it being on a coach. If you want any info just comment on the blog and let me know! J
Anyway, we got on the coach and began our 7 hour and 25 minute bus ride to Edinburgh. I had the joy of sitting behind a man that wasn’t giving off the best of aromas but I was able to spray my neck pillow with perfume and I fell asleep almost instantly! I did wake up a few times and one of the times it was because I could hear the wind outside and what sounded like rain. I was in a sleepy daze but I looked out the window to see what was going on outside and I literally thought we were driving through a hurricane. I’ve come to realize that speed limits have little meaning here because I am absolutely positive that we were going about 120mph, at least, in the rain. At the time, I thought it was pouring but when we stopped at the “services” soon after I contemplated the hurricane possibility, I realized it was only lightly raining (that’s how fast we were going). Somehow, we arrived safely in Edinburgh around 6:20am. We got inside the coach station and found someone to ask about getting to our hostel. She was so nice! The lady gave us a map and marked everything for us which really helped. It turns out that I picked a pretty good hostel – it was about a 10 minute walk from the station! I was really excited because this time, I was traveling with a backpack and a purse and that’s it!! It was lovely walking around and not having 100 pounds of luggage to carry around. We walked outside and it wasn’t raining so we were really excited. We began our walk to the hostel; just from what we saw on the walk, we realized how gorgeous Edinburgh is. When we arrived to the hostel, the guy working was incredibly entertaining! He was telling us about how much he drank the night before and he still had the open bottle of vodka on the table behind him! The hostel was absolutely amazing, not to mention it was literally across the road from the Castle. Once we regrouped, we decided to walk around for a bit and then head to the castle. On our walk, we found a farmers market. One of the vendors there was selling hot apple cider so I decided to get some. It was really good!
When we got to the castle, the view from the top was just unbelievable. I noticed that there was a “mountain” (quotations because it wasn’t all that big) not too far from where we were and I mentioned to everyone how I wanted to find it and climb it. Everyone laughed but I was being very serious! We got tickets to the castle and once we were inside, we walked around and explored the grounds and the different war museums inside. There was a gun firing exhibition at 1pm which was really cool to see.
Later on that afternoon, everyone was trying to decide where to go. It turns out that we all wanted to see different things around Edinburgh so I suggested that we split up and meet later for dinner. I mentioned the mountain climbing again and one other girl agreed to go with me! I was so excited, mainly because I wasn’t able to make it to the Highlands and I am really upset about that. This mountain was the closest thing I had to nature and mountain climbing! We set out after lunch to try and find the mountain. We ended up getting a little off course a few times (we couldn’t see it from where we were so we were just walking in the direction I thought it was in). Finally, we were walking to the end of a road and almost turned the opposite way when I glanced down the other side of the street and there was the mountain!!! I was so happy I wanted to run! We had to walk through a questionable part of town, up steps, down a muddy hill, and around half the mountain to get to the path to take us to the top. It was so completely worth it though – and hey, the journey is half the fun.
We climbed up the mountain and almost made it to the top but it was getting really dark and we didn’t want to put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation. I’ve never been to Edinburgh before, so I figured that 2 girls climbing a mountain in the dark and then coming back down and walking back to the hostel in the dark wasn’t the best idea. I was so glad that we made it so close to the top though, it was so incredibly breathtaking. Even though it was still in the city and not a big mountain by any means it gave me just enough of a reminder of what it’s like to be in the country. It was very refreshing and so much fun. Dinner that night was interesting. The waiter was really funny but kept picking on me! Most of the people I was with got bangers and mash and another got haggis. Apparently everything was delicious; however, I’ve come to the conclusion that people in Scotland don’t know what dairy is. But oh well, good thing I always think ahead and bring my own snacks.
The next day we spent the morning in the National Museum of Scotland. They had a “Shining Lights” exhibit celebrating the Bell Rock lighthouse that’s been around for 200 years and is the oldest remaining lighthouse that’s made of rock. The exhibit was really cool – I wish I could have visited a lighthouse while I was there. We got some souvenir shopping done and then we decided to take a break and go to the Fudge Kitchen. When we walked in, they had someone in the main area showing everyone how fudge is made. It was so cool because apparently they always make their fudge for everyone and anyone to see. I happened to glance at the menu and noticed that they had dairy free fudge! I couldn’t pass that up, so I bought a slice. It was literally amazing!!! I was so excited that I got to have dessert with everyone HAHA. Later that afternoon, we decided to do the Scottish Whiskey Experience tour near the castle. I highly recommend this! I now know that I truly don’t like whiskey but it was so interesting to learn how Scotch Whiskey is made and how to properly smell/drink it. We got to taste our whiskey of choice – I chose the Speyside one because it smelled fruity. It was not fruity at all and was incredibly strong! No wonder people get warm from drinking that stuff. We also got to see the biggest collection of Scotch Whiskey in the world which was ridiculously huge and included a lot of really different bottles.
When we were done with the tour, we still had about 5 hours left until our bus came. I saw another mountain/hill when we were on top of the mountain the night before so we all decided to venture there. It was definitely easier to find and had monuments on the top of it. It was dark again when we got to the top, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. The pictures that I took did the view no justice at all! It was very pretty and I had a lot of fun just walking around and looking over the city. I didn’t realize how separated the “old and new” of the city is; there is such a distinct separation between the two.
That night at 10pm, we headed back to London via National Express coach. This bus ride was incredibly uncomfortable. I think I slept a total of about 2 hours during the 8 � hour bus ride back. It wasn’t pleasant at all! But we did arrive home safely Monday morning around 7:30am. I loved Edinburgh so much; I am really hoping to get to visit the Highlands and the Isle of Skye someday in the future.
I was able to really take a lot out of this trip, especially since this was my first time out of England since being here. First and foremost, Scots do NOT like people from London but they love Americans. We were more afraid when people asked us where we were studying! We actually had bouncers and people we met respond to us with “London is shit” when we told them we were studying here. However, they were so very nice overall. The random people walking up and down the streets were all so nice and polite; I absolutely loved it.
Apparently, the Scottish cuisine (IE haggis and pretty much any kind of red meat with any and all parts of animals ground up and “mash” on the side) is really good. My advice, don’t ask what it is just try it. It wasn’t the easiest place to find food with my eating lifestyle but definitely possible if I tried hard enough. Traditional/folk Scottish music is amazing and is played on the streets! I heard a bagpiper both days we were there for most of the day and on Sunday, there was a folk band playing in the streets that was so good!
It should never just be about the destination, because the journey is just as important.
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
The blooming of the cherry blossoms (or 桜 sakura) represents new beginnings and a chance to start fresh for many Japanese. This is reflected in literature, art and music from way back when and up until now. Academically, around this time, it’s the end of the school year with graduations and the start of a new one. And nothing says a fresh start more than a celebratory picnic with family and friends (and sometimes alcohol). This is called 花見 or Flower Viewing.
While enjoying the cherry blossoms with Japanese folk, one might learn the different varieties of cherry blossoms like I did. To simplify, there’s the droopy kind, the white kind (which is also the mountain kind), the dark pink kind, the stereotypical kind, etc. There are also cherry blossom exclusive terms for the night time viewing (夜桜 yozakura), the falling petals (桜吹雪 sakurafubuki), and the trees who’s petals have all flown away (葉桜 hazakura). I’m sure there are even more, but my mind can only hold so much.
