Climbing Edinburgh, Adventures in Scottish Weather, and Remembering Why I'm Here

Friday morning I ate the offered breakfast from my hotel and was amazed by how wonderful the service was for only six pounds. Firstly, breakfast is in the dining room, and it's a legitimate dining room, with a gilt mirror and white linens. There is a bar set up in the middle of the room with cereals and jam on multi-level tea trays and pitchers of milk and orange juice. Then if you get the continental breakfast they'll bring you a pot of tea, toast and a plate of cheese, oatcakes and fruit. And they even have all the proper cutlery.
I got very excited  about this. I had a solid and elegant start to the day that I wasn't expecting. I lingered over my second cup of tea and sketched the mirror frame for twenty minutes or so to settle myself and think about what I wanted to do that day.

Edinburgh has a lot of attractions and tours, it's much, MUCH more touristy than Glasgow. But because it is they have good systems in place for supporting travelers such as myself like the tourist info center that I got a map and very accurate directions from when I first arrived. I knew I wanted to check out the royal mile, and some of the museums along there, and maybe head down to Hollyrood Palace at the end of the street. Also when I arrived I saw some beautiful towers and Parthenon style buildings up on an eastern hill that I wanted to explore and maybe visit a few cathedrals.

I wrapped up my last couple pieces of toast, butter, and cheese from breakfast and put them in my purse. Then at the last minute grabbed my raincoat just in case, but the sun was shining and I wasn't worried.

I took the number 8 bus to Princes Street and headed across the North Bridge to where it meets High Street. Or, the Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile is the oldest street in Edinburgh, it connects Edinburgh Castle, the oldest structure in Edinburgh to the town that formed down below it, all the way to Hollyrood Palace at the bottom, where Mary, Queen of Scots lived for a portion of her life and it's also the Queen's residence when in Edinburgh.
TRM is one, very old, and has many cool narrow alleyways or "closes" jutting off at various angles. They create some intriguing and mysterious spaces.

All along the Royal mile are touristy Kilt and Cashmere shops. Every other shop has mannequins hanging out front with a kilt hanging off it. My beloved bagpipe music pumped out of almost every shop but usually bastardized with some kind of drum-machine beat or techno influence. Needless to say I didn't go into any of them, but just enjoyed the scenery. St Giles' Cathedral came up on my left and I figured I would swing by to take a look.

You'll notice that there is only a picture from the front and none of the interior. And that is because they charge a 2 pound photo taking fee! To take your own photos! Then it's a six pound suggested donation and another three pound suggested donation to go into the popular chapels. The cathedral's only saving grace was that it was very beautiful, and the chapels were stunning, unique and unlike any that I've ever been in but I left with a sour taste in my mouth from it. I understand that everyone has got to make a living, but being asked for money first thing when entering a church was just too much.

Continuing up the Royal Mile with a darkening sky looming above was Edinburgh Castle. The oldest structure in Edinburgh the great stone fortress set on the top of a steep hill, making it very easy to defend. Because it has been such a target for Edinburgh's enemies the castle really is a fortress, with high walls and cannon barrels looking down at passers by. I walked up the road to the entrance and found that to my surprise the entry cost was fifteen pounds, and if you want an audio guide it's an extra four pounds. That's about 30 bucks for those of you keeping track at home. 

Considering all the attractions I visted in Glasgow were free except for one public restroom that cost me 30 pennies this came as quite a shock. But I knew there were museums inside, plus I had heard rumors about the crowned jewels and a very old chapel and before I knew it I had handed over my 19 pounds, received my headset (because if I was going to pay this much to get into a place I at least wanted to understand what I was looking at gosh darnit) and was walking into the castle, wondering all the while if I had made the right choice. 

I was prepared for tourists being up there, as the tourist attraction in Edinburgh, every Scottish tour bus in the country stops and unloads people for a period of time at this edifice. But the weirdest thing to hear were the foreign accents, particularly American, my own. I had gotten so used to the soft rolling syllables of the Scots in Glasgow, extremely pleasing to the ear, I wasn't used to American accents and they sounded clipped, nasal and brash. 

Generally I don't have a problem with tourists, because hey, no matter what I try to tell myself, I am a tourist.   At the moment I'm more of a traveler but I don't have a sense of hierarchy with it. I'm not a local, I don't live here and trying to make people think I do would be as fruitful as painting myself yellow and telling them I'm a banana. I'm spending my time and energy to try to experience and understand the lives of a different culture in the extremely limited amount of time I have.

I'm not pushy, impatient, or irrationally angry at things I don't understand like a lot of American tourists are, but I am still a tourist. I made myself feel better by thinking I could blend into the normal Edinburgh crowd by trying to look as normal as possible and not like I was touring. I.E. no fanny pack, flag t-shirt (American or Scottish), giant swinging camera, or trying to pay with dollars. But there is no reason to be at Edinburgh Castle if you aren't a tourist. Especially when walking around wearing headphones attached to a little ipod like device, there is no way to look cool. But least the headphones doubled as earmuffs as the drizzle started to come down.

The views from up there were nice, though a little hard to see because the walls were crowded with people. I wandered around punching numbers from signs into my headset and received five minute lessons on the history of the castle and battlements, various monarchs and legends of the castle. I followed a tour group around for a bit for the sheer fun of their tour guide who was very into his role and knew more than my hand-held device did. 

I popped into the War Museum dissapointed to find most of the history and artefacts were post 1800 so it was all WWI and WW2 artwork and weapons, no Claymores and Clan history. Considering I'm not very interested in war anyway I walked through at a brisk pace and left the other side quickly. I enjoyed the Crown Jewels exhibit and the story behind the Royal Honors: the Crown, The Scepter and the Sword. Also the Stone of Destiny and it's colorful history as the seat of Scottish Royal Power. I visited the pet cemetery and the little chapel on the site, the oldest building in Edinburgh. And the biggest cannon I've ever seen. 

What do you get a king for a wedding gift? The biggest gun you can find apparently.

The sun had peaked out a few times, but by the time I dissapointedly left the castle it had begun to absolutely pour down rain. I'm realizing the places I'm enjoying the most on this trip are spaces that make me feel something. As a student of Experience Place (your experience in a place and it's effect on good design) the places that I value the most are the ones with unique or special elements that draw forth an emotion because of the spaces created, like the Necropolis or Eglinton Park. I felt like almost all of the experience of place had been smashed out of Edinburgh Castle because of it's long and noble history. All anyone could talk about were dead people, names, dates, events. The space seems to be special only because of what happened there and who lived there, not special on it's own.

It was teeming down rain outside, even with my trusty raincoat I was worried about getting soaked, especially my nice urban walking shoes. Eventually I had to duck into a close for about fifteen minutes to let the worst of it pass.

And that's kind of how it went all the way down the Royal Mile, walking until it started raining too hard then ducking in somewhere to wait it out. One such distraction was the Museum of Edinburgh. That chronicled the city's history along with artifacts to prove their point. The museum was nice, warm and had some good information but was mostly a lot of silver and pottery.

After the museum it was just a short jump to Hollyrood Palace, I saw they were selling tickets and didn't even bother going to look. I had just spent my day's worth of money on something pretty lackluster. But directly to the right of Hollyrood Palace was something that looked out of place. A giant hill, covered in yellow grass and scrubby bushes, followed by a sheer cliff, followed by a stunning high peak behind it. Momentary exploration found that it was Hollyrood Park, what was a designated hunting ground and was now a park in the middle of Edinburgh. The peak at the top was the dormant volcano of Arthur's Seat that formed Edinburgh, which I had heard of but had never seen.

Looking up at the mountain from the ground it seemed impossibly high. But I love hiking and this was probably going to be my only shot while in Scotland. With the sun starting to come out, no water, and wearing my cute urban ballet flat - style shoes I headed off up the trail. 

The noise of Edinburgh fell away quickly up in the hills with the wind blowing. It was a fairly steep climb and the land around the pathway fell away quickly forming wide bowls in the landscape with wind, blown grasses and thistle growing up out of it. 

At points the trail was steep and muddy and I almost slid back a few times. But the funniest part is that Arthur's Seat is apparently the favorite training ground for all of Edinburgh's cross country runners. Tall, impossibly skinny men kept passing me in their tiny little shorts and "Edinburgh Marathon 08'" t-shirts all the way up the mountain. While I on the other hand looked like this:

The higher up I got the stronger the wind became. The last scramble was on the not as windy side of the mountain and it was paved in very very old stones forming an ancient staircase. All I needed was an elf, a dwarf, an exiled prince an I would be set in my adventure.

The volcanic rock at the top is very smooth I went up the last few feet with my hands on the ground to make sure I didn't get blown off or slip. At last I reached the very top. The panoramic 360 degree views were breathtaking of the whole of Edinburgh and beyond. Completely worth the hour long hike. The wind battered against me in different directions so I just stayed up long enough to take in the view then went down to safer altitudes.

I was very proud of myself for reaching the top, after having paid an exorbitant amount a of money to do something I didn't really want to do but felt like I should; I had completed something for free that I probably shouldn't have done in my current state of dress or preparation but I did it because I wanted to. Reaching the top of Arthur's Seat in my flats and nicest pair of pants reminded me that I'm in charge of my experience here. Not everyone else who said I had to go to the castle, or I had to do X, Y and Z to have really seen Edinburgh and Scotland in general. Because even though everyone else is only trying to help they don't know what I want to do as much as I do. I saw Edinburgh in all it's glory up there and it was worth getting mud on my pants when I slipped on the way back down. Now whenever I see Arthur's Seat I can think 'I've been up there' and it will never be something I almost did.

Coming back down to the bottom with my renewed sense of competency I put away the map I had been following and returned to the technique that had served me so well in Glasgow. Following my nose and wandering. With maps so much more readily available in Edinburgh I had been strictly sticking to mine, keeping on track so I could see as much as possible in a short amount of time. But the map had stressed me out more than being lost had. So I put it away. 

By wandering I found myself climbing another hill north of Arthur's Seat and after climbing a winding road I found myself at the top of the other hill I had wanted to visit, which I learned was called Calton Park. The monuments at Calton Park are probably the most highly visible in the entire city. They rise up out of the wooded areas below giving them an ancient and guardian feel. 

I don't remember what this one was for exactly, but it's pretty!

The National Monument

After Calton Hill I was tired and dirty and took a bus back to my hotel. 

That evening I walked across the street to the Botanical Gardens to hear my professor Iain give a talk about a class he teaches at UW about creativity. I haven't taken the class but he uses a lot of the same formatting in his other courses that I have taken. I was honored to be invited and loved getting to meet his family.

At 9:00 I walked back to the Inverleith Hotel and fell asleep before even getting fully undressed.