We haven’t been anywhere for a few weekends now. We have been hanging out in Leeds, going to the movies, reading books. A regular yawn fest for the old blog (this may be abundantly evident given the recent high number of sporting posts and flagrant use of Wikipedia). I guess we needed some time to recuperate from our excitement overload of the England football game one weekend, Edinburgh the next weekend, English Thanksgiving the weekend after that. The only one of these weekend adventures which has not already been discussed here is our trip to Edinburgh. So with out further delay….
We had decided that Edinburgh would be our first big weekend ‘mini break’. The trip was even longer than a weekend because we found ourselves in Newcastle for the few days leading up to our trip as one of us partook in a conference for work. Although Newcastle looked pretty nice through the taxi window, our hotel for the conference was on the edge of town, so we didn’t get to do much sight seeing. However, we did benefit from Newcastle being our starting point as it meant a shorter train ride to Edinburgh.
The trip to Edinburgh was to be our mutual birthday gifts to each other (At least one of us can say we have been to Edinburgh before 30, although just barely!). We stayed at a very nice hotel right in the heart of the Old town, just around the corner from the Houses of Parliament and the Holyrood Palace. The hotel was so posh we had our beds turned down every night with chocolates on the pillow. No more staying in hostels for us.
Scotland has a great feel about it. I immediately felt at home. One of the first things I noticed when we got off the train was that I looked like everyone else. In England I don’t particularly resemble the people (too much in-breeding?). But in Scotland, I found that everyone looks like me (finally somewhere where the Murray gene pool seems normal). Plus, the Scottish people are very friendly and welcoming. There are no double-takes as people try to place our accent. Edinburgh people seem to have heard them all before. This definitely added to the feeling of being at home.
We tried to see all the sights of the old town, but it is a lot to pack into one weekend. We made it a priority to see Edinburgh Castle and we were not disappointed. It is amazing. One highlight for me was seeing the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth. A little reminder about how common homebirth used to be. Another highlight was the War Memorial for all the fallen Scottish soldiers. We are pretty sure we found some of our ancestors names in the books of Canadian soldiers in Scottish regiments during WWII.
After that it was time for a Scottish lunch. The greatest Scottish lunch ever. There is one true way to tell if someone’s a Scot. It’s not whether they’ve eaten haggis, enjoy Robbie Burns or can tell a glass of Dalwhinnie from Lagavulin (although sure as hell I can). Its whether you like smoked salmon. In the Edinburgh lunch places, smoked salmon sandwiches were everywhere – and were properly enjoyed by true Scots that day.
Luckily, the Old Town slopes down from the Castle so, after lunch, we just let gravity do its work. After exhausting ourselves in the Old Town and fighting our way through black pudding at dinner, we finished the night in a friendly pub which was heavily populated with lively Australians.
And after our little sabbatical from traveling, we are back at it this weekend. We are going to York for the St. Nicolas Christmas Fayre. Maybe it will even snow?!
