Edinburgh

I promise that I will attempt to avoid writing a post as long as the last one again!



Anyway, on to Edinburgh.



I had a rather lazy morning the first day after the tour (7th June). I think I was just enjoying being able to sleep in.



I'd arranged to meet up with Claire and Gavin (from the Haggis tour) at 2pm at Edinburgh Castle. I had nothing planned for the morning, so decided to just wander along the Royal Mile, having a look at all of the shops and enjoying the sun! I couldn't believe it - it actually felt like summer!



My first stop was a shop called PDSA - For Pets in Need of Vets. It's an organisation that raises money to allow people on welfare (or any form of government assistance) free vet treatment for the pets. I think it's a brilliant idea, as it would prevent injured and sick animals from being abandoned just because their owners can't afford to pay the vet bill.



I headed further up the Royal Mile to St Giles Cathedral. It's very impressive, but unfortunately much of the inside was covered in tarps and scaffolding for ongoing repairs. There is a small section of the Cathedral called the Thislte Chapel which is dedicated to the Order of the Thistle. It was absolutely magnificent, with the crests of the Knights of the Order of the Thistle around the room. I was most impressed by the organ in the cathedral. It was stunning and massive. I would have loved to have heard it played.



Out the front of St Giles' Cathedral is the Heart of Midlothian. It's a large heart set into the cobblestones and locals spit onto it for good luck - it's the only place in the city that you are legally allowed to spit. It's cool but disgusting all at the same time.



I popped into one shop and bought a skarf in the McAllister tartan. How could I resist!



I ran into Skye (from the Haggis tour). She was on a free tour that was provided by her hostel, so I tagged along. The guy leading the tour wasn't a local and had only been in Edinburgh for 2 weeks! Oh well, it was free so who's going to complain.



After the tour Skye and I popped into a few more shops and had a quick lunch before we wandered up to Edinburgh Castle to meet Gavin and Claire.



We hadn't been waiting for long when who did we spot but David (also from the tour) and then Big Yin (Kris). Kris told us that he'd just stopped in at a kiltmaker to buy a cheap £30 kilt and had instead come out with a full suit costing him over £400! That was some good salesperson! Kris reckons he's going to wear it around Brisbane when he gets back home. That should be entertaining for the locals.



Gavin and Claire turned up and not long after them Tree and Anne-Claire. It felt like we were back on tour all over again.



Tree had a friend who worked in the castle and was able to get 6 free tickets. Kris wasn't going to go into the castle, he decided to do some more shopping, so the rest of us put £2 in each to cover the price of the ticket for the 7th person. It was pretty good - getting into Edinburgh Castle for only £2 instead of the normal £12.



First stop was the Army Museum within the castle. It has a very extensive collection on the history of Scottish warfare and the connection with the British Army.



Also went in to see the Scottish Crown Jewels - the oldest surviving crown jewels in Europe. You can't get straight in to see them, you have to wind your way through an exhibit detailing some of the history of the Scottish Kings. It was pretty tacky so we blitzed through it quickly to get to the Crown Jewels.



In with the Crown Jewels was the Stone of Destiny, so we had a bit of a chuckle over that.



Next stop was the Royal Apartments which included Mary, Queen of Scots bedchamber, and then we went on to the Great Hall.



Across from the Great Hall is the Scottish National War Memorial. There is a series of books in the memorial detailing the names of the men who served in the different regiments in world wars 1 and 2. I saw quite a few McAllister's - most of whom were born in Glasgow (and a couple even said Paisley) so that might be something for you to follow up Dad?!



Headed on to Mons Meg - a large 15th century cannon, and right beside that the tiny St Margaret's Chapel. St Margaret's chapel is the oldest building in Edinburgh and was built in memory of Queen Margaret by her sons.



Edinburgh Castle is huge and would take all day to see everything in detail. The view from the top is amazing. You can see for miles over Edinburgh.



Claire and I left the castle after a couple of hours and headed back to our respective hostels. I was planning on heading out later that night, but I fell asleep and slept straight through to the next day.



When I woke up on Sunday morning I was feeling absolutely rotten. I'd been planning on joining a 3 hour free walking tour that was supposed to be really good, so I dragged myself out of bed and headed out. It didn't take me long to realise that I was not going to be able to handle 3 hours of walking when I felt so rotten, so I headed back to the hostel to sleep it off. I bumped into Bryonie (also from the tour) on my way back to the hostel. She was realy excited because her brother had flown over to join her as a surprise.



I ended up sleeping most of the day away and then felt well enough that night to get my laptop out and post that extraordinarily long blog!



Bit of a crappy day and wasted a whole day in Edinburgh.



I still wasn't feeling brilliant the next morning, but was determined to see as much as I could. As I was getting ready to head out a marching band followed by a long line of marching soldiers went up the Royal Mile and I was able to watch from my window. I had no idea what it was for but it was entertaining and I got some good photos.



My first stop for the day was at the post office to send Lachy's present home! (Exciting!) Then I headed down to Holyrood Palace at the opposite end of the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. Holyrood Palace is the Scottish home of the Queen and family.



It's not cheap to go in, but there is a free audio tour which isn't bad.



The tour of the palace takes you through the dining room, throne room, the King' bedroom, Mary, Queen of Scots rooms - where her seretary was murdered in front of her by her husband, the picture gallery which contains portraits of all of the Scottish Kings, and then finally outside to the ruined Abbey. The Palace is impressive and not as austere as I had imagined it would be.



After Holyrood I decided to head up to Arthur's Seat. I had been tossing up whether or not I was going to hike up to the top, but in the end thought what the hell. Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano, and the peak is 251m high.



I think I took the 'scenic' route to the top. I seem to have a knack for always finding the 'scenic' route. There were some people ahead of me who were taking this route, so I just assumed that was the way to go. Silly silly Casey. Rather than the nice, wide path that most people use, this was a little track winding its way up the side of the hill. Fun.

The view from the top was stunning - full 360 degree views across Edinburgh. It was extremely windy at the top, like nothing I'd experienced before. You really felt like you might just get blown straight off the side of the mountain.

I headed back down and stopped at the High Street Hostel to pick up my bags that were in storage so I could attempt to repack my suitcase for the trip to Glasgow the following day. Yay, repacking once again. Bleh.

Took forever to get my suitcase sorted out, so I just grabbed a quick dinner at an Italian place on the corner and then went to bed.

Yesterday was the end of my time in Edinburgh. My train was due to leave for Glasgow at 2pm, so still had the morning to explore.

When I'd been repacking my suitcase the night before I'd discovered more stuff (mainly books tht I'd bought over the last couple of weeks) that was taking up room, so the first thing I had to do was stop at the post office again to send it all home. I've got to learn to walk past the books in stores, but it's just so hard.

I hadn't had a chance to really look around Princes St, so I decided to head over there and have a wander around. Princes St is the main shopping drag in Edinburgh - and ok, so I popped into a few bookshops, but I was strong, I didn't buy anything.

I was in one store when I suddenly heard lots of noise ouside, so I went out and there was a whole stream of taxis going past and they were covered in balloons and inside the taxis were kids (and some adults) armed with water pistols attacking people on the street. I got some great photos, and only got a little bit wet! Again, I have no idea what it was all about, but it was entertaining.

I'd wandered past all of the shops, so crosed over to the other side of Princes St and walked back through the Princes St gardens. It's always lovely finding something so beautiful and peaceful in the heart of a city.

I spent a bit of time just meandering along. Right at the end of the gardens was a large cirular design being created by the gardeners. I stopped to watch for a while as they arranged the plants into specific patterns. The design was to commemorate 100 years of the Territorial Army (like our Army Reserves). Suddenly all of the pieces fell into place - the parade along the Royal Mile, the taxis with balloons and the kids with water pistols - it was all connected with the 100 year celebrations of the Territorial Army!

I made sure to take as many photos of Edinburgh as I could, as I know Mum has never been there, but would love to go. Eventually my camera battery died - crap! I think I managed to get some good shots though.

I went back to the hostel and grabbed my luggage and headed to the train station. I was disappointed to leave Edinburgh, particularly as I hadn't seen anywhere near as much as I would have liked to. Edinburgh seems to have a grace and small city feel to it that is rather enchanting. At least now I know that I want to come back and see more - maybe I'll be able to fit it in at some point over the next couple of months.

The train to Glasgow is nice and quick - only about 50 mins, so I was there before I really knew it.

Funniest thing happened. I'd just left the train station and was heading to my hostel, when who did I run into but Gavin from my Haggis trip. What a weird coincidence. I'd only been in Glasgow about 10 mins. Turns out he is also staying at the same hostel as me. He was heading off to an art gallery, so I continued on to the hostel.

The hostel is a large, anonymous chain and wasn't as clean as I thought it would be, but it's fine. They had overbooked (seems to be a trend happening here!) so I was upgraded to a 4 person dorm from an 8 person dorm without any charge. That was pretty cool.

Bumped into Gavin again that night in the 'chill out room' and we chatted for quite a while before I headed off to bed.

I haven't done much yet this morning. Ran into Gavin at breakfast, so we've organised to meet up to wander around Glasgow in a bit. He's in the middle of doing laundry - something I'm going to have to do tonight. I'm getting slightly desperate at this point!

Finally we're caught up to the present time! Yay! I hate getting that far behind - it also leads to realy long posts, which I know are irritating.

Anyway, I have 3 more nights in Glasgow before I fly to Rome. I'll be arriving in Rome on the 14th and having a couple of nights in a hostel and then my dig starts on the 17th! The big day is finally near.

I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. It's going to be an interesting 7 weeks on the dig.