Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 15:46:13 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: A new country... or is it really? I'm a little confused on that part!
Hallo,
Happy long weekend to everyone in the U.S.! I'm in Edinburgh("bro"),
Scotland. The weather is fantastic -- as good as can be expected. It's
overcast and windy, which was great today!
Last night my flight was from San Jose-L.A.-London, then
London-Edinburgh today afternoon.. I went from my "best seat in the
coach section" of the 777 to the "worst seat in the business class
section" after boarding my LA-London flight. I got my requested upgrade
after I had boarded the plane, but I wished I hadn't! It was a middle
seat and with the "new" business class seats, its practically
impossible to get up from the middle seat without disturbing the person
next to you. At least on the old seats I could do that. Plus I had
already eaten a full meal at the lounge before boarding, and wasn't too
keen on the watery piece of beef and mashed potatoes dinner. The ice
cream was also "not as good as it used to be". Maybe I'm spoiled now
and my standards have changed, I don't know...
Well, the flight was close to an hour late, which meant no shower in
the London lounge. I had to rush to the brand new Terminal 5 (the same
place that had lost -- what was it, 80,000 bags when it opened a couple
of months ago?) I made it in time to the connecting flight, without
much fuss at customs -- thats a first for me at Heathrow airport since
October 2004. I went to the Edinburgh tourist office in the airport and
picked up everything I needed (including a 2-day bus & attractions
pass), then took the double-decker bus into the city, with me in the
first row of the upper deck -- good views of the city as we drove in.
My stop was Waverly train station, and that whole area is very scenic.
In fact I found the entire city to be scenic -- seems like it is built
entirely out of rocks! Every building looks old (whether thats a good
or bad thing depends on your point of view, I loved it). There are
gothic cathedrals all over the place, and of course the very imposing
Edinburgh Castle looking over the entire city. But there are a lot of
hills around -- and that meant climbing up and down them on foot.
The walk from Waverly station to my motel is less than 1/2 mile. It
took me 1/2 hour -- lot of going up and down, up and down, up, up, up,
and down. Felt like more up than down.
By the time I checked into my motel and got freshened up, it was
8:30pm. I hadn't eaten a "real" meal since breakfast something like 6
hours ago, so I dumped everything out of my backpack (including a
granola bar and a box of "Wheat Thins" bought at San Jose airport), put
my camera inside, took a couple of maps and headed out for dinner --
completely unprepared for what was about to be...
... an unplanned evening.
Just as I exited the motel, a taxi pulled up and let out some people.
Something clicked in my head and I asked the driver if he could take me
to "Arthur's Seat".
"Arthur Street? Yes yes, sure."
"No, Arthur's Seat -- that mountain up there"
"Well I cant take you to the top, I can take you up to the trail and
you'll have to walk up to the top."
"Yes I know, thats fine. Thanks"
So I got in, just then realizing I had not eaten anything, and what
little food I had was upstairs in the room. Of course I didn't have any
water either -- had to surrender that at Heathrow security checkpoint.
And climbing up mountains is not my "thing" either.
Oh well.
The cab took me to what seemed like the middle of nowhere, and the
driver pointed me to the trail -- "Just follow that trail straight on
up, you'll be able to see the top when you get to the ridge of this
hill up there, that's the easiest trail to go to the top... Then come
down the other side and watch out for loose rocks there. Nice evening
for a walk tonight, isn't it?"
"uh, yeah. Thanks."
Edinburgh is at 55 degrees north latitude (I just looked it up.) That's
about the same as Juneau, Alaska and Moscow, Russia. That means the sun
doesn't go down until well past 10 or 10:30pm this time of year. I was
at the bottom of the trail at 9.
I dont know how long it took to climb it, but I realized not only did I
not have any food or water, I also did not have any flashlight -- I had
come there to see the night lights of the city, but how would I get
back down after it gets dark???
So I didn't stay on top for long. The views really are terrific, and
there was a wind on my back which made the climb a bit easier even
though I was starting to get a headache -- not a good sign. I started
down again -- going the other way from where I came up, heard someone
playing a bagpipe and followed that sound thinking "there's gotta be a
restaurant or a convenience store around here somewhere".
Nope.
There was however a lake with a lot of swans and ducks in it, but of
course there was no question of catching one of the ducks and eating it
-- the thought did cross my mind, I was starving by now! What in the
world made me go up that mountain without anything in my stomach!
Anyway, I'm laughing about it now as I'm typing this but that wasn't
good. The views were great, and I may even go back there tomorrow. But
there are other hills too, so I dont know...
I flagged down another taxicab, told him to take me to Grassmarket.
"Rght, Grssmrkt. Nice night for a walk t'night isn't it? O'course
Grssmrkt is a wee bit far, ye look tired!"
"uh huh".
"Where ye from?"
"California, near San Francisco."
"SAN FRANCISCO? Thats a long ways a'nt it? How long is that flight
across the A'lant'c?"
I was in no mood for a conversation but obliged in short replies
anyway.
Well, dinner was chicken tikka kabob and small bottle of wine at a
Pakistani deli next to my motel. Pretty tasty, but even that guy struck
up a conversation! What is it with these people, everyone just wants to
talk? Just gimme my food and lemme outta here! Anyway, that food (and
wine) hit the spot. My feet are killing me and I dont know how they're
going to be tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to a full day in this
beautiful city! :)
So enjoy the pictures which will be up on my website within 1/2 hour...
I need to go look up what is an acceptable tip for cab drivers here.
Restaurants too for that matter...
Ciao,
-me.
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