To Edinburgh!

I have recently returned from a quick trip to Edinburgh for the weekend and it was beautiful! Headed out of Glasgow with 4 other Lewis&Clark girls on Friday night for what was a very quick trip over to the east coast of Scotland. I really had not realized just how close the cities are, but the bus ride was long enough for a cat nap and some gazing out the window and not much more. We traversed our way to the Royal Mile to our hostel, Hight Street Hostel, which was great.

(thanks, google)

Saturday morning I was first awoken by my neighboring bunker smacking me in the head while yanking her suitcase out from the inconvenient location where she had stored it right next to my bed. At least she got nipped by karma when seconds later she leaned up and whacked her own head on the edge of my bunk. Ah, the wonders and glories of hostel living. We finally all made it upright and rambled our way up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. After standing in line for a few minutes and realizing that tickets were a wopping 13 pounds we quickly walked right back out again. Next time it is a must, but we were not quite prepared for a 13 pound loss from our wallets right away. 

The lovely Castle.

Instead we walked down to Camera Obscura--World of Illusions--on the suggestion of a friend where we saw a 360 view of the city to the soundtrack of a very whiny child who made us all disgruntled with children. At least we got some great views of the city from the top of a 6ish floor climb up the stairs:

HI MOM!

After the views we wandered down through the levels of Camera Obscura, each featuring different optics exhibitions and ending with this vortex tunnel: 

Children described it by saying: 'Mommy, it feels like I am rolling down a hill!!'
We/their Mommys described it by saying: 'Oh God, it feels like we have the spins!'

Even if my stomach was not very happy with the vortex and I left not a big fan of children Camera Obscura was definitely worth it.

Next we visited St. Giles, which felt quite modern to me. Mayhap I am just spoiled by the Glasgow Cathedral.

It is still very beautiful even if not my favorite.

My fellow English major in the group (Lauren) and I then dragged everyone to the Writers' Museum, which was woefully inadequate. The best part were their 'Makar Stones'--large stones outside with different quotes from writers (Makar = maker, weaver, crafter of words).

My favorite Makar Stone.

Sadly disappointed by the display, but at least
we got to adventure down a small and mysterious close!

Other things we saw:

Scottish Parliament: WAY cooler than any American Govt. building!

Gardens

Holyrood Abbey: Augustinian abbey ruined when the roof collapsed in 1768,
though many Scottish Kings and Royalty are buried here.

Holyrood Palace: Residence of the Royal Family when in Edinburgh.

And I can't forget the chips! Chips and Cheese,
the classic Fish n' Chips, and Chips n' Gravy--NOM!

It was a great weekend trip, if not a sadly brief introduction to Edinburgh. There is HUGE competition between the two cities here, so it was interesting to meet our competitor. My personal opinion after the weekend is that while Edinburgh is really quite beautiful and quite obviously filled with history it is also filled with tourists. Glasgow, on the other hand, is the real working class city that has been slowly built up and has a more subtle character. So I am still an official Glasgow fan and prefer to live here, though Edinburgh is wonderful for visits!

More exciting posts to come later this week--I promise!