Last weekend saw me take a much needed trip away from London to get some rest. Having planned to go somewhere south like Lisbon or Greece with warmer weather, I was unhappy to learn that my failure to buy tickets early meant that most flight tickets were close to 200 pounds. Then I remembered that I had heard twice in the last 3 months that end of May is the best time to visit scotland, so I sough travel interest from the America gang in london and ended up on the trip with a coworker, friend and cool travel buddy.
The outbound leg we decided to do by train and by the time we were passing newcastle and approaching the scottish border, I knew we couldnt have chosen a more perfect weekend. the weather was fantastic and as the train hurtled along the eastern coast of england, I managed to get a few pictures.
On getting to Edinburgh no time was lost and we went straight to the main tourist attraction - the castle. very interesting tour with museums within and other scottish treasures including the crown and sword that signified the scottish sovereingty and that many an invader had tried to steal from the people. then it was on to the literary pub tour where for ten quid, we got to do a 2 hour walk and to learn about the great literary scottish giants including Sir Walter Scott, Burns and Robert Louis stevenson. Growing up as a kid, I had read Ivanhoe (by SWS) and Treasure Island and kidnapped (by RLS), so I was eager to learn about these authors from my childhood. The tour guides did not disappoint. between acting and storytelling they gave a perfect presentation of scottish history coated in the literature that drove, sustained and inspired a proud nation.The following day we did a bus tour of central scotland since I wanted to learn more about william wallace and also get to see one of the famous lochs. Our bus driver/tour guide was very knowledgeable and we started of by driving through Glasgow which was only 45 minutes away. I must confess that anytime he put the scottish bagpipe music on, I promptly fell asleep. might have to do with the pub tour the evening before. After glasgow, we went to Loch Lomond - second most famous loch after Loch Ness - for a boat cruise. The cruise was enlightening but as I spent the whole hour looking for Nessie's cousin, I missed most of the facts of the loch save that it was 24 miles long and 5 miles in its deepest part.
Afterwards, it was on to Aberfoyle, a small picturesque town in the middle of no-where scotland, that was so charming, even the flowers in the fields were smiling back at me. After having one of the most amazing cajun grilled chicken sandwich (who would have thought?), we were off to see hammish - the hairy cow that was just too cute. Can one have a giant pet, I wondered?
Then it was off to Stirling castle - home of Robert de bruce and not far from it, the monument dedicated to William Wallace. I will spare you, the reader, a digression on William wallace save to say that you should watch "Braveheart". period. So much history and pride. A lot of the old scottish sentiments echo through time even into the present to remind us that freedom is never something to be taken for granted.
Running around all day didnt really wear me out since we were going around in a small tour bus and I had like 5 billion naps along the way, so after dinner, I decided to catch the latest indiana jones flick. I had heard it was just alright (spoiler alert) and lowered my expectations but the lowered expectations didnt do too much to buffer my crushed secrets hopes that maybe, just maybe, george lucas will put something good on screen again since his last hit in the mid-80s. no way jose! as my colleague next to me would say - utter rubbish!
Determined not to let a movie ruin my holiday, I rocked myself to sleep with images of me riding into battle as one of the captains in wallace's militia taken on the tyrant king of England. Yeah, i know. whatever. The next day started bright and strong for us. After a hearty breakfast, we decided to tackle Arthur's seat - a hill bordering Edinburgh on the Southeast side with what felt like a 45 degree incline. but the hike and scramble up was totally worth the amazing views that greeted us at the top. after relaxing for an hour, and catching the 1pm shooting of the canon (used in the day for ships to align their clocks), I decided to go and explore the writers museum. A couple of hours later, and six old books purchased, I had satisfied my thirst for knowledge about the life of RLS. What was intriguing was the fact that he spent majority of his adult life in haiwaii and the polynesian islands due to the good weather and his failing health. The picture took me into the past and I was able to conjure up images that drove that great mind to write such classics including - the phenominally progessive for its time - "the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde".
the last hurrah in Edinburgh was the food tasting festival where for 35 pounds we tasted food from all the great local restaurants and also got a bottle of wine to go with. the night highlight was tailing it to a pub we'd visiting before and hanging out most of the night with Simon's bachelor party. Simon, whom I had just met, made sure that all those around shared in the joy of his impending nuptuals and after a few classics along the lines of "summer of 69" i concluded that edinburgh is a great place for Stag-dos (bachelor parties) and hen dos (bachelorette parties). this is so because it is a walking city and they have excellent important and local brews to match the growing desire to maintain a balance of cosmopolitan polish and traditional warmth.I wish I had had 3 more days to explore this amazing country and just as my 3 month backpacking trip in 2003 did for me, I was able to decide whether or not this was a city I wanted to come back to. The decision was unanimous - YES SIR!
ps. I am also ashamed to note that I just learned on the trip that the union jack is a combination of the x cross of st andrew of scotland and the + cross of st george of england. duh.
