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Beam Me Up, Scotty |
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Since I have been back from Germany- I was first consumed with finishing my paper and turning it in- then last week we started classes up. During the time off- when I was writting my paper- I wanted to get away for a day and go check something out, but the weather here in Northern England has really been the pits- especially on the weekend. But, this weekend the weather looked like it was going to be nice, so I decided to take off and visit Scotland. In addition, it was my birthday earlier in the week, and I worked the entire day on my birthday- so I felt like I owed myself one. So I woke up early this morning- packed my bag for a day venture- gloves, scarf, umbrella, beanie, a couple Werther Originals, and my book. I went down to the train station early- it was really cold and overcast here in York (nothing new), so I figure it would be worse in Scotland. Good thing I was bundled up and ready to go. So I bought my train ticket- 42 pounds OUCH!- and I got on the Express. Turns out the train ride was longer than the train ride to London- 2 hours and 45min- so it was a good thing I brought my book Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival; America's Quest for Global Dominance. I was able to finish the book on the ride back- I give it a big thumbs up.
Anyway, so as we head north- we only make four or five stops, and the ocean lines up on the right side occassionally. It was actually really pretty. The more north you go, the more the landscape turns into rolling hills with stands of trees and farmsteads here and there. As I was traveling, I was realizing how appealing the landscape really seemed to me. This is what I thought England would look like. The further south you go, the closer to London, the more flat it gets. I prefer the pretty rolling hills, the many shades of green, and all the little running streams- it reminded me of home- but green! So the train finally pulls into the station at Edinburgh at about noon, and I get off. The train station was a complete zoo- way worse than Kings Cross in London. I was thinking- OH NO! I tried to use the restroom (I should have went on the train), but the restroom had a line, a turnstile, and you had to pay! On principal alone, I decided to take my chances elsewhere. I refuse to pay to dump my refuse. As I walked out of the long tunnel, the first thing that hit me were- you guessed it- some guy on bag-pipes crying away. It was cool! I was thinking of the death of Spock the whole time! So anyway- I start to climb the hill towards the castle. |
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This statue is about half-way up the hill to the castle. The statue is a memorial to the famous Blackwatch regiment in the services here. The regiment actually just got back from a year tour in Iraq a few months ago, unlike many of our US troops. The regiment is in danger of being liquidated under a new ordering scheme by the government here- some people are pretty upset about it. Notice those buildings in the background- the stone that those buildings is constructed out of is the same stone they use everywhere here for all the buildings. The English use brick with everything- not the heavy stone up in Scotland. Anyway- so I marched the rest of the way up the hill- Edinburgh is all hill, valley, and water. It reminded me of the SF bay area a little. So here is the castle. |
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As you can see- the weather was better up north in Scotland than it was down in York. I hadn't seen clear sky like this since I was in the airplane flying above the clouds a month ago. The castle cost quite a bit to check out- but what the hell. Those two statues at the entrance are Robert Bruce and William Wallace. Everywhere I went in Edinburgh, I felt like Robert Bruce was following me- his statues are everywhere. I was thinking I could start calling him Robert Saddam Bruce. He was everywhere! The castle is in a lot of ways carved out of the rock it is on- although the walls are not carved. The whole thing kind of just snakes around and up, until you get to the top. The whole thing is is not really medieval, but it was really neat. This was like some of the other things I have seen here in England- Medieval Disney Land. Inside the castle you can see the Crown, Sword and Septre of the Crown of Scotland- which are the oldest regilia in all the UK. They also had the Stone of Destiny, which is more pertinent to my study period. This stone the royality of the UK took from the Scots in their many wars, and was only given back in like 1996 or something like that. Basically the King of Scotland would sit on this thing like a throne- well the English put it under their own throne- but they eventually gave it back. This goes back to 800AD, so it was pretty cool to see. They had the room like a safe with two gaurds and timelocks on the doors and everything. It was pretty neat. They also had this huge cannon called Mons Meg- this thing was freaken huge! |
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The cannon weighs six tons, and I could crawl up inside the barrel if I wanted too. Scots don't really hide their dislike for the English- on the plack for this thing it said how the Scots obtained the gun, and it said it was used 'to kill the English and suppress a Revolt'. I thought that was funny! Anyway- inside the castle they had a bunch of stuff to see- some wax figures, statues, and other stuff- like I said- Medieval Disney Land. The chapel next to this gun, is a 13c chapel, but I think the thing was really plain. Here are some pictures taken from the castle. |
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The picture above is probably the best shot I took all day. To the right is the train station (under the bridge), next to it is a memorial (the black spiky thing) to Walter Scott, and behind you can see the bay. The hill, Calton Hill, opposite had those Roman columns- not legit- but the hill had a great view of the castle and surrounding country and sea. It is about a half-hour walk from one hill to the other, but it was worth it. Before I went to the other hill though I stopped in and checked out St.Giles Church. It was too dark inside to get good pictures, but here is one of the outside. |
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Again, another church under construction. A cathedral down the street must have got bought out because it was a freaken diner. I have seen that here in York too- the churches cannot sustain themselves so they sell out- one of the churches here in York has been turned into a Neon Museum, another is a Senior Center, while another is a place to eat. Oh, the world is going to hell! Ha..ha..! Anyway- so I went to Calton Hill, and here are the pics I took.
On the one below, you can see the castle straight out, to the left is the cathedral that has been turned into a place to eat, and on the very edge on the left is the spire/arch of St.Giles. |
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This picture is just more to illustrate the choppy hills they have here. Basically the castle hill is just like the one above with the castle on the very top- the city flowing down the slope of the hill. There seems to be a lot of these craggs (hills) up this region of Scotland. This particular hill is called Salisbury Craggs- they are great for fortifications.
After I did all this running around- I decided to take off and head back to York. I was pretty beat. I did a lot of walking up hills and steep stairs and whatnot. It was funny because I could hear the bag-pipe-guy wherever I went! I heard him when I was in the castle, up on this hill, freaken everywhere. It was the same guy too. He took a break for like an hour, but kicked back up again. I felt like the bag-pipes greeted me and said goodbye to me as I left. The city of Edinburgh was really pretty with all the stone buildings and whatnot, but some of the suburbs that the train went through when it first arrived were pretty dirty. Maybe that is just one part- but if I was on the city council- I would clean that up- you don't people coming to visit thinking people in your city just dump their crap wherever. In addition, the rumors that Edinburgh was an international city were right on- I heard many different foreign languages- there were a whole lot of tourists, but not many Americans like I saw at Heidelburg in Germany. Hope you enjoy the pictures from Scotland! See you next time! |
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BACK ONE |
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