Kilts, etc.

In an effort not to fall behind on my blog again, I’m going to write here instead of working on my dissertation. Because I make good decisions.

I’ve been awaiting the Hansard-organized “educational” trip to Edinburgh for all students in the program since before I arrived in London. Everyone in the program got off from our internships this week (a much needed break) so we could take the trip during Parliament’s recess.

We set off on a train from Kings Cross station on the beautiful four and a half journey through England and Scotland’s countryside. It’s known for being one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, and the scenery did not disappoint. After taking cabs to our hotel, a group of seven of us set out to explore Edinburgh for the rest of the afternoon. We walked Princes Street, the main shopping and souvenir street and the park surrounding “the mound” of Edinburgh Castle. The castle is built high up on cliffs and is visible from most parts of the city. Once we trekked up the stairs up towards the castle we realized how brilliant those city planners were, you can see far past the city of Edinburgh from the castle. The castle is located at the top of the Royal Mile, the mile-long stretch of High Street running from Edinburgh Castle down to the Palace of Holyrood, the Queen’s residence in Scotland. We all got crepes to share, in honor of Pancake Day before walking some of the Royal Mile, stopping into lots of gift shops and the Scotch Whiskey Experience.

We got dinner at this great little Nepalese restaurant near our hotel in the west end of the city. None of us had ever had Nepalese food before, but it was very similar to Indian food, with different spices. I had curry, pilau rice and nan, and it was all incredible. Everyone really enjoyed their meals, and now I know I like Nepalese food.

After dinner we headed to a nearby pub, like the good little Brits we are. A bunch of my friends got kicked out because they didn’t have passports to prove their ages, but the few of us that stayed got a taste of the British football culture. On a Tuesday night the pub was packed with men. There were probably two hundred men and about seven women, including Kelsey and I. It was insane. You would think we’d have a good shot at talking to some Scottish guys, but no dice. Everyone was absolutely glued to the TVs watching the Manchester United v. AC Milan game. Even after the game was over, the after game commentary was muted, and the American hip hop music came on, the few women in the place were completely ignored. Eventually we just headed back to the hotel.

Since we stayed at a bed and breakfast, we had breakfast at the hotel on Wednesday before heading to the Law Society of Scotland for some lectures on devolution and the Scottish Economy. We had a three hour break, so the seven of us set off to walk the full Royal Mile. We started at the top of the castle again to get some better pictures in the sunlinght and shopped our way down, stopping for a cheap pub lunch at a place called the Jolly Judge. Our main stop of the afternoon was Fudge Kitchen for free samples and the purchasing of far more fudge than necessary. It was incredible, and the Scottish are known for their fudge, so we had to do it. We stopped at Starbucks before meeting up with the group for an interesting lecture on the European Parliament. Afterwards we finished up the Royal Mile walk to take pictures at Holyrood palace. We ate dinner at a place called McDonners that was connected to a Quiznos, then went to an Ash Wednesday mass at a church off High Street. I’ve never been to an Ash Wednesday mass, and found it really interesting.

We headed back to the hotel for some R&R before going all the way back to High Street (about a 40 minute walk from our hotel) to a bar that my friend Bhumi and I scoped out earlier in the day. The bar, Whistle Binkies, has live bands and no cover every night of the week until 3am. We saw three bands, and I really liked them all, though my favorite was OK Social Club, which you should check out. It was a weird crowd, there were several trashed and obnoxious middle aged men attempting to dance with us all night, but the good music made up for the weird bar patrons.

Thursday morning we all had a bus tour after breakfast, it was one of those hop on hop off tours. It was interesting, but we sat outside on the second level, which probably wasn’t our best plan ever. I was freezing by the end of the tour.

We stopped into St. Giles church after the tour and learned all about the building’s history from a bored tour guide who kept coming over to us and telling us about the place without being asked for information. I feel far more knowledgeable about the beautiful building now, so I didn’t mind.

Next we set off on a Harry Potter adventure. We got a delicious lunch at the Elephant House, the elephant paraphernalia-packed café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few Harry Potter books. The café overlooks the beautiful scenery of Edinburgh, it’s no wonder she was so inspired to write about a magical world. We tried to get into the cemetery where she got the names for some of her characters from tombstones, but it was closed unfortunately.

After lunch I left the group (who was going off on a four hour hike up the crags) to explore more of the city solo. I walked Grassmarket and wandered through music, book and clothing stores. I also wandered through the National Gallery of Scotland, saw a bagpiper, stopped into a pub for chips (fries) and a wifi connection and walked down Rose St, the pedestrian street parallel to Princes Street. Princes St. and Rose St. are part of Edinburgh’s New Town, which is older than all of America. I stopped into a chain music store called FOPP! advertising 3 pound cds, and nearly did serious damage to my bank account. I settled on two Johnny Cash compilations, which I got way cheaper than I could have on iTunes.

I met up with the other girls for dinner at a Thai restaurant near our hotel. We had another delicious dinner before heading to the hotel to hang out.

We had planned to do an organized pub crawl Thursday night, but after being up until 3am the night before, no one was in the mood. Instead, Bhumi, Rebecca and I headed back to the Royal Mile and checked out a few bars and clubs before deciding to just go back to Whistle Binkies for more live music. We only stayed for a little bit, but we saw another good band that reminded us of Motion City Soundtrack before hopping on a bus back to the hotel.

We had to leave Edinburgh after breakfast on Friday. It was really a great trip, and I’m glad to go back with my mom in April, go into the castle and explore more of the city. The architecture of Edinburgh is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s very interconnected with the natural surroundings of the area. It’s really beautiful, and a must-see if you’re ever in the UK.