3 days for the Scotts

On Tuesday Jaclyn and I decided that this weekend should be a trip to Edinburgh. By Friday morning, we were stepping off a train into the Scottish capital city.

Our three day tour of Edinburgh quickly turned into a three day tour of Scotland- which turned out quite splendidly.
Not very thorough, to be sure- there is so much more of the magnificent country that I would love to see. But this weekend was quite the whirlwind adventure for a tourist such as I!

The capital city of Edinburgh had so many things to do that we didn't get to. But here is a sampling of what we *did* get squeezed into a day and a half. More exhaustive pictures are on my Flickr account. (link in the column to the left)

As hard as it is to believe, the author of Harry Potter was once squeezed into the corner of a cafe in Edinburgh as she scribbled out chapters. The Elephant House is just that cafe. And they have *great* hot cocoa and baguettes, and so many baked goods I wanted to crawl behind the glass display and hunker down for the winter. (Note: By the end of the winter I would be too large to get OUT of the case. Meaning I could live there forever, surrounded by baked goods.)

There is a little article on the front window pane that says the view of Edinburgh castle from the back room was what inspired Hogwarts. (If you're curious, there are more pictures of the cafe in my Flickr gallery)

For all my friends that do so love their Science Fiction novels, I found a great little Fiction/scifi Bookstore in the Grassmarket that you all would have gone ga-ga over. Right in the same block there was a fabulous hat store, and a great TINY antiques boutique that I got an old chemist's glass bottle from. I use it to keep ink in now, as I work on my graphic novel a bit more.


The National Gallery of Scotland was the next stop. ...Turns out you can't take pictures in there, as the nice man sitting down in this photograph promptly informed me. I'm sure he's on his earpiece calling in the backup squad in case I didn't respond to his polite request as amicably as I did... But regardless! There was a gorgeous exhibit of Scottish art here, even if I can't prove it to you. My favorite was the collection of delicate woodcut prints- serious artisan skill.


After a day and a half exploring Edinburgh, we decided that an impromptu tour of the Highlands was a good use of our third day, and managed to squeeze in last minute on a bus group. It was much more educational than I had expected, which was an extra plus. Scottish history + useless facts galore!


Also, highland cows! Pronounced "coos." This is Hamish. He likes his veggies.

Back when the castle was the center of the medieval town of Edinburgh, the fees and taxes required to pass in or out of the city wall prevented many peasants from leaving. Those who could not afford the tariffs lived their entire lives inside the stone walls. There's a bar near the spot where the old gates used to stand called "The World's End," because for many, it was.


Edinburgh castle sits on an extinct volcano, meaning rainwater runs right off of the volcanic rock-hill that the castle crowns. The public city drinking supply was a collection of these runoff waters, a pool at the base of the castle. Unfortunately, waste also flows freely above ground on such rock, and the rancid moat was said to inspire hallucinations. Whiskey was safer to drink- at least nothing could flourish in such high alcohol doses. They did finally drain it, but found a nasty surprise at the bottom. 300+ female skeletons, some with their hands nailed into the back of their knees.

Why?

When Edinburgh was subject to the vicious mob mentality of the witch trials, where women were often the subject of fervor, they abided by the old "if you float, you're a witch" standard. Enough said.

When Queen Victoria came to Scottland after England and she had FINALLY made peace, she bought some land at the foot of a GORGEOUS mountain by a loch as a token of good will. "What is the name of this magical place," she asked after she had signed the deed.
"Big pile of shit... mountain. In Gaelic," they responded.
It was promptly renamed by her. She had the courtesy to rename it in Gaelic, but seeing as she didn't speak the tongue, the name doesn't make much sense. I guess no one wanted proclaim, "Your Majesty- 'loch' refers to a body of water. "Lake Mountain" doesn't quite ring true..."

Before a battle, Scot clansmen would all gather on the side of a hill and each throw a stone onto a big pile- one pile for each side fighting. After the battle, the survivors would each take a stone off of their original pile. Handy way of keeping track of the death toll to see which side won.

Here is Jac and I just as we entered the Highlands!
The cross on the Scottish flag is Saint Andrew's cross, St Andrew being the patron Saint of Scotland. This particular saint died by crucifixion, and his last request was that his cross be erected at a slant, to show respect to the manner of Christ's death.


Mere seconds after this picture, my own camera's batteries had run out... and a mere 30 minutes more, the sun came out and it was a GORGEOUS day. Lucky for me, though, Jac let me snap a few pictures on her camera. I'll add those later.

Although we only drove by it, the Monty Python castle that was the home to "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of Elderberries!" was on our way.

Fun facts: This castle used to be THE place for weapons manufacturing. The first shots of the American Civil War were fired from pistols manufactured at this castle which sits on the River Teeth. (Might be where the phrase "Armed to the teeth" comes from.)

We spent the majority of the day at Loch Ness. Jac and I hiked up into the steeps hills around the loch while the richer patrons of the tour took a 9 pound boat ride along the lake, looking for NESSIE. I think we got the better deal. It was warm and gorgeous. (pictures for proof will come as Jac uploads hers)

Our guide assured us that William Wallace was a striking 7 feet tall. Is there any way we might verify this, you ask? And better yet, does it have anything to do with huge swords?
Yes on both accounts! A man's claymore is a fit if it measures up to his chin. The claymore that he (allegedly) fought with still survives today, and stands 5'6" tall on display at The Wallace Monument. That sword would easily dwarf me- that man must have been GIANT. Taller than Mel Gibson, the Australian wonder midget, anyways.
(The bus's loyal Scottish TV blared Braveheart as the Scottish sun sank slowly behind the Scottish hills.)

"I AM William Wallace!" (Outside the Edinburgh Castle)

But despite all of the excitement here, I'm really getting excited for the future. I'm going up to Holly's again tomorrow. We are in the planning stages for our Spring break plans, only a few weeks away. Past that, there are whispers that Zach will be coming up to visit as well! Even further ahead than that are plans with my parents, to Ireland and London, and I find myself missing them more and more every day. I can hardly contain my excitement for all of these wonderful things to come.

For now, my graphic novel class is coming to a close and I am dreadfully behind. I've taken up a trampoline class to keep in shape, and I've got to run to that!