Thursday morning I left for Gatwick airport for my flight up north to Edinburgh, Scotland. The landing in Edinburgh made me think that I was going to die as the plane had to combat 60mph winds, down pouring rain and hail. I was clinging to my seat for the last 10 minutes of the flight holding on to dear life. It got so bad that the overhead cabins started opening and luggage starting falling out into the aisles of the plane. Not going to lie, it was pretty awful but I did arrive in one piece. After arriving I got a bite to eat at the airport and took a bus to city center where I met up with my friend from AU, Deb who is currently studying at University of Edinburgh.
After meeting up with Deb we began the 25-minute walk to her flat in the worst weather I have experienced since sitting through Hurricane Charley in 2004. Every time the wind gusted, I felt as if I was being hit in the face. We eventually arrived at her flat completely soaked and miserable for the Scotland weather. After drying off and changing clothes I met all of Debs flatmates who apparently all get super excited to have visitors. They were all very kind to me the entire weekend and it was great to stay with people who are actually from Scotland so I was able to experience a bit of their culture for a few days. After drinking some Strongbows we all headed to a club, which was basically rented out by University of Edinburgh for everyone living in the flats.
On Friday the weather still wasn’t very good but we made the most out of it. We went on a three-hour walking tour of the city in which I was able to basically see every major attraction of the city including Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, St. Giles Cathedral and Greyfriars Cemetery. For those Harry Potter fans out there, I got to see the café that J.K. Rowling wrote the first book t and the school that Hogwarts is designed after. After the tour we were tired and hungry so we went to grab lunch at a Chinese food buffet, which was pretty average, but it got the job done. Needing a break from the rain, Deb and I went to see “The King’s Speech”. It was a terrific movie about King George VI and his visited to an unorthodox speech therapist to cure his stammer. Colin Firth will win the Oscar for his portrayal of the King. After the movie we headed over to a pub crawl (its just about all the Scottish do) led by the walking tour group company that we used earlier in the day. We had a great time and it was fun to hang out with all the locals who for whatever reason love Americans.
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| Edinburgh Castle |
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| Greyfriars Cemetary |
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| This picture sums up Scotland for me. Miserable weather, rain and dark. |
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| The inspiration for Hogwarts. |
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| The Elephant House- J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book there. |
Saturday morning I slept in and then went for lunch and a final walk around in Edinburgh. I was able to meet up with my friend Laura from AU for a little while, which was exciting. Of course the first day that it didn’t rain, it was the day I was leaving. Oh well. I didn’t take many photos in Scotland because it was raining too and I didn’t want to ruin my camera. The photos I did take weren’t very good though since they are filled with raindrops. Flight back to London was pretty good on Saturday night and I didn’t almost die like the flight going. Special thanks to Deb and her flatmates for having me over.
This afternoon Meagan and I decided to go on some sightseeing in London for a change and we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral (very impressive!), Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and to Chinatown for the New Years celebration. The tube was completely back and ridiculous and there were literally thousands of people everywhere for the New Year. Instead of even attempting to go to Trafalgar Square for the celebrations we just got lunch in a Chinese restaurant and called it a day. When we got the bill we were surprised to see that it was completely overpriced and written completely in Chinese. Whatever, I’ve had enough Chinese New Year to last me a lifetime.
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| St. Pauls Cathedral, side view. |
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| Shakespeares Globe |
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| Yep, thats a bill from a restaurant...I have no fucking clue what it says either. |
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| There were like a billion people there to make it feel more like China. |
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Happy New Year?
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In other news, I miss all my friends and everyone at home although I am having the time of my life here. I'll update sometime this week if anything interesting happens or in a week after I go to Madrid.
-Rees
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