 |
SCOTLAND | |
| Arthur's Seat is
a stunning landmark peak that sits 251 m high south west of the city centre.
From its peak, one can see the Fifth of Forth Bridge, the whole city of
Edinburgh as well as the endless stretches of Scottish grassland that spread
out of the city. It's a bit of a walk but well worth it once the top is
reached. The peculiar landscape of the rock makes it charismatic even from
ground level. Right; Another less strenuous but almost equally rewarding hike is the 100m high Carlton Hill. From the At the peak of Carlton Hill lies several main monuments; the National Monument (far right) is an unfinished attempt to replicate the Parthenon in memory to those who died in the Napoleonic wars. The Nelson monument (centre) was built to commemorate Nelson's death at Trafalgar. |
 |
 |
The busy Princes
Street divides the old town form the new and it's packed with shopping arcades,
restaurants. Not only is it one of the few straight roads in Edinburgh (as
opposed to the windy confusing streets in the Old Town) but it is also packed
with historic monuments such as the Sir Walter Scott Monument and the Regis
House. After sharing a night of catching up with Kyle, I woke up a year older as it was August 19th, 2000 and I had just turned 22. To alleviate the pain of stepping one year closer to death, I decided to treat myself to a birthday present. One of my goals of this trip was to catch a football match and Edinburgh is home to two teams; Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian. My birthday just happened to fall on the same day as Hearts were playing Glasgow Celtic so I headed off to Tynecastle Stadium first thing and got myself one of the last two tickets they had available for the sold out game. Not even the screaming rainstorm nor the 19 pound (about $33) ticket could keep me away from this one. While most of the players of the home side were a bit of a novelty to, title challengers Celtic boasted an attack compromising of Mark Viduka, Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton and in manager Martin O' Neil, they had a team worthy of the title. In the end it was a little one sided with Celtic walking away with a 4-2 victory but it was still all well worth the money. |
I met up with Kyle again that night and met his lovely girlfriend Megan. Trying to find entertainment in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival is like trying to find a needle in a huge stack full of needles. We decided to go see one of his favorite Australian bands who were performing at the Edinburgh Liquid Room that night, Dirty Three. After a melodramatic solo performance by ex-Strangelove frontman Patrick Duff, the Dirty Three took the stage. Comprising of a drummer, guitarist and violinist, the band played a short, intense set of instrumentals.
The next day, the three of us wondered around the streets of Edinburgh seeing the castle, Carlton Way and Holyrood Park. After parting with the two, I decided to go look for some comedy. With the Simpsons Cast sold out well in advance and the Penis Puppeteers probably a little too hard to watch; I heeded the advice of some local collage students and made my way to Pleasance Theater to see Yllana 666, a re-enactment of a Spanish skit about four prisoners about to be executed. Never before had I seen anything more hilarious! If you do ever get to go to the Fringe Festival, make sure you go see this one. If you're on the conservative side though, you may want to give it a miss. No words can possibly begin to describe the excitement and vibrancy of Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival. Like all good times though it had to come to an end as I made my way the next morning to Waverley Station for Cardiff. I did return to Edinburgh for two more nights as I had to catch my plane. The festival was over by now and the city was a completely different place. Gone were the huge crowds, the nonstop entertainment, the different languages and multicultural environment the festival had brought and it was now time to explore the city a little more. The trip to Arthurs Seat was well worth the haul and as I reached its peak, I felt a bit like the Braveheart after he had just won some ferocious battle against the English. |
 |
This also gave me a chance to check out Glasgow. It's only an hours hop over by train and my nifty little Britrail pass came in handy. There's a huge rivalry between the Glaswegians and the people of Edinburgh. As one of my friends from Abu Dhabi advised, "Don't go to Edinburgh, they're not friendly there! Go to Glasgow!" (Pronounced "Gloss-go") The rivalry is a bit like that of London and Manchester. While Manchester does not boast the tourism appeal and heritage of its nation's capital, it offers a vibrant nightlife, better football teams, shopping and a wealth of Universities and students. Glaswegians accuse Edinburgh's of being conservative and stuck up while the Ed's will quickly point out that Glasgow is too industrial and intense!
 Left; the view of Edinburgh castle at night from Princes Street |
Despite being linked far too much with unemployment, economic depression, urban violence and accents you'll never understand; (ever seen Trainspotting?) Glasgow continues to reinvent and rejuvenate itself and is well worth the visit. It is the third most popular destination in Britain for tourists after London and Edinburgh and was elected European City of Culture in 1990. The majority of the cities architectural appeal comes from Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1896-1928), who is to Glasgow as Gaudi is toBarcelona. His most famed work being the Glasgow School of Art, Willow Tearoom and Queen's Cross Church. I was a little disappointed not to have stayed at least a night in Glasgow as I was unable to check out it's supposedly vigorous music scene. Recent favorites of mine all hail from Glasgow such as Travis and Geneva all hail from Glasgow as well as the likes ofTexas, Tears for Fears and don't you forget about Simple Minds. |
So that was it; two cities down but still tons more left to see, such as Loch Ness, the Highlands, Orkney Islands, etc. Unfortunately that will all have to come latermy friends. Still though I had seen the two big cities of Scotland and when you come to the UK, be sure to make you're way up to the land of kilts and bagpipes!
| Go back to Britain Menu | Go back to Glennaldo mainpage |
 |
 |