Yesterday our intrepid group of travelers got on an express bus and headed south to Edinburgh. Normally by car it only takes an hour to get to Edinburgh, but by bus it turns into two hours. It's not a bad ride though, until the return journey when you make the decision not to look out the front window because you're genuinely convinced the bus driver is insane. But that's getting off subject.
Today, our whole group from Elon (me, Merrill, Sandy, Amanda, Spencer and Jon) decided to take a day trip to Scotland's "capital" city. It's technically the capital as there has been a big movement from devolution on the part of the Scottish people and they now have their own parliament to deal with internal affairs, however, they're still part of Her Majesty's dominion, and the capital of the U.K. remains, as always, London. We arrived in Edinburgh a little before 11, where I had the whole group get off a stop before we were supposed to, which wasn't a huge deal except for the fact that that forced us to climb the steep mountain upon which Edinburgh Castle sits because it was faster than going down the street and then cutting across to the Royal Mile. Some members of my group may not forgive me for that because as you can see below, it was a pretty tough hill.
We climbed up the side of this thing, and you can faintly make out the zig-zag pathway on the side of the hill.
Not even the steepest part.
But we did make it up pretty quickly to Edinburgh Castle. The castle has been there since at least the 12th century and the reign of David I, withstanding both siege and war among other things, and was the seat of Scottish royal power until 1603 when England and Scotland united under James VI of the House of Stuart. The castle is now home to the Scottish War Memorial Museum, which honors Scotsman who fell during "The Great War", World War II and any conflict England was involved in post-War era, as well as the Honours of Scotland, a.k.a. the Scottish crown jewels. The Scottish crown dates from 1540 and James V, and is accompanied by the Sceptre of Scotland, and the Sword of State of Scotland, both gifts from the Vatican, another reminder that this was once a deeply Catholic country. The most interesting part of the history of the Honours is that in the late 1640s, early 1650s, when Oliver Cromwell briefly overthrew the monarchy to create the Commonwealth of England, Cromwell sent his men after the Honours to make certain that any remnants of the monarchy were destroyed. However, this is Scotland, and no Englishman is going to rob them of their history. So two women took charge of the Honours, one breaking the Sword of State in half and hiding it in a bundle of wheat, the other stuffing the Crown up her skirt and they took 80 miles north of Edinburgh until it could be safely returned once monarchy was reestablished in Britain. Spencer's only question was, "How was she able to walk 60 miles with a crown up her skirt?" The Crown was most recently used when the Queen opened the first session of the new Scottish Parliament. The crown was symbolically placed at the head of the ceremony and not worn by the Queen so that she honored Scotland's right to self-rule. I love this country and all the symbolism that comes with it.
The Stone of Scone is also located here. There are many myths surrounding the stone and its origins, some saying that it was the coronation stone of the early Dál Riata Gaels who brought it over from Ireland. Others believe it was a traveling altar used by St. Colombia when he was a missionary in Scotland and was later used for coronation. And some even say that it originates to Biblical times when it acted as a pillow for Jacob (not really comfortable in my opinion). Whatever the origins, what we do know about it is that until recently it was a point of contention between the Scots and the English. Every Scottish king or queen was coronated upon the Stone of Scone, and for a long time the Stone was kept in England, which deeply hurt the Scottish people as it was their coronation stone stolen by the English. The Stone was returned to Scotland in 1996, ironically done so by the then Conservative government who wanted to appease the Scots regarding a constitutional settlement. The stone was returned to Edinburgh Castle on 30 November 1996, and will only be removed from the Castle for the coronation of the next king of the United Kingdom, whether that be Charles or William.
It was strange to be at Edinburgh Castle as I had been before 9 years ago when I was 11. I recognized everything, but there was definitely a different feeling being there and I think that may happen several times when visiting places I've been to before.
Following our visit to Edinburgh Castle, we walked down the Royal Mile to indulge our Harry Potter fans in visiting Elephant House Café where J.K. Rowling sat in the back room with a view of Edinburgh Castle and began writing the first few books in the Harry Potter series. I thought the Café was going to be a major tourist trap, but actually I was pleasantly surprised. They have not let the Harry Potter bit overrun the café and make a very conscious effort to maintain it as it was when J.K. Rowling used to be a regular. It is only announced on the outside window as "The Birthplace of Harry Potter" and it says the same on a few staff shirts in small font. Other than that, it is still dedicated to elephants, and there are elephants everywhere as well as news clippings about the poaching of elephants and such. Food there is REALLY good and quite cheap, which is something we also appreciated. They haven't taken advantage of being the Harry Potter café by marking up prices. And I had a slice of DELICIOUS chocolate cake that I shared with everyone who all agreed that it was phenomenal.
Sandy with here elephant cookie.
Outside The Elephant House.
I may not be a Potter-head, but this was still pretty cool.
Following lunch, we walked down to one of my favorite museums of all time, Our Dynamic Earth. It's basically a giant underground museum where they take you on a time travel journey learning how the Earth was formed and then there's all these interactive exhibits that are meant for small children but are way more fun for, as Sandy calls us, "the strangest group of 20 somethings ever". We had fun, and I took a nice nap during the film "We Are Astronomers". I did get some flack for that, but hey, I was tired, and the narrator had a melodic, soothing voice. What was I to do?
A group of space cadets waiting to board the "time machine" also known as the elevator. Back row from left: Merrill, Sandy, Spencer and Jon. Front row from left: Me and Amanda
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control / I'm stepping through the door!" -David Bowie
Following this I indulged my music obsession and found a lovely record store with some really rare U2 LPs that I can't get at home. Sorry mom. :(
We topped it off with a lovely dinner and then made our way back to the bus station and back home to St. Andrews. We had a really fun trip together, and I think our little Elon group is going to be really close by the end of the semester. Either that or we'll be sick of each other and will never speak to one another again.
Edinburgh at night. Probably my favorite shot of the evening.
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