Edinburgh

"Reading Week"

It is reading week, a time for U.K. students to study for finals, catch up on homework, and visit family. For international students, it is time to plan a trip. My friend Violet and I decided Edinburgh, Scotland, was a feasible trip to do for a few days for our reading week. I am writing this on the train back to Norwich so it is productive—right? 

In the few weeks leading up to the trip, Violet and I scoured the internet for the best places to eat, things to do, and Halloween events since we were there on October 31. 

Getting There

We left early Wednesday morning on an East Midlands Railway train bound for Peterborough, then connecting to a LNER (London North Eastern Railway) train at Edinburgh Waverley Station. This train was over 40 minutes late and that is how I found out you can apply for a delay refund through the associated rail company. I have been refunded over £60 for my late train into Swansea and Edinburgh. Despite the delay, the train ride over was beautiful. When the train was driving through Scotland, it was near the coast so we could see fields of grass to the left and the sea to the right. Sunlight flooded the windows, it was like we were riding on a train through heaven. 

We arrived in the late afternoon to cloudy skies and the sound of bagpipes. Violet and I both were instantly amazed by the architecture. The view from the train station is incredible. You look out into the distance and see buildings huddled together and stacked upon each other in rows.

View from outside the Edinburgh Waverley Station

After we gawked at the pretty buildings, we went out to eat. We learned Gordon Ramsey has a couple restaurants in Edinburgh, so naturally we had to visit one. We walked over to St. James Quarter, which is an interesting brass swirly building jutting out the top of a regular shopping complex. I had the chili cheese smash burger from Street Burger, one of the best burgers I had had in a while.

Chili cheese smash burger from Street Burger

After we ate, we took a bus to our hotel about 20ish minutes outside of town. We stayed in a room at the Holiday Inn right next door to the Edinburgh Zoo. It was a large room compared to most in Europe and was right in front of a bus stop leading into town. We frequently took Lothian buses to and from our hotel in town.

We went back into town to explore more. The sun sets early now since it is winter and it was neat to see the buildings in the dark. Eerie but beautiful. 

Edinburgh Castle in the dark

Ghost Tour

In celebration of Halloween, Violet and I booked a walking underground ghost tour with City of Edinburgh Tours. Our tour guide told us tales of ghosts and very real, dark things that happened in Edinburgh in medieval times and later. Men who committed crimes would get their tongues, ears, or genitalia nailed to a plank of wood and have to break free on their own. Children accused of crimes would face the same fate however women were killed no matter the crime. 

We walked to Greyfriars Kirkyard, a graveyard where we learned about the plague. Greyfriars Kirkyard sits upon a large hill, which were were told was a pit for people who succumbed to the Black Death. The hill was covered with a thin layer of dirt, and now a church and a graveyard lay atop. 

We also learned about Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby is like Scotland's Hachiko. Bobby's owner passed away and he stayed at his grave until he died years later. He has his own commemorative statue at the graveyard and is recognized as Scotland's most loyal dog. 

We walked further into the cemetery to a grave with large iron bars over it, known as a mortsafe or a mortcage. Resurrection men, or grave robbers, were common at the time, so wealthy people would pay for extra protection to remain undisturbed post-mortem. In Edinburgh, there was a famous pair of body snatchers named William Burke and William Hare. They killed 16 people in what is known as the Burke and Hare murders. They would dig up bodies from graves and kill people to supply dissection bodies to the nearby university. The university would pay them and not question where the bodies were sourced from. I knew about this case from one of my favorite podcasts, And That's Why We Drink. It was interesting hearing the story again and being in the place where it happened. 

While it was an "underground" tour, we only spent about 15 minutes down there. Fine with me, it was damp, cramped, and allegedly very haunted. Edinburgh's underground was intended to be used by merchants, but because of the damp conditions, it was unsuitable for merchants. Eventually, they became inhabited by people without houses, mostly outsiders like Highlanders and criminals evading the law. People died in the underground frequently from disease, smoke exposure due to lack of ventilation, or murder. Now vacant and only partially open to tours, only ghosts allegedly remain. 

People leave dolls for a ghost child

Edinburgh Castle

The next day, we got started early by visiting Edinburgh's Castle. One of the best ways to learn about the history of a town is to visit its castle, many towns in the U.K. have one. Unlike the castle we visited in Wales, this one was entirely renovated on the inside for museum exhibitions. We got to weaponry, armor, and paintings of the people who lived in the castle. We also saw the Honors of Scotland, its crown jewels from the 1500s. I did not know Scotland has its own crown jewels and that they are the oldest in all of Britain. 

Long line to get into Edinburgh Castle

Notable Architecture

My favorite thing we did in Edinburgh was walk around looking at all the buildings. There are two in particular that stick out among the cityscape. The first is The Hub, formerly The Highland Tolbooth St. John’s Church. Its red accents make it particularly interesting to look at. It almost looks like a vampire liar.

The Hub is now owned by the Edinburgh International Festival

Across the street from The Hub is St. Giles' Cathedral. It can be recognized by its iconic spire. The castle, The Hub, and St. Giles' Cathedral all lay upon one history-rich road known as the Royal Mile that connects to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Violet and I would have liked to tour the palace, but it was a bit too expensive to do this trip. 

St. Giles' Cathedral

All along the Royal Mile, there are alleyways that branch down into Old Town called closes. They are dimly lit and often tight with countless stairs. This is how people travel through the streets so densely and vertically packed. Violet and I joked that we should be fit after this trip because of how many stairs we climbed. 

One street prematurely setting up for Christmas

As a light lunch, we went to Clarinda's Tearoom for broccoli cheddar soup and shared a pot of Scottish breakfast tea. It has a daily selection of sweets set out in the dining room for people to choose from. I found this to be charming. The restaurant's walls were covered with old plates, pictures, and paintings. 

Clarinda's Tea Room daily sweets display

Museum of Edinburgh

After walking around more, we walked through the Museum of Edinburgh to see more local history. My favorite parts were seeing their glass art collection and a genuine sedan chair. Wealthy people would get carted around in one so their shoes would not get gross from the dirty streets.

Sedan chair at the Museum of Edinburgh

Scotland's National Gallery

At dusk, we went to Scotland's National Gallery to see fine art from around the world, from Scotland and Edinburgh. The walls were tall, and some of the paintings were huge. Some were so big I do not know how they managed to hang them on the wall. I always love going to art museums because it is amazing to see how talented people are—past and present.

Halloween

For Halloween, Violet and I dressed up and went to town to a couple bars. I borrowed a fairy costume from my flatmate Talia, and she dressed up as Juliet from Romeo + Juliet (1996). On our haunted tour the night before, we passed by a place called Frankenstein & Bier Keller and knew we had to go to celebrate Halloween. Little did we know how themed this place would be. It was very busy, it was packed with university students on all three floors. The whole place looked like Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. At one point in the night, all of the lights turned off and fog came out of a prop item near the mezzanine. Frankenstein's monster was lowered out on a plank on chains above the crowd below. The animatronic sat upright and looked around before being hauled back up. It was so unexpected and so cool. Mind you, this bar is here year-round. Later in the night, we went to Pilgrim Bar, which was just like the small college bars we were used to seeing at home.  

View from the mezzanine at Frankenstein

Final Day

The next day, we checked out of our hotel early and walked to Stockbridge to see the more suburban area of Edinburgh. We ate breakfast at Urban Angel. I had an autumn spiced mocha and a fancy French toast with plum, cream, and gingerbread crumbles. We checked out some stores and walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was a bit sad because some of the plants were beginning to die off for winter and their glasshouses were closed, but it was still neat to walk around and see what it was all about. 

We ate delicious Chinese food at Jimmy's Express, it was the best Chinese food I have had since coming to the U.K. While we were eating, it started to rain for the first time since we got there. Soon enough it was time to get back on the train to go home. We took a later train out of Edinburgh and I made it back to my room at midnight. 

In Sum

I absolutely loved Edinburgh. It may be my favorite city I have visited so far. It has such an interesting history, and the architecture was breathtaking—unlike anything I had ever seen before. After about three days, we did everything we wanted to do. I am so glad we went and I am excited to go to Amsterdam next week!

This blog post was written for HON491C