Day 10: The Duality of Edinburgh
May 24, 2007
Woke up at 7am to find the cleaning lady dusting off the couches
in the Chillout Room. Wait, why wasn't I in bed? Groggily made my way
back into my room and plopped into bed.
I'm a sucker for Dan Brown. I have no chance against his gripping
story-telling. Plowed through the rest of the book as it rained and
sprinkled outside. I'm not one for rain, I'm not gonna lie. Finished
at around 3pm and got out and got to see some more of the Royal Mile.
I found out to my pleasant surprise that Edinburgh is really hard to
get lost in; because of so many landmarks and elevations changes, I
didn't have to pull out my map every two minutes like I've done in
other cities. Also, every single street look completely different
which always helps.
They're doing some sort of venue-building at the Edinburgh Castle
in preparation for the August music and entertainment festivals that
rampage through the city later on in the summer. It was a good
contrast between old and stoic palace to blue seats and scaffolding.
If you're ever in Edinburgh, make sure you skip all the unnecessary and overpriced "real" tours of the city and treat yourself to the Literary Pub Tour, put on by professional actors as you walk all through the Old Town and the New Town. Why is it so cool? Well, you get a crash-course in Scottish literature at the same time going to the same exact pubs the enlightened literati of ye olde days wound down in after a long day at work. The actors recite beautiful works such as by Sir Walter Scott in talented (and perfect) in the olde Scottish language. Didn't always understand it, but there is a powerful way the words meld together and move you. (Maybe it was the beer.) It was a great way to see the Duality of Edinburgh, and how these Scottish literary Greats came down for whisky (no 'e' in Scotland, thank you very much), cavorting, and 'whoorin'. Sounds like a bunch of pretty cool dudes to me.
If you're ever in Edinburgh, make sure you skip all the unnecessary and overpriced "real" tours of the city and treat yourself to the Literary Pub Tour, put on by professional actors as you walk all through the Old Town and the New Town. Why is it so cool? Well, you get a crash-course in Scottish literature at the same time going to the same exact pubs the enlightened literati of ye olde days wound down in after a long day at work. The actors recite beautiful works such as by Sir Walter Scott in talented (and perfect) in the olde Scottish language. Didn't always understand it, but there is a powerful way the words meld together and move you. (Maybe it was the beer.) It was a great way to see the Duality of Edinburgh, and how these Scottish literary Greats came down for whisky (no 'e' in Scotland, thank you very much), cavorting, and 'whoorin'. Sounds like a bunch of pretty cool dudes to me.
For £4.50 I get a citylink bus to Glasgow in two days, but all
hostels are booked. I'm not usually this stupid, but I need to keep
plowing forward. I'll figure something out tomorrow. Promise. If I
have to sneak inside a movie theatre and sleep on the sticky floor, so
be it. (No, I have never done it. Come on.)
I decided Beamers (that's BMW motor vehicles, for you psych
majors) were absolutely meanto to tear through cobblestone streets in
Edinburgh at high speeds. It looks so fackin' cool.
Met some new faces playing a drinking game behind me in the dining room, so a Philadelphian, an Ozzie, a Seattlelite, a Texan, and myself all exchanged vodka lemonade (elixir of the gods) over some cards. There's surprisingly a lot of Americans in Edinburgh, compared to London and Newcastle. I don't think a single one in NewcastleGateshead (that's the official name on the brochures). Set up a pub crawl for the next night, said good night, and went to bed. Slept like a baby. Alone.
Met some new faces playing a drinking game behind me in the dining room, so a Philadelphian, an Ozzie, a Seattlelite, a Texan, and myself all exchanged vodka lemonade (elixir of the gods) over some cards. There's surprisingly a lot of Americans in Edinburgh, compared to London and Newcastle. I don't think a single one in NewcastleGateshead (that's the official name on the brochures). Set up a pub crawl for the next night, said good night, and went to bed. Slept like a baby. Alone.
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