Last week, I watched a movie on Netflix called What We Did on Our Holiday, which was about a family who went to visit the husband’s sick father for his birthday and wanted to pretend everything in their lives was fine despite an impending divorce. It sounds a bit sad, but it was quite charming and the three young kids stole the show. The family was coming from England, but the sick father lived in Scotland, which is why I bring it up. The scenery in the movies was breathtaking, and it made me excited for our trip to Edinburgh.
We arrived in Scotland on Thursday night after eight hours in a bus and a stop at Hadrian’s Wall. After a delicious burger and ice cream brownie, we came back to the room to crash from exhaustion. We are staying at the University of Edinburgh, and these dorms are essentially hotel rooms. European students have got it so good here.
Yesterday was an adventure packed day. After breakfast, we took our bus into the city center to see the Edinburgh Castle. This castle was at the top of a hill, giving it a Hogwarts-esque feel to it. The views from the top were amazing, and we saw pretty much everything in the castle, from the royal jewels to military prisons. I came into the trip thinking that I was more Scottish than I was, but after confirming with my dad, it seems I’m only about somewhere between 10-25% Scottish, which is a bummer because I love this country and its culture.
After the castle, we went to a cat cafe. What on earth is a cat cafe you may ask. Well, it is exactly what it sounds like. We made a reservation and then had an hour time slot to play with cats and order coffee and cakes. In the moment it was so calming and fun. We pet some fluffy cats and I had hot chocolate and a shortbread cookie. After we left, we realized what a strange operation that this cat cafe was. A variety of people come in for an hour, pet cats they don’t own, then a new group of people come in for an hour. These cats probably have some severe trust issues.
We are conveniently here for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which means that there are TONS of shows going on all over the city. Comedy, dance, music – basically if you think of it, it’s here. Sarah and I went to see a three person sketch comedy group called Giraffe. I think they were British, but they did a lot of accents during their show so I can’t be sure. It was a great show in a small venue, so we were close to the action. Right after, we went to another venue to see an a capella group perform (Aquapella from Bath University in England) and they were SO GOOD. I was jamming in my seat. My favorite was a mashup of Don’t by Ed Sheeran and No Diggity.
Afterwards, we got dinner at a place called the Boozy Cow that we decided was way too hip for us. They served Sarah a Diet Coke in what seemed to be a Cambell’s soup can. The chicken sandwhich was amazing though. Next, we met up with Lauren, Hannah, and Hallet before we headed back to the castle to see the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. We had to walk back up the hill to the castle. In fact, this city is all one big hill. It’s a two tier city, with shops all up and down the hills. I thought Boston was hilly but this…this was insane.
The show was essentially an hour and a half of performers from all over the world showing off their musical or dancing talents. At the end of the show, there were fireworks and all the performers came together to dance to some “we are the world” songs. It was quite good. There were bagpipers form Scotland, Bollywood dancers from India, marching bands from the USA, Scottish dancers (similar to Irish dancers), Swiss drummers (SO GOOD), Chinese dancers, Scottish dancers performing a number to Jai Ho fro Slumdog Millionaire (which was a bit confusing) and so much more. Afterwards we walked the mile and a half back to our dorms.
This morning, we woke up and climbed to Arthur’s Seat. To do so, we climbed up this huge mountain, which is an extinct volcano. I cannot describe how incredibly beautiful everything we saw was. The views from every part of the journey took my breath away figuratively and also literally because it was wicked windy. It was about a two hour journey but worth every second. I’ll just let these photos speak for themselves.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen scenery that was this beautiful in my life. I’m still stunned. Later today we have some more fun activities planned, so stay tuned for a second Scotland post.
The Charm of Cambridge 