A Birthday in Edinburgh
My sister Christy had decided to relocate to Edinburgh at the beginning of 2001, having heard that the city is lots of fun and cheaper than London. I’m not sure about the cheaper bit, but we thought we would fly up and visit for her birthday! As it turned out our friend Helen came down from Aberdeen and made it a real party. And it was about time we saw the World Heritage listed Edinburgh Castle (and old town), the recent European city of culture, and home to the famous Fringe Festival!
We flew in at the crack of dawn on Saturday, to a crisp, clear day. Such a contrast to foggy, cloudy London! Taking the airport bus into town we were impressed with the comfortable bus, and that impression remained over the next two days. (London has pretty old buses, often with an open door at the back, and anyone who says they are romantic hasn’t smelt the fumes, sat in the small seats, or hit their head on the low ceilings). Edinburgh, by contrast, has frequent, modern, and clean buses. Actually, to be honest it felt like a foreign country, not Britain!!
Our B&B turned out to be very comfortable, with a richly carpeted entrance and a roaring log fire. We dropped our stuff off and went out to look around. We spent a couple of hours window shopping on Princes St. This is a wonderful street, as only one side has shops on it, the other side is open to a park which leads up to the Edinburgh castle. The result is a street full of sunlight, even in the depths of winter. There was a Starbucks on the street with a large, sunny, second floor lounge which quickly became a favourite meeting point.
Later in the day we met up with Christy and her friend Tash. We gave Chris her birthday present. My little sister is growing up! We found out how the relocation was going. They both liked Edinburgh a lot, finding it a smaller, friendlier city than London. Much easier to get a handle on. But, it turns out the pay is apparently much less than London, while rent and expenses are similar or only slightly less. For that reason both were unsure if they would stay long term. (Eventually Chris did move back to London, and felt much happier as the money she earnt there financed more travel than Edinburgh would have).
A key destination is the Edinburgh Castle. This amazing building is also on an amazing geological site, an enormous cliff that towers over the surrounding plain. Apparently millions of years ago the whole land was that high, but during a recent Ice Age large ice sheets had scraped over the land, shifting most of the soft soil, except for this massive outcrop of granite. When humans came along they recognised the potential for defense and built many shelters on it, culminating in recent centuries with the castle.
Edinburgh is a city of two halves. The old, 16th and 17th century half is on the side with the castle. Starting at the bottom of the road, we passed medieval shops, pubs, and buildings, finally climbing up the approach to the castle. But the other side of the city, known as the New Town, was built during a time of great prosperity in Georgian Britain, and consists of some of the smartest townhouses, squares and gardens you are likely to see.
We met up with our friend Helen and decided to do the bus tour. It’s a handy way of seeing a city in a short time, and the open-topped buses are fine in sunny weather. It dropped us off at the castle and we paid the entrance fee and went in.
Castles can be a mixed bag, in my experience, because they are fundamentally military installations that can be very bare and sparse. They are not like palaces, which are more recently built, and tend to have better building techniques (eg windows that shut) and can therefore be stuffed full of tender paintings and wall hangings. So it takes a bit of effort to make a castle come alive. Edinburgh has made a reasonable attempt to do this, and we enjoyed wandering around, catching the fanatastic view, and seeing the rooms where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James, the future King of England and Scotland (I think, don’t take this as gospel).
There are lots of funky little bars and restaurants in Edinburgh, especially around the old town, so for dinner we headed out with Chris, Tash and Helen to a vegetarian place. I can’t remember the name now but it is around the corner from the Starbucks in old town and was excellent. A fanastic range of innovative dishes, and stuff that you wouldn’t make at home (eg no fettuccine). I wish this restaurant was in London, we’d be regulars!
I’m writing this a bit after the event, so my next memory is of the next day when we visited Arthur’s Seat. This is a large hill overlooking Edinburgh, virtually in the centre, which has been left relatively natural (still cleared, as is most of Scotland). Tromping through here was excellent - the bowl-like shape of the land meant the city disappeared within minutes, and it was like being out in the country! It was very dramatic, with a frozen stream in the valley, and clambering around was lots of fun. We saw a few people walking their dogs but generally it was very quiet.
We also managed to see the National Art Gallery with Helen, and it has an impressive collection of paintings, including a wonderful one by Paul Gaugin of two Tahitian women. The contrast between the tropical warmth and simple life in the painting, and the cold, industrialised society outside couldn’t have been stronger!
Finally after a lovely weekend it was time to head back on the nice buses to the airport, and return to London. It was excellent to meet up with friends and family, and I discovered a cool city. Edinburgh has a beauty and grandeur about it, and a thriving restaurant scene and cultural life. Well worth a weekend!