Scotland: Days 1-2

Ah, Scotland.  Bonnie, bonnie Scotland.  We have now been back for, oh, two weeks?  One week?  It's now September (WTF?  SEPTEMBER?) so maybe we've been back for a month?  I have no idea.  I can't stop crying over that video of the hugging lion long enough to figure it out.  And yes, I'm aware that this video was probably a huge internet sensation about seven years ago (I like to jump on bandwagons after they've already done a few victory laps), so I think that would make it 1992 right now? Merry Christmas? 

Anyway, I've been meaning to write a post about Scotland.  Scotland was awesome!  You should all go to Scotland.  Oh, wait.  You've already been.  And you're already planning to go.  So... nevermind!  Good job, everyone!  Scotland, ho!

Every day I think "I should really write a post about Scotland", and then every day I don't write a post about Scotland because I just don't have time to do it justice.  And then that gets me to thinking about how I still haven't made a photo album for our trip to Barcelona.  Or our trip to Lake Tahoe.  Which was... one year ago.   Wait, Nessie who?  Oh, right.  Scotland.

So here is my brilliant solution, internets.  I am going to do this in segments.   Smart idea, no?  I wish I had thought of it myself!  Oh, wait.  What were you saying? 

BWI and Newark!  Day 1!  (Tuesday!) 

Let me begin by saying: I am not at all a fan of overnight flights.  I have enough trouble sleeping in our Tempurpedic Bed O' Magic, with my well-loved sleeping mask and my Special Walmart Fan for background noise.  Sleeping on an overnight flight is a total joke.  But that's how the world works, you fly eastbound over the Atlantic and you're going to be grouchy, groggy, and nauseous the next day.   But our flights over were about as comfortable as we could have possibly have hoped: the puddle jumper from Baltimore to Newark was fairly smooth and didn't even smell too strongly of piss and Mystery Airline Bathroom Cleaner; the flight from Newark to Edinburgh was empty enough that we had a whole row of three seats to ourselves and we had a choice of 20 on-demand movies and our own personal TV screens in the back of every seat.  (I watched When in Vegas, and it was actually pretty entertaining.   Just in case you were wondering.)

Edinburgh!  Day 2!  (Wednesday!)

By the time we'd arrived in Edinburgh, I'd practiced saying Eh-din-burr-ah enough times in my head to sort of get it right and we actually managed to get an hour or two of sleep.  The airport had an extremely helpful information desk that sold us tickets to the Airlink shuttle bus and told us where to pick it up and everyone had the most delightful accents on earth.  Also, I brushed my teeth and managed to order a coffee without too much confusion.  Score. 

We made it onto the double decker Airlink bus, which dropped us off at the Waverly  bus station in downtown Edinburgh.  I have to commend the Scots on the ease of use with all of their public transportation: the recorded announcements that played on all the buses and trains we took were clear and easy to understand.  There were electronic boards listing all the departure times and gates, the gates were all clearly and logically numbered.  When the train or bus started moving, an announcement would come on saying "This train is for Glasgow, calling in stop1, stop2, stop3, and stop4.  Next stop, stop1."  As someone who has accidentally  taken a bus from Baltimore to New York (which is in New York) when she meant to go to Newark (which is in New Jersey) (which is a different state than New York) in the past, this was reason enough to give Scotland an A+ in my book. 

We managed to store our bags in the train station for the day, buy some breakfast/lunch/WHATEVER IT WAS FOOD, take out some pounds from the "cashpoint", and make our way out of the train station.   I just pointed the camera around taking pictures of all kind of buildings with no idea what they actually were, but I am sure that Jenners is a department store, and that this is Princes Street.   We walked along Princes Street until we were directly below Edinburgh Castle, and then we hiked our way on up.  

  

We spent the rest of the day in the castle, which was enormous.  This is the first real castle I've ever seen, and it was even cooler after having just read Pillars of the Earth.  I got a real thrill out of knowing what a "keep" was.  And then I fell asleep standing up for a few minutes and took a few blurry pictures of my feet.  

A note on the weather weather: maybe I'm a little biased at the moment because Baltimore is so disgustingly sweaty, but I thought the much-maligned British weather was downright delightful.  Jeans and a sweatshirt were comfortable each day we were there, and I think I'd be perfectly happy living with summer temperatures in the 50s and 60s.   It rained a bit (we were told it was the wettest August on record, or in 50 years, or something like that), but it was never a stay-inside-all-day-and-watch-movies kind of rain.  This first day in Edinburgh was the rainiest day of our trip, but we were fine with rain jackets and no umbrella, even being outside most of the day.  It misted on several other occasions, but it wasn't even enough to be an inconvenience.  The sun was absent most of the time, but the cloudy and overcast skies were just incredibly dramatic; not at all depressing.

After we'd seen all we could see at the castle, we made our way down the Royal Mile and back to the Waverly Train Station.  We retrieved our bags, bought tickets to Glasgow and got on the train. 

We made it the Queen Street Station in Glasgow, successfully navigated ourself to the Central Train Station in Glasgow and caught our next train to Bishopton - where our almost-embarrassingly-super-duper-fancy hotel was located - and what's that?  You'd like a video tour of our hotel suite?  Well, I declare, it must be your lucky day, Internet!  Because it just so happens that I took a half-delusional, very sleep-deprived video of our room when we arrived!  So what I need you all to do is to cross your fingers and hope real hard that tonight I'll actually be able to locate said video on our home computer.  I recently reorganized everything on there and there is a slight, teensy chance that I might have accidentally "organized away" the few videos I took on the trip.   

Peace out, to be continued, happy Friday, et cetera et cetera!

Comments

[Liz]

So they let you leave your bags at the station? I don't know why that just amazes me.

I'm taking detailed notes...

[Operation Pink Herring]

Yes, they did! It said in our Frommer's book that there was luggage storage at the Edinburgh Waverly train station (but not at the airport), and we chanced it, skeptically, because the book was the 2008 version. Lo and behold, there really was luggage storage! I think it cost 6 UK pounds per bag for the day.

[elise]

I think I'm gonna like this series...

[heidikins]

Gasp! Oh my laws! Matt Damon was in Scotland?

I'm so glad you had a lovely trip (at least Scotland: Part the first)

xox

[Wickedly Scarlett]

Oh, Scotland! It's been years since I visited it, but I still vividly remember all of the kilt jokes and of course the imposing castle :) Also, I totally saw Nessie--surprisingly, she is pink with purple spots, and sort of innertube shaped. Who'da thunk it! My favorite memory is of the bagpiper playing at Culloden. What a beautiful place--I can't wait to hear more!!

[Ricky]

It rained a bit (we were told it was the wettest August on record, or in 50 years, or something like that), but it was never a stay-inside-all-day-and-watch-movies kind of rain. This first day in Edinburgh was the rainiest day of our trip, but we were fine with rain jackets and no umbrella, even being outside most of the day. It misted on several other occasions, but it wasn't even enough to be an inconvenience. The sun was absent most of the time, but the cloudy and overcast skies were just incredibly dramatic; not at all depressing.