Edinburgh

Mo Dhith, Mo Dhith, 'smi gun Tri Lamhan,
Da Lamh 'sa Phiob is Lamh 'sa Chlaidheamh.

My loss, My loss, without three hands,
Two for the pipe and one for the sword.

~Brosnachadh Catha Chlann Dughaill (Clan MacDougall's incitement to battle, c 1299)

The sceptre and the sword came to Scotland as papal gifts to King James IV (1488-1513)

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour." ~R.L. Stevenson

"I'm what I always have been--a Scot, a bit introspective. I don't tell lies and I prefer straight dealing." ~~Sean Connery

"Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contributions to mankind." ~~Winston Churchill

"Had Wallace fought for Greece of old, His urn had been beaten of gold; The Children of his native land Had hewn for him with a cunning hand A mountain for a monument." ~~JM Davidson

Even on the bus at night I was instantly in love with Edinburgh. I will not forget that night, seeing the quiet houses streaming by, nestled in the green, exotic, but comfortable at the same time. Out of all the places I've been to in Europe (which haven't been many) I feel like I could live here. I don't want to leave Scotland. I'm not homesick for Santa Chiara as I was in London, and I'm not homesick for Texas as I was in Italy. I want to visit every shop, explore every building, and sit, marvel, and live. Three days just isn't enough. I want to see the highlands, the lakes, the sea, the heather, etc. It's the riches green of grass I've ever seen, and it grows soft, the ground soft. The hills beckon, the fog entices, the homes invite, no matter how cookie-cutter some of them are.

The bus let us off at Waverly bridge, just past a Gothic steeple structure with no church, which I later found out is the Sir Walter Scott monument. We weren't sure about how to get to the hostel, but we met with a nice German guy who had stayed there in the past, and he took us there. Castle Rock Hostel! It overlooks Edinburgh Castle, and it is clean clean clean! There are murals on the walls, the people are nice, the rooms cheerful and inviting, there's a game room with internet access, a lounge where they show movies, it is altogether a place I want to be! There are 12 beds (6 bunks) in our room, but it is all girls, students from Wisconsin, who were really friendly. Or should I say "Wiscansin"? We're in the "Whiskey" room, and I'm in the "Talisker" bed. We have label plaques on the walls next to our beds. And they even have free storage for valuables, unlike the London one where we had to pay for it. But, ironically, we don't even feel the need to store our luggage here. This is a palace compared to the other hostel! I never mentioned the name: never go to Bayswater International hostel in London.

I almost didn't want to leave the hostel the next morning. But we went out, I received an assurance email from Daddy that he had transferred some money into my account so I withdrew some pounds, then we got breakfast. We went to a little place right across from the Hub (a church converted to shops inside) called Elephant's Sufficiency and got rolls and milk. That was the best roll I've tasted in my life [it was actually a scone]. It had the delicate biscuit flavor, but also that of raisin bread, a true delicacy. The milk kept us full for a while, as it did in London. And together they were only £2.

Next we went to Edinburgh Castle, which was amazing. We went to the military museum, saw the one o'clock gun fired, saw the Royal Honors (scepter, sword, and crown), and the Scottish National War Memorial, and everything else.

Then we saw the Stone of Destiny. I thought it was funny how the text about it said that England had taken the stone for 700 years, when in Westminster Abbey we read that the stone was supposed to sit under the throne but had been removed to Scotland and was only borrowed for future crownings.

After we went through the castle (it took 3 hours--I was enthralled, though I don't remember very much anymore). We just strolled down the Royal Mile, stopping in tourist shops here and there. We went to "The Writer's Museum", which was a house with rooms dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Burns. I so want to read Ivanhoe now. I'm craving Treasure Island, and I really want to get into poetry. Of my earlier quotes, 3 were from the caslte and one was Stevenson from this museum. I'm also interested in reading his poetry now.

As we continued down the mile, we stopped at the Tron Kirk, a church that sort of burnt down and is now an exhibition space, then we ducked into a children's museum for 5 minutes before it closed. It was full of toys.

Last we went to The Poet's Library, which is a normal library with just poetry of all kinds. I looked through a book of Robert Burns' love letters and am interested in reading them, as well as the Brownings. Today I decided: forget Venice! Who cares about Venice when you can have Scottish poetry?

Yesterday afternoon we had our late lunch at Food inc, behind the Tron Kirk. It was just a tiny sandwich bar and very cheap, but the food was EXCELLENT! I had a delicious tuna and sweet corn sandwich, lentil soup (the lentils were ground up), and a toffee muffin, all for £2.50. Valerie had an egg salad sandwich, and Carmen had a chicken salad sandwich. We're definitely going again tomorrow. I'm going to have carrot cake (I tried a piece of Carmen's and it is to die for) instead of the muffin. Who'd of thought we would hit two cheap bull's eyes in Scotland?

I'm not going to write about Stirling until tomorrow morning. It won't be as fresh in my memory but, not being so exhausted, I'll be able to make it more entertaining.