Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe, Earth, Milky Way, Universe

April 5, 1603.  King James VI of Scotland prepares to leave his lifelong home of Edinburgh to head southward to the city of London.  Less than two weeks before, Queen Elizabeth I of England died childless (she was a “virgin” after all), and it was James, her first cousin twice removed, who was her closest living relative.  Now styled James VI of Scotland and James I of England, he was required to leave Edinburgh to take up residence in London since England was larger and more profitable than Scotland.  However, as his carriage was about to pull out the gates of Edinburgh Castle, James promised the Scottish people that he would return to his homeland one out of every three years.  Obviously he failed to keep that promise, since I have now been to Edinburgh just as many times as James did during the 22 years of his joint English-Scottish rule.

I arrived in Edinburgh (map: http://bit.ly/aZEiPG) at eight in the morning on Thursday after a sleepless night in Dublin Airport.  I checked into my hostel soon thereafter, but I wasn’t allowed to enter my room (or more importantly, my bed) until two that afternoon.  Obviously, I needed something to do to occupy my time and keep me awake, and what better to do than check out Edinburgh Castle:

Oh yeah, that’ll wake you up.  Edinburgh Castle was the home of the Scottish Royal Family from the 12^th century until James VI’s non-return trip to England in 1603, but evidence shows that people had been living atop the rock within Edinburgh since the 9^th century BC!  It’s a good camping spot, I guess (especially after looking at the view):

Anyway, Edinburgh Castle is now more-or-less a complex of a bunch of different museums, such as the Scottish National War Museum, along with the castle itself.  I saw the royal crown and scepter that the Scottish monarchy used during their time in Edinburgh, I stood in the room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI in 1567, I checked out the dungeons where the British actually kept American POWs during the Revolutionary War.  There was certainly enough there to keep me functioning in my sleep-deprived state, and I was awake enough to check out nearby Calton Hill, home of Scotland’s National Monument:

If it looks like it’s not finished, that’s because it isn’t!  The idea was that, after the Napoleonic Wars, the British wanted to build a mini-version of the Parthenon to honor those who died in the two decades of bloodshed.  Construction began in 1826, and by 1829 they ran out of money for it!  It has sat in its current state for 181 years, and has over time earned the nickname of “Edinburgh’s disgrace.”  Funny enough, when a proposal was made in 2004 to finally complete the monument, the people of Edinburgh were thoroughly against it, arguing that its incompleteness is what makes it special and noteworthy!  That’s certainly what made me take notice of it, and allowed me to write this paragraph of my blog about it (so maybe they have a point)!

Finally, I was able to crawl into bed and take a six hour nap, waking up just in time for me to get ready for the midnight premiere of…

Hells yeah!  I actually really liked this one, even though I was on edge the whole time as to when exactly they were going to cut the book in half (and it actually wasn’t at the part I was expecting).  Anyway, I’m not going to talk much about it in case there are any of you who haven’t seen it yet (what are you waiting for?!), but something I found strange happened when the credits started to roll: everyone got up to leave!  In the States, for a largely-anticipated movie like this, hardly anyone leaves until the credits are over, just in case there’s a little teaser at the end!  Even though there hasn’t been anything at the end of the Harry Potter films (and granted this one was no different), I thought maybe since this one was in two parts that there would be something, and I was shocked that the Scottish didn’t think twice about staying to the end!  The only people who stayed were me and three girls with American accents behind me (California, to be precise), and we talked about how we refused to leave for other multi-chapter movies in the past, such as Spider-man or Pirates of the Caribbean.  Europeans are weird (though they probably think we’re crazy, sitting through the boring credits)!

Anyway, the next day I decided to check out Holyrood Park.  You’re probably thinking, “Oh, that’s nice.  He explored a quaint little park with fountains and a few statues and trees that are indigenous to other regions around the world.  Sounds like a jolly good time!”  False!  This is Holyrood Park:

It’s a freaking dormant volcano in the middle of the freaking city!  Holy crap (or should I say Holyrood?)!  It was quite a hike, but my reward was a view of the city from atop the peak, which is known as Arthur’s Seat:

Unfortunately, the peak should be called “Annoying-tourists-who-talk-really-loudly-in-their-native-languages-and-hog-up-all-the-good-scenic-viewpoints’ Seat,” since the place was full of them.  Eventually I found a secluded spot so I can hang out and play some Pokémon for a bit, when this guy flew within three feet of me:

I named him Eddy, the Super-Territorial Edinburgh Crow!  The entire time while I was there, this crow walked around me in a circle, stopping every now and then to puff out his feathers and caw at me three times.  I didn’t know whether he wanted to eat me or mate with me!  Finally, when I got fed up and left that spot, I looked back and noticed that Eddy was standing right where I was sitting, looking all proud and cocky.  I thought that was rather weird, until I saw a sign pinpointing that spot where I was:

I was sitting atop of Crow Hill!  I guess that explains that!  Anyway, other than wander around the city and pick up some souvenirs, that was basically what I did in Edinburgh.  I sort of wish I decided to spend another day in Scotland; maybe I would have taken a bus trip up to Loch Ness to not see some sort of monster, but maybe now I have an excuse to come back someday!  Also, I think the brisk air brought out some more of my No-Shave November beard:

Certainly not bushy or anything, but defined I believe is the right word, if I say so myself (plus, I got my newly-acquired Scottish flag in the back of that picture!).  I’m definitely getting rid of it the first day of December; I’m not so fond of the itchiness and scruffiness, but I’ll be loyal to the No-Shave November credo until then!  My next trip will be Thanksgiving in Belfast, the capital and largest city in Northern Ireland, along with my friends within the Butler organization, so I’m looking forward to that (especially the free dinner!).  My poll of who my audience is will be back up for the next week, so make sure to vote if you haven’t already.  As they say around here, thanks a mill!