May 25 – May 27, 2022
As much as we loved London, the highlands were calling, but not before we got a chance to feast our eyes on as much tartan, cashmere, and grey stone as possible. Thus, on a blustery Wednesday morning, after a final canal brekkie, we set off in a single file line – one suitcase and one backpack per person – for Paddington Station. Was it slightly harder than anticipated to find the right local train from Paddington to King’s Cross Station? Yes, and… we may have briefly lost one of our own once we did get to King’s Cross. But we were quickly distracted by the spacious dome of the station and some Starbucks to fortify us for our journey through the countryside.
We took a 4.5 hour LNER (London North Eastern Railway) train to Edinburgh, making a few stops along the way, most notably at Newcastle. This is where Dad’s coworkers with Xplor are based, and he spent a good deal of time there on his last business trip. Weirdly, no one was too interested in hopping off the train and puttering around Newcastle, but some good photos were captured from the window :). Actually, the benefit of taking the train (and we came to value trains above all other modes of transportation this trip) was the relaxed environment in which one can take in the spectacular scenery of the English countryside.
Here’s where we really hit our first major speed bump since Toronto Pearson International Airport. Well, a bump would be too mild a description. More like a series of bumps, ascending upwards. Stairs, to be specific. Google Maps doesn’t show you urban topography, like hills, or closes. What was marked as a 5 minute walk from Waverly Station Edinburgh to our Airbnb ended up being a brutal upward march, as Edinburgh is composed of ascending parallel streets with perpendicular closes, which are essentially alleyways but made of stairs carved into the hillside.
Begging, pleading with God, we hauled our suitcases up two closes to emerge onto the Royal Mile, the famous stretch of open street with tons and tons of tourist shops, pubs, and churches. The Royal Mile cuts through Old Town, where most of the historical buildings like the Supreme Courts, St. Giles Cathedral, and the Real Mary King’s Close are. University of Edinburgh is also in Old Town. New Town is just a 10-15 minute walk away, or 5 minute bus ride, and has many great restaurants, modern homes, and parks.
Our huffing and puffing gave us a chance to take in the beautiful, albeit very touristy, expanse of the Royal Mile. There simply isn’t any urban layout like Edinburgh in all of Europe, and we were often struck by stark contrasts between dark stone buildings, cobbles, blue skies, and sea views.
After settling into the Airbnb, furiously wiping brows and pits, we spent a relaxed night grabbing dinner across the street (shoutout Haggis Bites), and Mark, Avery, Ismael, and Jordan went wandering in search of a pub to haunt. Success came in the unlikely form of Your Neighbor Who Used to Be in A College Garage Band, aka a really cool guitar player who put a Scottish spin on virtually every classic American rock song you could think of. However, the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the double rainbow skyline.
Remembering the success of our mini quests in London, we split up again on Thursday; Edinburgh also lent itself to a Choose Your Own Adventure approach.
Avery and Ismael actually hiked up to Arthur’s Seat, an ancient dormant volcano, that, along with some other hills, forms Holyrood Park and overlooks all of Edinburgh. Sam later did this hike on Friday morning, and all parties reported amazing views.
Jordan had a lovely little morning exploring New Town, having an Eggs Benedict and coffee with some light reading at Leo’s Beanery, and then popping into Surgeon’s Hall. Surgeon’s Hall doesn’t allow photos, but you can probably gather from the title that it’s a museum dedicated to anatomy and the history of surgical technique. The best part, the Museum of Pathology, was straight out of a bad sci-fi movie: jars and jars of floating body parts :D. She guessed, rightly, that no one else would want to spend their few days in Edinburgh at this attraction.
She was able to then meet up with Mark and Susan who had been moseying on down the Royal Mile (and past more cashmere) towards the Scottish Parliament Building, after visiting the Palace of Holyrood. The parliament building, unlike most of Edinburgh’s architecture, is very modern, completed just recently in 2004. You can see more about the history of the parliament here.
The real triumph of the day came in the form of a distillery tour at Holyrood Distillery in the heart of Edinburgh. But wait, you may be wondering, don’t they make Scotch Whiskey out west on the coast? Yes, yes they do, but we had an interesting opportunity to tour this baby distillery, only two years old, that plans to put out its first qualifying batch of whiskey this fall. They currently produce gin, but our tour guide taught Mark, Susan, Ismael, and Jordan all about aging whiskey in casks used for other spirits, and showed us all the very expensive equipment required to ferment and distill the whiskey. Jordan should theoretically remember more from the tour other than the wheel of malt, but after a certain number of complementary gin shots, she was mostly focused on the attractive Spanish-Scottish tour guide with the confidence of a Harvard professor and the energy of Pedro Pascal.
At this point, you can probably pick up on a pattern in our energy levels. Getting to the end of this day required a group Deliveroo order, and a new Amazon Prime show binge. ‘Nuff said. Though the gin was negatively impacting certain individuals’ ability to speed-run episodes of Wheel of Time, Mark was persistent, and we managed at least four or five episodes straight before calling it a night. And of course, we can’t forget that Avery and Jordan were able to find the mythical flavorless ice cream (aka sweet cream) at Tesco, and won major points with Jeremy.
Friday morning, after a frantic 30 minute rush to check out of the Airbnb (oops), we had just enough time to explore a little more of Edinburgh. Mark and Susan took a leisurely walk that accidentally turned into a discovery of the graves of Adam Smith and Robert Burns atop Carlton Hill (Adam Smith also has a great statue by St. Giles Cathedral). Jordan, Sam, and Jeremy just bummed around a local Starbucks – which by the way, may be the best part about modern travel. No matter where you are, there is always a Starbucks where you can pee, connect to wifi, have a little drinky-drink, and collect yourself. Mmmhmm, tastes like America.
MOR'NA MILE AWEE 