Edinburgh, Scotland

I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland this weekend! It was my first weekend excursion outside of London, and it was an amazing city to have my first solo travel experience. Outside coming to London, of course.

So here are some of the highlights of Scotland's capital city, all of which I visited!

Edinburgh Castle
This castle is breathtaking. It sits above Princes Street Gardens, giving you amazing views of the city once you reach the top of the hill.

The castle reminded me slightly of Tower of London, except with a reputation more associated with Mary Queen of Scots and less associated with the beheading of Henry VIII's wives [correction because I haven't memorized all of the Kings and Queens of England. Apologies.]

Inside the castle, we saw the Scottish Crown Jewels, also known as the Honours of Scotland. This includes the Stone of Destiny, on which apparently the monarchs of Scotland were crowned and every monarch of the United Kingdom continues to be crowned. The Honours were put in a chest and locked up for slightly more than 100 years after the Acts of Union (unifying the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England into the Parliament of Great Britain). These were also hidden during World War II, and only four people in the world knew where they were.

And now they're on display for tourists.

The Castle also includes an interesting Prisoners of War exhibit, where they even kept a few American revolutionaries. They even pointed out an American flag carved into the original prison doors and an etching denouncing King George III.

We learned a lot about the history of Scotland throughout the castle, so I would definitely recommend it. However much of a Tourist Trap it may be.


Whisky Experience
So the Scottish have a thing about their whisky, which is why we decided to invest in a trip to the Scotch Whisky Experience. We learned all about how whisky is made and then stored and how some of it is "lost to the angels." Aka: evaporates.

Most importantly, we were able to try each of the four main Scottish whiskys, each from a different region of Scotland: Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside and Isla.

The organization also had the largest collection of unopened bottles of Scotch Whisky. The oldest of these was a bottle from the 1890s.

The Whisky experience was also totally worth it. If not just to learn that Scotch whisky is indeed spelled without an 'e.'


Holyrood Park
Another one of the amazingly beautiful parks in Edinburgh was Holyrood Park.

It's also amazingly tall.

Nonetheless, we decided to climb this hill for the infamous panoramic views of the city.

We were told the climb itself would take a half hour at the longest. However, since it was cold, we decided to stop along the way and we weren't the most athletic people on the planet, it took us about 45 minutes.

Still, the views were completely worth it:



In short, I would love to see this city in the summer.

Also, I feel decidedly more in shape than I did before I left London. Pretty sure it was the combination of climbing this hill and the sudden fresh air.





I must also add that the hostel experience was not bad at all. It's a lot like a college dormitory, except not everyone speaks English and it's ridiculously temporary. The staff there also recommended some great restaurants and sights for us to check out, 90% of which were worth the mapping out it took to find them.

Edinburgh also has a rich history associated with Harry Potter. We stopped to have lunch at Spoon, a cafe and the site where J.K. Rowling originally penned the series. The Balmoral Hotel also happens to be where she finished the series. I couldn't help but love the city.

Overall, Edinburgh easily became one of my favorite places I've ever visited. The people were nice and welcoming, the food was delicious (although I got scared and didn't try haggis), and the city itself - even in the cold - was beautiful.

Old Fashioned Marketing

On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of a rare sunny day and check out some of London's biggest markets.

First Stop: Borough Market
Borough Market is a food market in South London by London Bridge Tube station. This market features some food stands that are set up for the weekend, and some that have their own regular shop.

It was also filled with all kinds of good and interesting food. All of the bread booths were amazing, with different types of baguettes and loafs. They also had probably five different cheese stands. All of the cakes and fudge and brownies looked amazing too. While I didn't buy this huge brownie because it was 2 pounds, I heard it was absolutely godly. So I may have to revisit this Market just for the brownies.

They also sold ostrich and reindeer burgers. My jaw dropped at how bright red the meat was, but the line for these burgers stretched around the corner. I was in shock. Among other unexpected items, there was a 75 pound bottle of olive oil, a fair amount of duck meat and some funky drinks. There was also a barber shop tucked away in the Market, where appointments weren't necessary.

The place was packed with people having lunch, stocking up on fresh food for the week and us touristy folk exploring. It was also by this beautiful cathedral.

We obviously picked the right day to explore the markets. Look! The sky is blue!



Seeing all of these cheeses made me so excited. There's amazing food in London after all!







And different foods!









And spring is coming!

At least in London it feels like it is...








At this point, my camera died. So while we did venture out on to London Bridge and I caught my first glimpse of the iconic Tower Bridge since my arrival, I could not capture photos of it. No worries though, because I will definitely be visiting this market and seeing Tower Bridge again.

Also to visit again is the next market: Portobello Road Market

This one was amazing because it featured tons of antique booths. These sold everything from old teapots, maps, books, cameras and jewelry. A lot of it was a great deal and would make great trinkets for my London flat. Other booths featured more expensive but priceless antiques.

This market went for blocks down the street in Notting Hill, which is an amazing area in and of itself. After some of the antique booths, there were clothing racks set up on the streets with some great deals.

There was also at least two blocks worth of food stands. Like Market Borough, some of these sold nice lunch meals, while others sold fresh fruit and veggies for the week. Some others sold common grocery type items, like cookies (that's biscuits, here), chocolates and cheese.

And that comprised most of our weekend. But it also feels weird blogging without pictures of any of this exciting stuff. Expect those to follow at another point. But ahead this week: work as usual, homework to catch up on and a midterm essay to write. I'll be busy, but I'll update when I can.

Cheers! (I fit my first cheers into 'regular' conversation this week. It was a little strange. Why is there no American equivalent? Work on this States, please.)

Of Crumpets

[This post is dedicated to my roommate, Liz Schultz, without whom I would have persisted in my ignorant belief that crumpets are basically English muffins.]

Crumpets are so much better than English muffins.

They're more like miniature waffles. I think English muffins are a little flatter, but a crumpet is thicker, so the butter seeps through it.

It's just really good bread. Try it if you get the chance.

I think food overall here is pretty good. Most of the restaurants or cafes I've tried have been amazing. (Obviously, we're living in a city, so there has to be good food somewhere.)

I might not be the best person to write about cooking, seeing as I don't do much of it anywhere. However, I have succeeded in not burning any pots or pans, or forgetting about food stored in some corner of my cabinet, which is a success in my eyes. I can stock up on food fairly cheaply at the Tesco or Tesco Express. And most stores will randomly put food on sale if it's about to expire, leading me to buy a pack of muffins, crumpets or baguettes whenever it's marked down to 99p or less.

So there. Food in Britain: not bad. Am I excited to try food in other countries though? Absolutely. I would pretty much give anything to have a crepe cart in this city. [And there's a shout out to you Bre.]

..And the fish is pretty big here too obviously. [Sonya? Ah, sorry. I'm just going to start tagging you guys in posts I think you should look at.]