Blogging on the train to Edinburgh, who out there is surprised? Go ahead, raise your hands, now look around and notice who else is as silly as you since it’s a definite noticeable trend for me to be blogging in transit. Currently the English countryside is flying by, with its rolling hills (mostly flat still), quaint brick houses, cows (no belted Galloway so far), windmills, sheep, and everything else you'd expect to see on the English countryside. So far the only major surprises were how quickly the city changed to country and the nuclear plant we drove by, it seemed a bit out of place with the idyllic setting all around us.
Sunday ended up being a lot more fun and exciting than I initially thought it'd be. A few of us headed over to Camden to check out the markets. It was the same stop that I'd used on Saturday for Ultimate so it was wicked easy to get to even with rail construction. For most of the time we're here, our line is closed on weekends for engineering work which leaves us relying on busses and our feet to get around. Luckily the 214, among others, picks up right by our flat and goes right to Kings Cross and Camden (both semi-important places in life). The market, or markets since it was technically a couple merged together, was HUGE, absolutely enormous, I lack the vocabulary to explain adequately just how many stalls there were. The best I can do is say that we wandered around for a good 4 hours, not dilly dallying, and still didn't see quite all of them. They sell all manner of goods, from household, to clothing's, to books, to food stalls, to jewelry, to bags, to everything in between. Most of the stalls are permanent or semi-permanent and the market is open 7 days a week. I will most definitely be back multiple times before I leave. Unfortunately there was still schoolwork to be done so after the market it was back to the flat. I grabbed my laptop and books and headed down to LSE. The next hours were spent there, working until I was too hungry to put up with it anymore; that, and I wanted to get home before it got too late. After dinner I kept reading until I felt ready enough for class Monday, thus quietly ending what had begun as an exciting day.
Monday morning came way too fast but it was time for class. I was going to go plenty early to keep reading before class started but after getting partway there, I realized that I'd forgotten my notebook so I had to runback to flat to get it. This definitely made the morning a bit more hectic but all's well that ends well I suppose. The day was largely uneventful for those back home. We learned about policy making theory in the morning class and I'm already seeing them show up in the readings; I feel like I'll be learning accidentally in that class a lot. Between classes we officially found out our internships (I knew mine before I left) and got some more logistical information about them. After lunch at the Quad it was time for Parliament class and discussions about the House of Lords. It was the last nice, 80 degree, day out we could expect for a while so we walked home from class. We ended up breaking up in to a few groups looking to find the best way home and consequently all got lost. We did make it home eventually and I enjoyed the walking. Last night, the roommate and I got ourselves packed and did a little reading before I turned in early. This morning we headed up to King's Cross around 8:45 to grab our 10am train and since then we've been whizzing towards Scotland.
=================
Later that day....
The rest of the train ride went pretty well and we got to see some beautiful scenery; the train followed the coast for a while. The folk songs about the Scottish coast make a lot more sense now, the place has a rugged beauty to it, harsh but homey. After we got into Edinburgh we had to grab taxis to the hotel which sounds simpler than it was. There are about 30 people on this little jaunt between the undergrads, researchers, and Luke so logistical issues sometimes crop up where one would least suspect it and this was one of those places. Even so, we managed and soon arrived at Thrums, our little B&B home for the next few days. I'm in a room with two of the other girls, one of my suitemates and a friend I've made on the trip. Once everyone had dropped their stuff it was time to EXPLORE! always one of my favorite parts of arriving in a new place. By circumstance and timing we all left in a massive blob and began walking up to the Royal Mile, or at least what we knew to be the general right direction of it, at this point we didn't even know what it looked like. The group quickly splintered though, with some people hopping in a cab and others deciding to stop along the way. By the time we'd reached the mile, we were almost all in our usual mini-groups off in search of food and adventure. Our bit was hungry, very hungry, so we went to one of the first pubs we found on the Mile. Possibly not our smartest decision ever in terms of cost effectiveness since things on the Royal Mile, especially in the center where we were are on the less cheap side but like I said, we were hungry. Traditional fare was the theme of the meal for us. The pub was called Whiski and the boys tried the whiskey, we are in Scotland after all. It proved to be decidedly stronger than home and pretty good. Personally, I had fish and chips for the first time since I've arrived in the UK with Innis & Gun, a local Scottish beer. Overall I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would since I'm not usually a fish person; oh and of course I love chips. After refueling at the pub, we headed up towards Edinburgh Castle exploring. Unfortunately the castle itself was closed for the day but we got some cool pictures of the outside and checked out the gift shop. I got myself a Scotland pencil to add to the collect, I can add it to the UK/England one I got at Camden Market this past weekend. Delicious shortbread was also in order and we passed around the box as we continued to wander around. Eventually we found ourselves on the other side of the bridge, on Princess Street in New Town (the Royal Mile, or High Street, is in Old Town). We could see all these impressive looking buildings on cliffs and decided to walk up and explore one of them. Turns out we were headed to Calton Hill, and it was a great choice. There's a cool cemetery there, where Hume is buried and there's actually a statue of Lincoln on one of them, commemorating soldiers of Scottish decent who died in the Civil War. When we made it up the hill there was an observatory tower, some more monuments, and some Roman looking ruins that were all really fun to wander around. The best part though, by far, was the views. They were incredible and you could see out over the entire city in all directions, including to Holyrood, the Queen's Scottish residence. Even though it hadn't started raining again at this point, it had continued to get colder and colder and now it was quite cold out. Reluctantly we headed down and homeward. I noticed walking back that a number of 'cancer stores' lined the way. They sell secondhand items of all kinds and the proceeds go to support cancer research. It struck me as an interesting plan and potential business model - I wonder about its sustainability and successfulness. Near home we stopped for supplies at a little convenience type store. We'd eaten around 3 or 3:30 so we'd effectively skipped dinner and although it wasn't a dire issue, we could use a snack or something. Once we got back we dug out some cards and learned a new game, 31, which kept us entertained for the remainder of the evening. The fact that breakfast starts at 7:45 tomorrow and we're out the door at 9 means that we've all retreated to bed and now I tool will hopefully soon be asleep, g'night all!
No comments:
Post a Comment