Scotland

Friday March 27, 2009
Well, I suppose I have to catch you up huh? So I think I last left off before I went on the walking tour in Edinburgh. Well, I certainly got to see all of the old town. The free walking tour is amazing and they have them in all the major cities in Europe. I highly recommend them. I had a wonderful American tour guide who has been going to U of Edinburgh for nearly three years now; he was really funny and made the tour very enjoyable. We saw the Mercat Cross where they used to nail thieves ears up to the building for 24 hours. This is located on the Royal Mile which was the main street in old time Edinburgh. It is mentioned many times in my book series by Diana Gabaldon. We checked out the Canongate area of the Royal Mile before heading to the writer’s museum. We didn’t go in but we learned a little about Robert Burns. Oh but we saw where the Canongate tollbooth used to be. It is now a heart on the ground where locals spit. Mmmmm but its because they hated taxes so much and of course everyone still does! We walked up towards the castle which was cool. Apparently Scotland’s crown jewels are inside and they are the second oldest in Europe! Then we headed down into the Grassmarket area where the hangings used to happen. Here’s a story for you about the grass market area:
Possibly two of Scotland's most gruesome imports were the serial killers William Burke and William Hare. Burke and Hare came from Ireland and moved to Scotland to work as labourers on the Union Canal. Ever aware of a market to meet, Burke and Hare set themselves up as procurers of human bodies to satisfy the demand of Edinburgh's medical schools. These two were quite the typical Irish young men: drinking and reveling in the wonderful whiskey that the British Isles had to offer. On the other hand, they weren’t fans of working to make the money to pay for their escapades. So one day Burke’s girlfriend (the owner of a hotel in the Grassmarket area) told the boys that one of her tenants had died without paying her the months rent. Wondering what to do the boys remembered that the University medical school paid for fresh bodies. So they took him over there and they paid 7 pounds for the man. Months rent was only 4 pounds so there they had money left over! There began their profession of body snatching. The would either kill people or dig up freshly buried bodies to sell to the university for drinking money!
So that’s always fun!! Haha so we had some lunch (burger and a pint) before heading up to Greyfriars Church and the kirkyard. This is where Bobby is buried next to his masters. Bobby is the most photographed statue in Scotland. The story is that his master was the head priest at the church and the little dog followed him everywhere. When the man died Bobby sat on his grave for 15 years waiting for his master to come back. That’s dedication people. After that we saw the café where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. Apparently it was cheaper for her to have a coffee there and write all day than for her to pay to heat her apartment.
We walked down to the park that divides old and new town and used to be a lake! It was where all the sewage that was dumped into the streets would run in the rain. Mmmm that’s gotta smell good! Well, it didn’t so eventually the nobility had it drained and now it’s a beautiful park!! The Scottish sure know how to garden. There are beautiful parks and gardens everywhere. So then I headed to the train station to catch a train to Stirling to meet Emily.
I had a fairly low-key few days there. Its not hard to see all the tiny city in one day so I paced myself seeing a little everyday and just wandering around. It sure is beautiful. The university and town are separated by a little river and the university dorms are built at the base of the crags and cliffs that can be seen from anywhere in town. Emily picked me up and we went grocery shopping for the week. Mmmm salad is a wonderful thing. We had some drinks and headed to the campus bar then Dusk, a club downtown. We were getting a little tired and bored and decided to head home but there were no buses so rather than pay a lot for a cab we opted to walk home. Freezing cold wind but no rain- its all good. So an hour and a half later we arrived at Emilys dorm and got into the warm bed. On Tuesday we went to Glasgow to get Emily a dress for her brothers upcoming wedding- no success. Emily got lots of clothes though. I bought a Scotland Starbucks mug. It was pouring rain otherwise I would’ve done the walking tour here as well. So we headed back for dinner starving as we were. The next day I explored downtown while Emily sat in (apparently bad) classes all day. We had a chill night of watching movies. The next day I headed for the castle but entrance was 8 pounds and I deemed it unworthy so I wandered through the graveyard- no visit to a Scottish city is complete without a graveyard or two. Then I wandered around some more appreciating the sunny day and gardens. I sat down with a coffee at a place called Costa. Believe it or not- as good as Starbucks!! I met up with Emily and headed back to residence. We had naps before heading to Celine’s (Emily’s friends) place to have some drinks before going downtown. I met more American’s than ever before on this trip. They are a friendly bunch with funny accents (Lauren remember when you first came to Canada and had an accent?). I met a guy from Illinois and talked about American politics for an hour. We went to the local Aussie bar (Outback- original) before heading to Dusk again. We had a fun night of dancing and drinking and this time cabbed back to the university.
In the morning I hopped on a bus then a train then a bus then a plane before arriving this evening in Dublin, Ireland.