On the weekly Friday night pub crawl Ian convinced me to come to Edinburgh. As I?ve been craving adventure, it didn?t take much. So 10 hours later I was on the Flying Scotsman headed north. The train ride was worth taking on its own. It travels up the centre of England, and after Newcastle, goes up the eastern coast into Scotland. It was a stunningly beautiful trip.
We arrived at around 2:30pm and walked through the park which is overlooked by Edinburgh castle. It was a sunny warm day, very unusual. I was almost hoping it would start to rain, so that it would feel more authentic.
After checking in to the hotel, we spent the evening enjoying The Fringe Festival. If you haven?t heard of it, it?s a massive performance arts festival which takes over the entire city. Ian is a veteran of the festival, so Stefan and I followed him around like wide eyed children. We saw a few comedy shows, which were overall very good. We also enjoyed some very heavy fudge. It had only a slightly smaller kick than the tequila shots we had later in the night. Mmmm, fudge.
The best part of the trip was being able to wander around such a beautiful city. It felt much older than London, and because it?s built in a hilly area, you?re always near a fantastic view. The people there also made eye contact and smiled. After London, it?s a real novelty.
August 23rd, 2005 @ 3:29 am
Now you’re one up. I’ve never seen Edinburgh. Imagine those gray gothic buildings in the middle of winter. They eat a lot of fudge, haggis, porridge and whiskey just to keep warm. Your pictures make it look like the Disneyland version! When Piers was a small boy, he used to walk across the fields near your great Grandfather’s house in Cheshire to the railway line just to wave as the Royal Scotsman went whooshing by. Sometimes it would blow the whistle for him.