Scotland the Strong and Mighty

26.11.2007

Yes, sung to the tune of the eternal bagpiper. Kind of like the eternal Jew, though not really.

It’s high time to recount some of my recent travels, even though this seems ages ago. Literally 3 weekends and I’ve already put it into the archives of memory.

To be fair, my first venture into the Royal island was quite pleasant. Lovely. Sudden as it was, visiting Edinburgh for a weekend is a resplendent little rest from the cosmopolitan horror that can be Paris.

In a whirl of 2.5 days, Kiersten and Chip showed me the best of what Edinburgh had to offer, slightly the side of a tourist but also from the local’s perspective.

Edinburgh astonishes with the somber, gothic, Scottish style architecture and the sometimes Gothic individuals who prowled the streets and squares. However, to countermand, it is endowed with the Firth of Forth (my favorite Firth I’d say), beautiful rolling downs, moors, hedges, midlands… (and all those English English landscape descriptives no American truly understands) which surround the city.

Needless to say, we climbed—though somewhat heroically given the wind and weather—Arthur’s seat, Edinburgh’s lookout hill, at a hefty 300m or so above the city for a breathtaking bird’s eye view of the firth, the city, and the surrounding suburbs and countryside.

Among other cool things: the writers’ museum. As Edinburgh claims SWS, RLS, and RB as its own sons, or rather longtime inhabitants, the writers’ museum gave us a peek into their lives and their relation to the city.
A brief resume:
Þ Sir Walter Scott—pretty much invented Scottish history…so they revere him, and there’s a large monument on Princes Street in his honor. Scott was a pretty cool chap, I’d say, and I did thoroughly enjoy Ivanhoe in middle school.
Þ Robert Burns—whoever doesn’t like or can at first glance understand this Scottish peasant poet is crazy. It took me awhile in 9th grade to unravel the ‘wee sleekit beastie’ and for good reason I think, in its relation to Of Mice and Men. Burns also defined Scot (I’m sure I’m mistaken here somewhere) as a language.
Þ Robert Louis Stevenson—A baller by all means. I’ve read Treasure Island 3 or 4 times and it’s quality every single one of them. This guy also went to live on Tahiti or around there, again, what a dude.

Fish and chips at 2am was a good idea. Enough said.

The Heart of Midlothian, a virtual spittoon or spitting ground in the form of a heart inscribed in a circle, near the center of the Holyrood Mile was also cool. Scott wrote a book about it, go figure.

Here’s a logic puzzle.

I like the Scottish. The Scottish love their Scotch. What’s next???


You thought wrong, I’m marginally seduced by whiskey, but when in Rome…

As a blatant advertisement—I recommend walking tours. It makes it fun without you paying for it or feeling like too much of a tourist.

I’m rambling. I’ll ramble more about this later. Next stop: Prague or London, you be the judge.