Edinburgh

Edinburgh is by far my most favourite city of all time. I cannot explain in words or pictures just how beautiful this city is. The old town's victorian architecture is charming, and the people here are friendly. There were so many free tours that we can choose from, and they were so informative too. I have learnt so much about the rich history of Edinburgh. Gardyloo!

17 June 2018, Glasgow > Edinburgh, Cloudy

I arrived in Edinburgh via bus. Since I was feeling a bit peckish, I stopped by McDonalds' to get a cheap burger before checking in and rested.

18 June 2018, Edinburgh, Cloudy

I woke up rather early so that I could go to the Camera Obscura. I ended up being too early, so I went to start collecting pictures of Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. Camera Obscura is an installation of lens and mirrors on top of a building so as to project a 360 view of the surroundings onto a screen. The building also houses many common optical illusions and activities, a mirror maze to name one. Next, I had a Scottish baked potato for lunch. I then began a free walking tour very nicely conducted by a volunteer. The guide was very good and explained many things about Edinburgh. Next up was a Harry Potter themed walking trail. In the Greyfriar's Kirkyard, we saw the stone that imspired the name Tom Riddle. The guide also showed us the places that inspired J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series. I then went for dinner at Makas. I tried their Haggis and black pudding mash. The ingredients used to make this dish are actually quite gross: animal internal organs. However, they made it taste pretty good. I took an after dinner stroll to Scott Monument. Scott Monument is the tallest monument that was erected to commemorate a person. I then went back to the hostel to rest for a while, on the way, I took very nice pictures of St. Giles Cathedral.

At about sunset, I came back out again to do a small hike up to Calton Hill. There, I witnessed a remarkably beautiful sunset. It was really cold and windy, but I took awesome pictures. The cover picture for this post was just one of them.


19 June 2108, Edinburgh > Sheffield, Cloudy

I went for the free breakfast provided at the hostel. My first stop of the day was the national museum of Scotland. On the way there, I went inside the St. Giles to check out the angel playing a bagpipe. It was quite underwhelming actually. The museum of Scotland was huge. Their collection ranges from prehistoric Scottish to Asian, modern items from land travel, to space and energy. I skipped the Gallery of Scotland because it seems to be an art gallery, and I can't appreciate that. For lunch, I checked out a place called 'Oink'. They sell roasted pulled pork. It was soft and flavourful and the skin was crispy. After lunch, I went to hike up Arthur's seat. Like everyone else I was fooled. I thought Arthur't seat was an easy climb and the peak is easily seen from the bottom. I did not follow the signboard and climbed the small peak unknowingly. As it turns out, that wasn't Arthur's Seat. From there, I can still continue to hike towards Arthur's Seat, but it was more dangerous. Since I carried all my luggage with me, it turned out to be quite difficult. After about two hours of climb, I finally reached the peak. Edinburgh was too far away to be beautiful, although the view was still nice in its own way.

After I had enough of the views, I descended the hill and went back into Edinburgh by the proper and safer way, checking out some ruins along the way. I walked up the Royal Mile starting from the bottom. I had a long KFC dinner and also wrote my postcards. Finally, it was time to board the train to head back to Sheffield. I'll leave it to the next post to describe the unfortunate incident while I was trying to go home.