Welcome to Edinburgh and haste ye back.....

View from Arthur's Seat- Bruce in corner right

From Belfast (Northern Ireland) we took a large, posh white ferry and a few hours later, were bussing our way through small coastal towns in Scotland!! I immediately fall in love with the countryside- craggy rocks poking out from a mossy thick carpet, small white and black houses next to a roiling sea.  The towns we pass through are small with a market, post office and bus stop; and all ask us to ‘haste ye back’ as the bus roars its exit.  In the distance are a few church steeples, fortresses and the required black-legged white-bodied sheep (with florescent patches of color to show which ram they have been mated). Occasionally our water view includes immense triangle shaped rocks, left by the glaciers of the last ice age.  These places suggest (probably incorrectly) a more simple quieter life, filled with conversations over the fence with neighbors and civilized cups of tea and pub pints for an afternoon pause.  (Thank you BBC and Agatha Christie for these romantic images).  The road hugged to shore, until - in a few hours, we entered Edinburgh. 

View of Edinburgh from museum bridge

Sunning in the old part of the city

Bagpipers in parade in honor of the armed forces

For those of you who have never been to Edinburgh, it is an amazingly beautiful city.  It is situated on jagged volcanically formed landscape. The town itself is majestic- filled with three and four story stone buildings that are substantial without being ponderous (as they are in London). In the center of the city, atop a tall volcanic ‘plug’ sits the castle, flags flying and turrets hovering over the rest of the town.  The streets in the center of the city, twist, turn and plunge down and up, interspersed with occasional areas of green. There are small alleyways that appear suddenly and disappear just as quickly, or become a small market square before vanishing completely. Churches have tall lacey spires covered in knobs and curlicues and their front doors are massive crowned with elaborate stone carving. This is the city where J. K Rowling sat drinking tea and ale as she wrote Harry Potter.  (H.P fans, can actually sit and have a pint in the pub where she apparently spent months hanging out in the H.P. birthing process.)  Being here is it easy to see that Edinburgh itself suggests many of the story details. And then, added to the magical mysterious quality, the tourist areas are filled with  kilted bagpipers (always men) who seem to enjoy guessing what country you are from as you walk by, and then playing a bagpipe medley of tunes from that country (we got ‘Oh Susannah’ and ‘Dixie’). It is a beautiful and easy to explore city…which of course we did.

Small side alley in Edinburgh

We started in the older core of city- with all of the other tourists. We visited the National Museum to get a sense of Scottish history, and I learned that many thousands of years ago, the area of Scotland and the area that is now England, Wales and Cornwall were actually two separate continents. This means that England was actually connected to what is now France. (Suggesting that the historic War of Roses might have been an ancient subliminal desire to become reunited once again.)  The double continent factoid seemed to make the Scots I mentioned it to, very happy.  This is because the Scots, apparently see themselves as very different from Brits, and some even resent having lost power early on in their history;, which led to subsequent colonization of Scotland by the nascent British empire.  We learned about Scottish words and phrases (some of which sounded suspiciously like names and terms in H.P.) as well as the tribal character of the people who live in the northern most part of the island.  I like the practical, directness of people here, not too flowery in their speech, but what they say is real and means a lot.

Entrance to St Giles 

Mosque in Edinburgh

The next few days we wandered further afield, walking all over the city and its outer edges as well. We visited the central mosque and had lunch at the mosque restaurant, which had yummy Pakistani food. 


We ate curry and naan bread   surrounded by families with lots of small 

Tree in Royal Botanical Gardens

WIld Flower in Royal Botanical Greenhouse

WIld Animal in Royal Botanical Greenhouse

curly-haired children. Next we went inside St. Giles Cathedral and were able to listen to the choir practicing for a concert scheduled for later that evening and finally the National Art Gallery (which was filled with immense paintings and many, many, many portraits.) On another day, we walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens exploring its vast green and varied grounds and got lost in the maze of its extensive glass house filled with exotic plants from the topics, the desert and the wilds of the American west!!!!! (more about this in a bit). For me the high point (of many wonderful experiences) was our climb to the top of the tall volcanic hill that is called Arthur’s Seat (possibly referring to THE King Arthur - but no one is sure about this) on the only sunny day of our time in Edinburgh.  After an hour of steep ascent, we were rewarded with an amazing and vast view of the city, the hills beyond as well as the huge harbor that made Edinburgh such an important shipping and industrial city.

View of Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat

For any foodie readers out there, the benefit of traveling in countries that have histories of colonization (e.g. the British Isles, France, and Holland all qualify), is that our food choices so far have been amazing. I have always wondered if one of the reasons there was so much colonization by the Brits is that traditional food on these northern islands is not very interesting, so they had to conquer other people to improve their choice of meals and food flavors.  That said, we have been eating well. Great breads, sharp crumbly cheeses, fish in soups, smoked and with chips, curries, S Asian and Asian flavors, not to mention local ale and chocolate. In Edinburgh we DID NOT try haggis, although we could have eaten haggis filled samosas if we had wanted. (We didn’t!).


Spending time in both the British Isles and France, I have also become curious about the idea of public and private parks as well as the aesthetics behind the form and content of those parks.  In Edinburgh, the center of the city is filled with lush green parks, filled with huge ancient-looking trees and flowers. But they are all locked and entrance is allowed only to the residents of the neighborhood who apparently have keys that open the tall gates. At the same time, there is also the Royal Botanical Gardens, which is amazing and completely free (except for the covered green house filled with plants from tropical, desert and non-local environments).  The Royal Botanical Garden is filled with towering trees, ancient twisting branches and plants from all over the world. (Another benefit of imperialism….you can take home all the plant life you want !!!!) There also are several Andy Goldsworthy sculptures as well.  But aesthetically, the overall impression of the gardens is one of carefully planned and manicured natural wilderness - a place where you can get lost internally and externally and feel small in relationship to the nature that surrounds you.

More views of Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat

Holyrood Castle from Arthur's Seat

On the other hand, public parks in France, or at least in Paris, are quite different.  Parks in Paris are sculptured and visibly ‘tamed’.  Trees and bushes are closely trimmed to look like something other than a tree or bush.  Geometric forms abound, framing gravel walkways and sculpture filled fountains. Trees are planted in giant grids, giving structure to larger areas of space.  Plants and flowers seem to be used for color rather than for their unusual blossoms or leaves. To me, the parks create a backdrop for the people in it, I could almost imagine carriages and people promenading down the straight-line avenues that are painted in so many impressionist paintings.  For me, parks in Paris are primarily intended as background for watching people and being seen while the parks in Great Britain seem to be places for people to become lost in wilderness or at least sense themselves as a small part of nature rather than the dominant species.  I would love to hear from anyone else out there who has thoughts on this or (better yet) can add to my brief impression.