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+ When you walk your friend to the bus stop at 4 a.m. so she can fly back to Berlin, you might just see a fox sauntering down Princes Street on your way home.
Full Andrea Was Here update coming soon!
+ Having a friend who calls me Saturday morning and says ‘Hey, do you want to go to the march protesting Israel’s siege of Gaza? It starts in 20 minutes.’
+ Being able to walk everywhere. I never need a bus or a cab to get where I want to go. (Bonus: this has turned me into the incredible shrinking woman. Downside: I keep needing new trousers).
+ There are a number of knitting groups I can join, and I’ve recently started going to the university one with my aforementioned friend, Lauren. My first one was ‘Knit Your Own Facial Hair’ night. I made a curly, old-man moustache.
+ West Nicholson Street. It has my super-hip hair dresser, the very tasty vegetarian restaurant Susie’s Wholefoods, and Word Power – my favorite (lefty) book store.
+ On any night of the week, someone is up for drinking and dancing.
+ My ‘World Wise’ group. I joined a class put on by the World Development Movement in the fall – it was about learning to campaign on issues. There’s only a few of us left now, but we’re planning to ask MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) to set a positive example on climate change by cutting back on flying. We may inflate a giant airplane outside the parliament building in February, that says ‘Climate Change Kills’ on the side. Alternative plan: giant paper airplanes.
+ Joseph Pearce, my local pub. It’s just around the corner, and is owned by Swedish people; it’s funky, has good food, and serves Portuguese lager on tap.
+ Victoria Street. My favorite shops are on this curvy little street that leads to the Grassmarket. In fact, it deserves it’s own entry (mental note). It has my local yarn store, an various funky independant clothing and arty shops that I wander into often.
+ Nas, the man who runs the news agent shop I buy papers from every morning. He’s super-friendly, gives me extra receipts, and even saved Subway coupons for me the other day.
+ The old man I run into on a regular basis. I first saw him on my second day in the city, in Princes Street Gardens. He’d seen me looking at a photo exhibition and came up to comment on how carefully I’d been looking at it. I’d place him in his early 70s. He always wears a flat tweed cap, and has a round belly and a gap between his front teeth. We chatted about where I was from (when he noticed my accent), and what I’m doing here. He shook my hand as I left, and said ‘Now you have a Scottish friend’. I saw him again a few months later, outside St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. He didn’t recognize me, and we had the same conversation again. A few months later: same scenario, Calton Hill. Lovely man. Terrible memory.
+ When the sky is blue, this is the most beautiful city in the world. When it’s grey, it’s still in the running.
+ I have some beautiful Scottish friends, and also Polish, Spanish, South African, Aussie, and English friends.
This list could go on ad nauseum, and will in the future. For now, here’s my current favorite thing about Edinburgh: Andrea will be here in two days. WOOHOO!!
I love the Old Town. I love just looking in the direction of the Old Town. I work in the Old Town, on High Street, which is part of the Royal Mile, which is for another post. This post is about just the look of the Old Town from Princes Street, where the New Town begins.
The skyline is a jumble of residential buildings reaching to the sky, that were built back when the city was surrounded by a wall and the only way to expand was to build up. At one end of the skyline is Edinburgh Castle, that beautifully huge collection of stone buildings atop a long-dormant volcano. There’s also the city council building, and the Assembly Hall, and the spire of St. Giles Cathedral, and then at the other end the Scotsman and Carlton hotels, bisected by the North Bridge.
My favorite time to look at the Old Town, however, is at night.
The castle
When I’m done a shift at the pub around 10, I’ll sometimes go to the information centre beside the Balmoral Hotel and just…sit. I sit and look at the skyline: the castle is lit up, as is the council buildings, and the hotels, and I watch the double decker buses drive over the bridge from Old Town to New, and back again.
The other night, as I was sitting, I had my camera with me. I tried to take some really slow shutter speed shots while holding really, really still, but the pictures weren’t turning out the way I wanted. So I thought screw it, if the pictures don’t work when I hold still, I’ll see how they look when I move around a lot.
Hence, The Balmoral:
The castle (from a distance):
And on my way home, the North Bridge:
I have the day off today, but it is very, very damp outside, so I’m sipping a latte at Elephant & Bagels and using their wi-fi. I’m taking the opportunity to give you installment one of My Favorite Things About Edinburgh.
When I have the day off and it’s NOT pissing down rain, I like to go to Greyfriar’s Kirkyard. That’s right. One of my favorite places in the city is a cemetary.
It’s a quiet place to go in the middle of the city, and I’m apparently not the only one who thinks so. When I’m there, sitting on a stone wall with my back against a gravestone, writing postcards, there’s usually someone across from me eating their lunch or reading the paper.
Sure it’s full of creepy iconography:
but altogether it’s really beautiful, and from my perch I have a view of the castle. It’s always nice to have a view of the castle.
It’s easy to while away an hour or two, wandering between the head stones, some of which are worn smooth of names, or have tipped over and broken.
When I leave, I always pick up a good stick, and leave it at the entrance for Greyfriar’s Bobby.
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