Scotland — Edinburgh and St. Andrews

Buenos dias a todos! This past weekend, (as most of my lovely facebook friends already know) I took an AMAZING trip to Scotland to visit one of my friends from CMC and revel in the fact that I was in an English (kind-of)-speaking city for the first time in a month!

My trip began on a slightly rough note, with my Ryainair flight being delayed. For those of you who have done some traveling in Europe, you know that Ryanair is the cheapest and you know why. Service is sketchy, flights are perpetually delayed, and you are forced to depart and arrive from the most random gates in the entire airport. My travel ordeal was much improved though by the lovely Scottish couple I sat next to on the plane ride to Edinburgh. My arrival at the airport was followed by a frantic dash to find somewhere to withdraw British Pounds so I could take the night bus to meet my friend in the middle of the city. Finally I had my GPB, found assistance from yet another wonderful Scottish couple on the bus, and met my friend in Edinburgh! The night was fairly uneventful except for the many introductions I had to many Scottish students who had spent the last four hours pub crawling. Many were quite entertaining by 2 in the morning.

The next morning, we woke bright and early, eager to be tourists for the day. We wandered through some of the buildings of the University of Edinburgh, including the student union, which looks like a castle from the outside and includes a library with a pub inside of it on the bottom floor. We then began our walk along the "Royal Mile," the main tourist street in Edinburgh, stopping at St. Giles Cathedral and taking our time exploring Edinburgh Castle where we (history majors) enjoyed a free guided tour and watched the Scottish army shoot off a canon at precisely 1:00 pm, as was historically done to alert the people of the city as to the proper time. Note that it was done at 1 and not noon. According to our tour guide, this is because the Scottish people found it much less expensive to fire one shot every day rather than twelve. Oh Scottish people...

University of Edinburgh Student Union Building.
Yes, there's a pub downstairs.

St. Giles Cathedral

Edinburgh Castle

The view from Edinburgh Castle

The 1:00 p.m. canon

One of the highlights of the day for me was Hollyrood Palace, the castle where the Queen still resides when she visits Edinburgh. The palace was beautiful, as were the gardens and the ruins of the cathedral outside.

Hollyrood Palace

Next we hiked up to the National Monument of Scotland, aka that thing that looks like half of the Lincoln Memorial with no roof or backside. (Another example of Scottish frugality?) Anyway, the view from the top was worth the hike.

The view of Arthur's Seat from the National Monument of Scotland

Our next stop was Dean Village, a small neighborhood in the more elite area of Edinburgh. It was beautiful and quaint and exactly what you think of when you think of Great Britain. Loved it.

The next day, we decided to be adventurous and take a bus to St. Andrews. Being the responsible twenty-year-olds that we are, we tried to do our research first and make sure we could find a bus to take us there and back, but in the end we just winged it, showed up at the bus station, bought tickets and drove off towards the north. Let me be the first to tell you, if you EVER have a chance to visit St. Andrews, DO IT!!! Especially if you are a golfer. I'm not and I still thought it was so incredible. Of course our first stop in St. Andrews was the St. Andrews Links Old Course, "The Home of Golf." Lucky for us we actually got to experience a pro Scottish golf tournament firsthand. If any of you watched the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last Sunday (CJ, Dad, probably the Longtain family: I'm talking to you) I was there. nbd.

Not only did we see the most famous golf course in the world, we actually played on it as well. (Okay, it was putt-putt, but still! I beat all you golfers there!)

The rest of our trip included a walk along the beach, out onto the pier, through the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral and Castle, and the oh-so-necessary dinner of fish and chips.

That evening, I really enjoyed getting to meet all of my friend's Scottish flatmates and friends. Scottish people are officially the best!! Not only that, the entire region felt like home, thanks to the ever-present clouds, frigid air, and fog. I felt like I was back in the good old Pacific Northwest for a weekend.

The morning I left, we of course had a traditional British scone in the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, because what else would you do your last morning in Scotland??

Overall, the weekend was pretty amazing, but I'd have to say the highlight for me was the golf course in St. Andrews. I returned to Granada feeling so incredibly blessed to have been able to take this trip and see all these things I otherwise never would have seen. Also a huge thanks to Cameron and my new Scottish friends for letting me crash your flat for a weekend!