Edinburgh, WoW!
Ok, got back from Edinburgh v. late Tuesday evening, after a crazy 9.5 hours on trains, 30 mins delay between trains, one ferry ride (a whole 3 mins!) and a taxi ride. Felt strange to be home, even after only being away since Saturday. The house had a nice but odd smell of flapjacks, which I decided to ignore. Hmm. Peculiar!
Anyway, Edinburgh is a...maz...ing! Such a pretty city, full of fab architecture. Very hilly tho. Going from street level down side-alleys brings you out onto roof-tops of other buildings, and the buildings are super-tall, which originates from the fact that building had to be down upwards rather than outwards to increase capacity owing to the big valley which was un-buildable on. As a result the city is in two halves, Old Town (with funky lil shops, pubs, restaurants and boutique shops *yay for the cheese-monger*) and New Town, which has more regular high street stores, and pricey designer shops.
We (thats me, *E* and my fellow course student *B*) stayed in a youth-hostel (hurrah for back-packers, ah, the memories!) which was literally being built around us, but was clean and secure enough, and most importantly.... cheap!
Although there was an issue with hot water in both the hot and cold taps, and little hot water in the shower, but, ho-hum.
Saturday night, we were so tired all we did was go for some Italian food, and then head back for sleep. Oh, get us, Party Animals!
So, Sunday, we did the touristy bus tour thing to get to grips with the layout, and learn a bit of history. Then *B* bought a fabulous dress from an indie store in Old Town. We headed back to the hostel to get a bit of a kip before heading back out in the evening. We ate food from a Jacket Potato shop (Edinburgh is over-run by them!). I had a pitta tho, filled with veggie haggis (yum) and cheese (yum). So Good! That night was nearing the end of the Edinburgh Festival (hugely famous) and there were fireworks from the castle, which funnily enough is on a hill!, set to the music from the ballet of Romeo and Juliet.
I really really strongly dislike fireworks. Yeah, I know, odd. Party-pooper. Whatever.
But it was ok. Most impressed by the heart shaped red fireworks. Don't even understand how they work!
Lil tip for touristy people next year.... head to Waverly Bridge for an excellent view.
Monday was the University of Edinburgh open day for undergraduates, so I wasn't expecting much info for me.... I'm looking to do a post-grad course, hopefully next year..... which is good, cos there was very little info available, even when I asked people (ahem, professors... try to help a bit more!). The most helpful person I spoke to was a PhD student, who, bless her, was very helpful. Yay! Even so, i went to the Biology talk... and the "facilities" tour.... which consisted of the science library, and the canteen (ooh, stunning views!), but alas, no actual science labs or equipment. I was shocked. This is a top five University for Biology.... yet no labs were shown or equipment demonstrated. Think I'd be disapointed if i was looking for undergrad placement. *E* spent the morning climbing a hillside called King Arthur's Seat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur
The rest of Monday was spent eating at a fab restaurant....... buying fudge and shortbread.....and feeling kinda ill, so I went to sleep at about 9pm, and didn't wake up till 8am the next day. Crazy!
Tuesday was rainy, we bought yummy cheese from the cheese-monger http://www.ijmellischeesemonger.com/default.htm (hehe!) had the bestest-ever hot chocolate (Santo Domingo) at http://www.plaisirduchocolat.com/ Old Town Cafe and went to catch the train.
So, Just to recap. Edinburgh is Fabulous in every way that I can see. Love it. Just hope I can convince someone to grant me a studentship.
TaTa
*H*
Anyway, Edinburgh is a...maz...ing! Such a pretty city, full of fab architecture. Very hilly tho. Going from street level down side-alleys brings you out onto roof-tops of other buildings, and the buildings are super-tall, which originates from the fact that building had to be down upwards rather than outwards to increase capacity owing to the big valley which was un-buildable on. As a result the city is in two halves, Old Town (with funky lil shops, pubs, restaurants and boutique shops *yay for the cheese-monger*) and New Town, which has more regular high street stores, and pricey designer shops.
We (thats me, *E* and my fellow course student *B*) stayed in a youth-hostel (hurrah for back-packers, ah, the memories!) which was literally being built around us, but was clean and secure enough, and most importantly.... cheap!
Although there was an issue with hot water in both the hot and cold taps, and little hot water in the shower, but, ho-hum.
Saturday night, we were so tired all we did was go for some Italian food, and then head back for sleep. Oh, get us, Party Animals!
So, Sunday, we did the touristy bus tour thing to get to grips with the layout, and learn a bit of history. Then *B* bought a fabulous dress from an indie store in Old Town. We headed back to the hostel to get a bit of a kip before heading back out in the evening. We ate food from a Jacket Potato shop (Edinburgh is over-run by them!). I had a pitta tho, filled with veggie haggis (yum) and cheese (yum). So Good! That night was nearing the end of the Edinburgh Festival (hugely famous) and there were fireworks from the castle, which funnily enough is on a hill!, set to the music from the ballet of Romeo and Juliet.
I really really strongly dislike fireworks. Yeah, I know, odd. Party-pooper. Whatever.
But it was ok. Most impressed by the heart shaped red fireworks. Don't even understand how they work!
Lil tip for touristy people next year.... head to Waverly Bridge for an excellent view.
Monday was the University of Edinburgh open day for undergraduates, so I wasn't expecting much info for me.... I'm looking to do a post-grad course, hopefully next year..... which is good, cos there was very little info available, even when I asked people (ahem, professors... try to help a bit more!). The most helpful person I spoke to was a PhD student, who, bless her, was very helpful. Yay! Even so, i went to the Biology talk... and the "facilities" tour.... which consisted of the science library, and the canteen (ooh, stunning views!), but alas, no actual science labs or equipment. I was shocked. This is a top five University for Biology.... yet no labs were shown or equipment demonstrated. Think I'd be disapointed if i was looking for undergrad placement. *E* spent the morning climbing a hillside called King Arthur's Seat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur
The rest of Monday was spent eating at a fab restaurant....... buying fudge and shortbread.....and feeling kinda ill, so I went to sleep at about 9pm, and didn't wake up till 8am the next day. Crazy!
Tuesday was rainy, we bought yummy cheese from the cheese-monger http://www.ijmellischeesemonger.com/default.htm (hehe!) had the bestest-ever hot chocolate (Santo Domingo) at http://www.plaisirduchocolat.com/ Old Town Cafe and went to catch the train.
So, Just to recap. Edinburgh is Fabulous in every way that I can see. Love it. Just hope I can convince someone to grant me a studentship.
TaTa
*H*
P.S. *E* ran her first 3 miles on Wednesday, and no knee pain thanks to her brace. Hurrah!
posted by gecko at 10:53 pm
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