I think I wanna try something different again. Instead of the usual day logs, I gonna do a city log instead. This is because I’ve been to Edinburgh before, and I only wanna update on new stuff for this trip.
1st thing, thank you Yan Neng for making this trip a fun one. I’m sure we had lots to talk about, particularly you-know-who. Hey, seems like I haven’t been thanking people who travelled with me. Ok, all my travel buddies, a big thank you! (I’m just lazy to list one by one, there’re too many!
I’ve done on Edinburgh Castle, Calton Hill and the necropolis before. In a very detail manner I think. Now this will be on the rest.
Holyroodhouse Palace
This is the official residence of British monarchs in Scotland. Nope, they do not stay in the castle. Surprised? Actually, they alternate between the castle and the palace back in the olden days before the union of the kingdoms. There’s a royal palace in the castle as well, but it’s pretty much a hassle to move up and down the castle, isn’t it? What’s better, the Holyroodhouse palace has a beautiful garden in summer, but I’ll come to that later.
In essence, what’s special about this palace has always been replicated in all other castles and palaces: the State Apartments. Come to think of it, it’s the usual ‘when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all’ and ‘been there, done that’ thingy. But the garden is a unique and beautiful piece of botanic art in itself. I’m just lucky that I did not visit this place during winter, I would have missed the nicest part of the palace. The gardens are not opened in winter, for goodness sake. Don’t say I’ve never warned you. Before you start on the gardens, it’s always nice to visit the ruins of Holyroodhouse Abbey, the reason why the palace was built. This abbey is essentially catholic (duh), but it used to house the Scottish monarchs, after which the palace was built to provide a more reasonable accommodation and respectable office building for the use of the monarchs in everyday state affairs. Still, ruins are nice.
Now, the gardens are split into 2 parts, the 1st had flowers and trees blossoming in summer. I don’t really know what their names are, which kinda spoilt the mood for garden visiting. The 2nd part contains some ruins, and stretches of flat lawns for archery. Yes, archery. That’s where the palace guards used to practise their skills. Confused? The Scottish monarchs didn’t used to have guards, it’s an archery society who volunteered themselves into the services of the crown and hence, they became palace guards. The entire scenery is bounded by the palace building and Arthur’s Seat. It’s essentially a volcanic structure, a beautiful manifestation of nature itself.
The Whisky Experience
Ah-ha! It is not any ordinary whisky, it’s scotch whisky. I highly recommend liquor drinkers to go on this, for 7 pounds at student price, you get a free whisky glass, a free whisky shot (what kind of whisky you get depends on your luck, I got Johnny Walker’s red label!) and some interesting information about whisky no doubt. Not to mention you get good discounts on 70cl bottles in the whisky shop at the end of the exhibition. Ha. Anyway, I think I wanna boast about my purchases more, which are 35cl and 20cl bottles of some sweet and citrus whisky which I’m quite quite sure it’s not easy to get in London itself, or so I assume. Got a good size of a 10 year old for Eng Kiat. Brother, don’t say I never buy anything for your 21st birthday ok. Oh, I did round up the entire purchase spree with a 35cl of Famous Grouse, which I know I can get anywhere in London =X
Museum of Childhood
This is one big, creepy museum. It’s interesting the moment you enter, because you get to see olden day items that are very much associated with kids and childhood, from babies to young kids and even games played by young adults. Why big? It spans 5 stories, discounting the ground level. Why creepy? It has a pretty massive collection of dolls, all types all sizes. Kinda remind me of Queen Anne’s dollhouse in Windsor. Yuck, Chucky freaks me out, so does Chucky’s bride and all of their associates and the likes. But some of the fun comes from machines operating on coins, displaying haunted houses. For 5p or 10p, you get some half a minute of entertainment where they try to scare you with ghosts popping out of everywhere in the dollhouse. Ha, that’s more for us to ridicule I think.
Arthur’s Seat
This volcanic hill is enticing enough to last you at least half a day’s visit. But despite being called a hill, its slopes are so steep you would think you can train yourselves by running up and down the hill regularly. What’s worse, the height of the hill commands you to adjust ear pressures because you’ve been climbing steep slopes. But the view at the top is rewarding, absolutely. While you climb the altitude, the sights change from a top-down view of Holyroodhouse Palace to a grand paranomic landscape spanning the entire Royal Mile and beyond. Whatever can challenge your view is the castle rock on which loams the majestic Edinburgh castle! And just to admit, I slacked for a few hours just sitting on the hill, enjoying the sun and the breeze that seems to exist only at the altitude.
That’s all for Edinburgh I think. Oh before I forget, I did by chance travelled on 1st Class to Edinburgh from London. 40 quid per pax, it’s unforgettable given it’s my virgin experience. Oops, haha.
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