St. Andrew's Day in St. Andrews

November 30th was St. Andrew's Day, which is Scotland's national day. To celebrate, Historic Scotland (who runs the historical sites around Scotland) gave free admission to its sites. I decided to take advantage of the offer and check out the cathedral and castle in St. Andrews (because, really, where else would you go to spend St. Andrew's Day?). I just went for the day and really enjoyed the town. If I wanted to get away somewhere for 3 or 4 days just to chill, I would go to St. Andrews. It has a great main street and a fabulous beach that you can walk along forever.

St. Andrews Cathedral

 I wandered around the cathedral ruins and the castle ruins (where I learned that castles were not only built for royalty but also to protect religious leaders) and then headed out to the west sands to go for a walk on the beach. On my way to the West Sands, I passed the golf museum. I'm not a huge golf fan (or really any sort of golf fan) but entry to the museum was free for St. Andrew's day so I went in and completely surprised myself by finding it interesting! I learned about how golf balls have been made throughout time and about the evolution of golf clubs. I was fascinated except for some other stuff in there about famous golfers and who won what (i.e. the other 85% of the museum content).

The West Sands

St. Andrews is a great town and I'd like to go back but I have to admit that my favorite part of the day (other than actually finding the golf museum interesting) was the bus ride back to Edinburgh. I'd been noticing that when I go places on weekends, I always feel slightly disappointed when my train/bus actually gets to its destination. I realized that it was because on the train/bus, I didn't have to do anything like figure out where to go or what to do - I was free to just sit there and do nothing. The bus ride back from St. Andrews was even better because it was two hours long and it was dark outside, which meant that I didn't even feel like I should be paying attention to the scenery. I just put my earphones in and sat there listening to music. The perfect ending to a great day.



St. Andrews

London

Two weeks ago I made a weekend trip to London. I stayed with an aunt and uncle who live about 45 minutes outside of London and who graciously invited me to stay with them. We spent Saturday in London doing touristy things: seeing Big Ben and the parliament buildings, going on the London Eye (of which I enjoyed the coming back down part.... not a fan of heights or ferris wheels), touring the London Tower and taking in some art at the Tate Modern. Sunday we had lunch with my cousins (who I previously only had vague recollections of meeting) and their families.

View of London from the Eye

View of London from the Eye

View of London from the Eye

Obligatory Tower Bridge photo

 

It was a great weekend. I think my favorite part (other than getting to know family that I don't see very often) was looking through old photos of my dad and uncle from when they were growing up. I am definitely my father's daughter - even I could see the resemblance.

Reading News and Learning Lingo

I'm a bit behind on my posting but thought I would post this one before I forget. This morning I had a reminder that I should really pay more attention to local news. I woke up and got ready for work and just before I left, I opened my curtains and that's when I realized that it was pouring rain... horizontally. We were having some sort of gale weather event of the magnitude that if it occurred in Ontario would require "Storm Watch 2013" status (not that we over exaggerate weather at all...). I shrugged, put on my rain jacket and headed out to the bus stop. I didn't realize how major the event was until I got to work and discovered that there were 80 mph winds and flood warnings, all the trains in Scotland were cancelled and they closed the bridge over the Forth. We don't have a tv in our flat, I don't have a radio and I've never been much for buying newspapers but I'm starting to think that I should at least check out some local news websites every once in a while just to ensure that I don't shrug, put on a rain coat and head off to work during the apocalypse.

The weather did provide me with a learning opportunity today though. I will probably never forget the difference between pants and trousers in the UK. "Pants" mean "underwear" here, which I had learned before but had forgotten in the midst of trying to keep everything else straight (remind me to tell you about the time I accidentally flipped off a co-worker when he asked some question to which the answer was two so I held up two fingers). Anyhoo, I had gotten soaked walking from the bus stop to the office this morning and just before lunch I said "Ugh, my pants are still wet!". The guy sitting next to me gave me a really weird look and then clued in and said "Trousers! Your trousers are still wet!", while everyone else had a good laugh. Always learning...

Pentland Hills Regional Park

I finally made it out hiking the other weekend - I went to Pentland Hills Regional Park, which is just on the outskirts of Edinburgh and easily accessible by bus. As I had a bit of trouble getting out of bed that morning, I only really got half a day of hiking in but it was nice to finally visit the hills that have been calling my name since I got here (they're visible from a lot of points in the city, including the office where I work). There were no trees and it was a clear day (until the rain came), which made for some nice views. Like most things I've done here, it made me want to do more.




View of Edinburgh from a hill-top

More hills to explore

 

I've also continued to learn a bunch of new things, which is great. I've learned that eggs are not refrigerated here (still seems a bit strange to open my cupboard and see eggs), underwear dries super quickly on a hot radiator (file this one under "things you learn when you don't have a clothes dryer"), baking soda is kept in the digestive aids aisle, and the @ button and the " button switch places on a UK keyboard (which makes for some invalid email addresses).

 

I think I can finally say that I now instinctively know which way to look before I cross the road. My problem now is that I'm so used to getting it wrong that I automatically second guess myself and end up looking the wrong way anyway. I try to sort it out by asking myself "which side would you drive on if you were in Canada?" and I think the best answer may be that I shouldn't drive for a while when I get back to Canada.

Glasgow

I went to Glasgow on the weekend. It's only about an hour train ride (depending on how many stops the train makes) from Edinburgh, which makes it super easy to get to. I really enjoyed Glasgow and hope to go back (they have a Celtic festival in January that sounds appealing). It reminded me of a mix between Vienna and Toronto, which is weird because it's not really anything like either. Maybe Vienna for the history and the Christmas decorations and Toronto because it was chilly and there was a subway?

I went museum/gallery hopping while I was there, visiting the Lighthouse (architecture and design), the Gallery of Modern Art, the Glasgow Cathedral, St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art, and the People's Palace (history of life in Glasgow). Even though it wasn't my first old cathedral and I probably shouldn't have been so impressed, I was a bit amazed at the Glasgow Cathedral and how big and intricately designed it was for its time (I got caught up in the religious atmosphere and found myself thinking "Jesus Christ this is big!"). Most of the museums and galleries are free, as they are in Edinburgh as well, which I think this is a great idea and something we should copy in Canada (get on that, someone powerful in Canada... who no doubt is reading this...). To continue my newfound interest in history, I've now added the history of Glasgow to the list of things I want to learn more about.

Washroom signs at the Lighthouse

 

Not-so-great photo of inside the Glasgow Cathedral

I also took advantage of the sunny weather and walked around the Glasgow Necropolis, walked along the River Clyde and took in some buskers on Buchanan Street. One thing on my list that I didn't do was check out some live music (apart from the buskers). It was something I wanted to do but it turns out that I'm too chicken to go watch a band play by myself. I have no problems eating at a restaurant or sitting in a coffee shop by myself (even without a smart phone to keep me company) but I didn't feel confident enough to go to a club without backup. It's something I'll have to remedy because I missed out on a great opportunity.

Glasgow Necropolis

 



Friendly Edinburghians and Guy Fawkes Day

Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I have a good excuse this time – I didn’t have internet access at home (and I’m still in the “trying to make a good impression at work” phase so didn’t feel like posting from the office). So this post and the two below are what I haven’t posted over the last couple of weeks (I’m going to try and outsmart Blogger to put this in the proper order, but it could all back fire).

Everyone I’ve come across here has been incredibly friendly and welcoming and I’m told it’s even more so in Glasgow (where I’m headed tomorrow). People say that Canadians are friendly but I don’t think we have anything on the Scottish…. then again, maybe I just don’t notice it in Canada. It’s also likely that people are super friendly in other countries I’ve been to but because I don’t know the language they’re speaking, I just don’t get the full impact.

I celebrated my first Guy Fawkes Day this week… and by celebrate I mean I watched fireworks from my kitchen window while making dinner (don’t judge, I had mild intentions of actually going out to watch the fireworks but it was cold and damp and my apartment was warm and full of food). For those who don’t know the story of Guy Fawkes, you should Google it because I’ll probably tell it wrong (especially since in my head, I pronounce 'Guy' the French-Canadian way and think of his last name as 'Fox'). All I can say is that I doubt that people would celebrate someone who tried to blow up a government building in current times but I’m all for bonfires and fireworks.

I’m doing it! I’m doing it!

This past summer, I went on a 5 day beginner white water kayaking course. At some point during the week, I was paddling down a rapid and for once I was a) still in my boat and b) not upside-down. The instructor was watching off to the side and yelled “You’re doing it! You’re doing it!”.  Every once in a while since I’ve been here, when I’ve managed to pull something off with all the appearances of being a local, my kayak instructor’s voice pops in my head and I start grinning like an idiot.

I’ve found a place to live in Edinburgh for the next however long I’ll be here. It’s a room in a shared apartment so I have housemates for the first time since university. It was the easiest move I’ve ever done as I only have 2 suitcases of belongings with me – no boxes, minimal packing and an easy cab ride to my new digs. I was ecstatic to move in and be able to cook my own food again. Staying in a hotel and eating out all the time always sounds so much better than it actually is.

I’m hoping that having a place to call my own will help me feel more settled here. Last week I was pretty homesick. It didn’t even occur to me before I left, that I might get homesick. I decided to do the whole travelling thing to get out of a rut, get new experiences, and get away from same old “home”  but I sometimes find myself strangely longing for my life in Ottawa, where things were easy and everything wasn’t something new that had to be figured out. I’m feeling a lot better about things this week though, which is good. And when I got back from Falkirk and Stirling last weekend (see below), I flopped down on my bed and thought “oh, it’s so nice to be home”. So I guess I am adjusting and feeling more settled than I thought.