Present Joys

Part of a series.

Sunday in Edinburgh! We are finally getting the hang of waking up, I think.

We had breakfast at our Airbnb and set off promptly at 8 to hike up Arthur’s Seat, a mountain situated just behind Holyrood Palace. It’s hard to believe how close these big, barren mountains are from the center of the city. The cool, wet morning air meant there was no sweating, and the overcast sky meant no squinting without sunglasses. I love the weather here. And the view from the highest point of the mountain was fantastic. Yesterday, we’d noticed a cute old church on the Royal Mile, St. Columba’s Free Church, and we decided to join them for worship at 11. We had just enough time to walk there quickly from Arthur’s Seat! Our home church has “fraternal relations” with the Free Church of Scotland, so it felt a very familar there. It was a wonderful break in the hurriedness of our time in the city.

After church, we figured out the correct bus route to take us to the Royal Botanical Gardens—the farthest-away thing we’d attempted to see yet in the city, and the only thing we couldn’t easily walk to. The gardens were free to visit and lovely to look at, even this late in the year. (Check out that crazy tall hedge.) We decided to walk back home from the gardens, which was a bit of a trek. On the way there, we climbed Calton Hill again—this time in the daylight. My feet are killing me. So far, it looks like I did a fantastic job packing for this trip. I don’t feel burdened with unnecessary garments, and I’m wearing everything I brought. But, besides my house shoes, I only brought a pair of penny loafers and duck boots, and they’re not cutting it for all the walking we’ve been doing. I went to the grocery and got a cheap pair of insoles, which I jerry-rigged with folded up paper towels to help my metatarsalgia. What was I thinking not packing better shoes?

After a nice dinner at the Safari Lounge (just up the road from our Airbnb, and recommended to us by our host), we made a long walk back to the Royal Mile and to Ensign Ewart, a pub at the top of the hill. I’d seen that Sandy Brechin, my favorite Scottish accordion player, was going to be leading a session thre. It turns out he leads a session there every sunday night. I don’t know how I managed to miss that during my Edinburgh trip planning, but I’m glad I figured it out in time! People with instruments starting trickling in to the dark, low-ceilinged pub a little after 9 pm, and there were soon too many people to fit around the single reserved table. The next table over, where Karen and I were sitting, got absorbed into the musicians’ space. When the musicians discovered I also played accordion, they asked me to “have a turn” playing. I politely declined this, until they just wouldn’t let me anymore. I ended up playing The Hut on Staffin Island as it was nearing midnight. The straps of the accordion I borrowed were way too loose for me, and even besides that, I did not play very well. But it was sort of a dream-come-true situation! And it was great fun! Certainly my best experience of the trip so far.

Part of a series.

Saturday was our second day in Edinburgh. I slept nearly 11 hours—until about 9 am, and woke up feeling clammy. That was almost assuredly because our bed had no top sheet—just a fitted sheet and a duvet. Is not using top sheets a thing here?

Anyway, we got moving and by 10 we’d entered St. Giles’ Cathedral, another notable building situated on the Royal Mile (noticing a theme?). Of course, I went there for Knox, who presided over the Scottish Reformation as pastor there and who I am currently reading a new biography about. The building is a gorgeous hodgepodge of medieval and victorian architecture with some stunning neoclassical, art nouveau, and modernist plaques and memorials inside. All in all, the interior was more ornate and busy than I was expecting, and it was difficult to imagine the iconoclasic Knox preaching in a nave full of decorations and doodads. Great job, Church of Scotland!

Next we made our way to Greyfriars Kirk, which is where the National Covenant was signed. How unpleasant it was to find a “DIY craft fair” happening in the sanctuary of the church, where people at tables were selling things like dreamcatchers and chakra stones. Made me want to flip over some tables. After wandering through the Greyfriars Kirkyard, which was beautiful and peaceful in the hazy mist, Karen and I ate lunch of cheese and bread on the Grassmarket, sitting on a marker commemorating the spot where over 100 Covenanters were executed. This place is dripping with history, and so much of that is Scottish Reformation history.

We saw Edinburgh Castle after lunch. We didn’t buy tickets ahead of time, which meant waiting in a long but quick line full of tourists from all over the world, a majority of whom were using selfie sticks at any given time. There were a lot of different things to see in the Castle, including the Scottish crown jewels and Edinburgh’s oldest structure, a chapel built in 1092.

Next we decided to check out the National Museum of Scotland (the “Scottish Smithsonian”), which was crawling with kids and parents. (Not tourists, though. I think this is a place where local families go.) The place is a combined science museum and natural history museum with things for all ages. Daunting to imagine looking at half of what’s inside. We spent all the time we had (about two hours) looking through the seven floors (!) of Scottish history. I particularly enjoyed seeing artifacts from—you guessed it—the Scottish Reformation, including some beautiful handmade Covenanter flags, a printed metrical psalter, a stool that may have been Jenny Geddes’, and an old pew that converted into a table with bench seats for partaking in the Supper.

Once the museum closed, we walked over to Captains Bar where there was some music on, which was cool—and it did not feel like a TGI Friday’s, which was great—then we had dinner at a nearby “comfort food” place. The vibe was certainly very comfortable and the food was suitably cozy and greasy, but it tasted foreign. I think I’m starting to pick up on a trend: all the food here is less flavorful than I’m expecting it to be, and the British idea of “meat seasoning” is not my idea of “meat seasoning”—seasoned meat tastes like a Christmas spice cake. It’s good. Just not what I’m used to.

We picked that dinner place because it was right across the street from Sandy Bell’s, another pub with a big reputation for trad music. The place was crowded, but we got seats in the back room where there were three old guys (“Freddie and the Boys”) singing and playing very leisurely. Every 10 minutes two of them would roll a cig and step outside. The social dynamic of this is not something I’m accustomed to: you’re sitting in a pub listening to people play music, but you’re really all there to drink and hang out, and it’s not a concert or anything, because nobody feels any pressure to do anything in particular. But it was a great experience. Lots of fun.

It gets dark around here about 4:30 pm, so it’s hard to stay out late, especially when you’re drained from a long day of walking. But we did better tonight than last night. Here’s to tomorrow!

The view from our Airbnb in Edinburgh. People are allowed to park any ol’ direction they please.

The “John Knox House” on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, just down the hill from Edinburgh Castle and a stonesthrow away from St. Giles’ Cathedral, where Knox preached.

I haven’t blogged in ages. In the intervening time, I got married, bought a house, and quit my day job. More on all that later. For now, I’m jumping back in to recount my adventures during a 12-day trip to Scotland and Ireland. I’ll be posting daily updates about my trip time-shifted 2 weeks.

So, friday. After almost a day of flying and layovers (and the time zone change), we finally arrived in Edinburgh at about 9 am friday morning. And after a bus ride and a few miles of schlepping bags through downtown, we arrived at our Airbnb at 10 am. Our host, Gill, was still getting the place ready for us, but she kindly let us drop off our bags and gave us a little map rundown. We had brunch at a cute little shop called Art and Vintage just around the corner. There was no sleeping on the plane, so at this point we’d been awake for almost 20 hours. We figured the best course of action would be to power through. That’s the way to combat jet lag, right?

After brunch, we took a short walk toward Holyrood Palace, the monarch’s official Scottish residence. This palace is still used by the Queen when she visits Scotland. It was a lovely building on lovely ground. The only lame part of that tour was the lack of any human tour guides! We paid for a “tour” (which we had to do to see inside), but the “tour” consisted of being handed a little pocket audio player with headphones. I’d choose an inarticulate, real tour guide over a prerecorded thing any day. Too bad about that.

We also popped into the Parliament building, which is just next door to the palace. It’s got a much warmer on the interior than I expected from the outside. It felt very pleasant in there—especially the debating chamber with its many windows and bright wood.

Continuing up the royal mile, we turned off at Dunbar’s Close, which a sort of hole-in-the-wall 17th century-style garden just off the main drag. We listened to a bit of an organ concert in the next-door Canongate Kirk, and visited Adam Smith’s grave, which is in the churchyard. Just up the street from that, the “Edinburgh Museum” has the original parchment copy of the National Covenant, which I didn’t even know when I wandered in. Very moving. We also visited the John Knox house, which was an odd little museum. It’s unclear whether Knox lived exactly there or not, but it was neat to see an old residence with its many stories, windy stairs, and drafty windows looking out onto the medieval street below. After the Knox house, Karen and I finally admitted to ourselves that we were too tired to really appreciate what we were looking at. Instead of continuing on up the Royal Mile and seeing things that cost money, we decided to try out the Royal Gallery, which is free and seemed like a good place to chill. The Gallery was wonderful—lusciously decorated (so much chroma on the walls!) and a very manageable size—but my favorite part of the museum was its layout. Each room led into the next very clearly, and I never felt like I was accidentally missing something. Karen dozed on a soft gallery bench while I wandered.

After the gallery, we walked the mile and a half back to our Airbnb and then a little farther, in order to pick up some groceries at a Sainsbury’s. We had a dinner of crackers and cheese and spent an hour completely zonked on the couch before rallying. We only have three days in this city. No time for jet lag. So we climbed Calton Hill as the sun set. Basically, it’s this majestic hill full of otherworldly monuments and buildings. The monuments are all way bigger and cooler than what I’d expect to find in the states. Our only other goal for the evening was finding a not-super-touristy pub with a trad music session going. Everything on the Royal Mile is so commercialized, but without any cell service, it was difficult to figure out where else to walk. In desperation, we ended up at a place back on the Royal Mile that was a lot like a TGI Friday’s. No music. Very cheesy. Better luck tomorrow night. I’d say we did pretty good for day one.

• British money is gorgeous. I remember people griping online about these new bills with transparent plastic bits, and I guess they are a little cheesy. But being used to American money, I think I’m color-starved.
• What is the thing with red poppies? I know it’s some sort of military veteran thing. But why are red poppies on people’s lapels everywhere? It’s kinda fun to stay in the dark about this. I’m going to just keep wondering.
• I’ve already heard so many languages spoken here, especially French. Is this the way Europe is in general? Or just because we are in a prime tourist zone on the weekend? I suspect a little of both. Amazing.
• We opted not to pay the ridiculous upcharge to use our cell phone internationally, which means we have no service except for the occasional wifi. I think the hardest thing about it is trying to navigate in a strange place.