Adventures with Kathleen

The biggest event in February, other than Matt's half birthday of course, was that our friend Kathleen came to visit! After a few days of recovering from jet lag and marveling at the small town wonders of St Andrews (including Tesco), we all headed off to Edinburgh to see some tourist-y sites and generally wander around. We arrived on a Friday afternoon, and spent the first day rambling around the city, eating fish and chips, and introducing Kathleen to ginger wine and whisky. Oh, and watching the Olympics on a giant screen outside some fancy hotel.

It was cold and sunny pretty much every day. Kathleen and I are so excited to explore Edinburgh!

Our biggest tourist plans, other than getting some fish and chips, involved walking the Royal Mile. This is about a mile (plus 107 yards) that stretches from the gates of Holyrood Palace (where the Queen stays when she is in Edinburgh) to the entrance of Edinburgh Castle. There are tons of shops, cathedrals, and other sights like the whisky barrel tour (pretty much what it sounds like) and the new Scottish Parliament building along the way.

Of course, it turns out other people had plans involving the Royal Mile that day; namely, protesters. Apparently, the Scottish branch of the BNP (a very, "pro-white" political party, in essence) had planned a march for that morning, and the protest was in response to them. We didn't actually see the "fascist" march (as the signs repeatedly warned us) but we did get blocked in by a huge group of protesters with flags, signs, and megaphones. Oh, hey, Scottish hippies (or as close as it gets).

Anyways, although the crowds and police stopped us from walking the Royal Mile from end to end, we took some side streets and found a great view from a graveyard to watch some protesters try and sneak past the police barricades.

I should note that the police-protester interactions were very friendly; the police seemed more concerned with getting buses through the streets and keeping people organized than arresting people. There were some ominous "jail" buses around though! However, their blockade attempts prevented us from getting a good look at the new Parliament building, which turned out not to matter since it seemed to be under construction anyway.

We did get to peer through the gates of Holyrood, however, which was neat. It costs a fair amount (about 10-12 pounds) to get into the castles, so we passed on the interior tours. It's hard to imagine a whole palace that just hangs out, waiting for the Queen to stop by.

After skipping around the protesters gathering at the Parliament building, we headed back up the hill towards Edinburgh Castle. Along the way, we stopped in at St. Giles cathedral to steal some pictures (apparently, you were supposed to pay for a photo permit) and rest in the quiet chapel for bit under the guise of studying the immense stained glass windows.

St. Giles houses the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, which was tiny but impressive. There are only sixteen members of the Order at any given time, and they all have their own little "stalls" with their crests mounted on them. Very elitist, but cool.

After our rest, we finished the hike up to the Edinburgh Castle. After our trip in the Christmas wheel, Matt and I had been debating which old castle structure on a hill (there are several) was the real Castle, so it was nice to finally get up there and see it.

We didn't go in this castle either; instead, we joined the masses of people scoping out the view and milling around outside. The location definitely affords some amazing views of the city and surrounding areas.

This adventure pretty much took us most of the day and thoroughly exhausted our walking powers. We headed to a pub on Rose St. for some dinner, and then Matt and I caught a bus back to St Andrews while Kathleen prepared for her next adventure in London. I think we've hooked her into a return visit some time over the next three years :)