Last Day in London (aka London Day 4) and Edinburgh Day 1

LAST DAY IN LONDON (AKA LONDON DAY FOUR) AND EDINBURGH DAY ONE

I wrote this up shortly after my arrival in Edinburgh.  If it sounds a bit different from my usual posts it’s because I was ridiculously tired and reading way too much John Green at the time.

It's my last day in London so of course the weather has to pull out all the stops. Possibly it's the universe's subtle way of saying "move on" but whatever the reason it's freezing cold, then it's hot, then it's raining, than it's not.  My umbrella may be broken but I’m still spending a good part of the day in Saint James' Park, sitting in alternating bands of sun and shade, finishing the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. 

I've come to love London and there's so much left I have to see.  I’m about to go take in Buckingham Palace.  I've already seen Parliment and Big Ben.  Later today I’ll move onto the London Eye, the Southbank neighborhood festival, Blackfriars Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Covenant Gardens.

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Now, it's late in the day, almost seven, and I'm exhausted.  I pick up my bags back at the hostel and head for the bus station.  The trip this time goes more smoothly than my departure to Oxford.  I know where I'm going even with the wonky elevator setup in the Green Park tube station.  There's no wandering around looking for a bus stall so I spend my last few minutes in London securing myself a seat on an overbooked bus, putting in some earplugs and falling asleep.

 *

When I woke up this morning I was in Edinburgh.  I picked up a map from the bus station's information center and asked for directions to my hostel.  I ended up with a mini tour of the city drawn out on paper and a couple of good laughs.  Heading out, I was surprised to find the streets quiet, the city it seemed was still asleep at seven thirty.

I walked through St. Andrew's Square and passed the Scots Memorial in the Prince Street Gardens.  I watched shop after shop of tartan (plaid for the US folks) pass by, along with stores with names like 'TheHouse of Fraser'.  The architecture here is distinctly different from anything I had seen in London.  I'm in the older part of the city called Old Town and it's obvious; it's beautiful.  I have to keep reminding myself not to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and stare.  There might not be people around to bump into me but I'm not sure how long that will last.  I feel in a way as if I've stepped back in time or into a book and I love it.

I drop my bags off at my hostel and start my trip around town.  Nothing is open; the shops don't open until nine thirty and the National Museum of Scotland at ten.  Greyfriars Kirk is open though, so I wander around there first.  So many of the names here are familiar to me, the last few months have unintentionally revolved around Scottish history.  Greyfriars Bobby is a mystery to me though, a small terrier whose loyalty is now legendary.  It's a touching story and one that lends an element of realism to my meandering.

The museum is also intriguing.  I spend the early afternoon in an exhibit chronicling the whole of Scottish history from the Picts through the Uprising into the modern day.  It's like watching Neil Oliver's documentaryseries but with real artifacts and interactive displays.  I happen across the Lewis Chessmen and have to refrain from having a total geekout, because these were the chess pieces in the documentary and they're even more unsettling in person.

After the museum, I stop outside the Elephant House where JK Rowling wrote the first of the Harry Potter books.  It looks like any other cafe, quaint but bustling.  The only difference is the sign in the window proclaiming it's fame.  I continue back toward the center of the city and walk through part of the Royal Mile to get to St Giles Cathedral which is now open.  The stained glass is beautiful, of all the cathedrals I've been to on this trip, this one has my favorite windows.  There's a band playing, and I sit for a while to listen.  If the acoustics in a church are great, they're even better in a cathedral.

When the band packs up I head back to my hostel for a nap.  It's dinner time now and I'm going to have to find something to eat, somewhere on that map I got at the bus station there's a couple of grocery stores marked off. I may just eat what I have with me, though. I'm feeling like I need to take a nice long break tonight.  I have quite a day planned for tomorrow to make up for the fact it's supposed to rain on Thursday.