Glasgow & Edinburgh - Scotland

For Britain's May long weekend, we went to Scotland to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh. Our trip started off badly thanks to British Airways, getting us there at 1 1/2 hours late, so by the time we got to our hotel, it was 1 am. It was a Friday night and as we walked from Glasgow Central station to our hotel, there were quite a lot of people were out, partying, drinking.. and drinking. Around every corner we turn, we saw bars, pubs, and nightclubs.

The next day, strolling the streets of Glasgow, I thought it was very similar to London, in terms of architecture, shops, transport, and also strangly enough Sydney, for the newspaper format, the shopping malls, and food courts. We walked along Buchanan street, which to me is like the equivalent of Oxford Street in London or Pitt Street in Sydney. After half the day of wondering around the shops, I thought there must be some nice scenery down by the River Clyde, as most cities have a lively waterfront. Not Glasgow, the waterfront was a boring mess, full of contruction, lifeless waterfront. We walked along the river for about a kilometer and found nothing. We walked around for some photo oportunities, and it seems beautiful scenery was hard to come by in Glasgow city, or maybe we were in the wrong spot, anyway we retired for the day, and decide we'd head for Edingburgh early the next day.
Catching the train between Glasgow and Edinburgh was a nice easy trip, taking in the beautiful rolling hills of that of the Scottish country side. Our first destination was Edinburgh Castle, a military fortress, sitting perched high atop Castle Rock, dominating the skyline of the city of Edinburgh. It is also the site of the world famous Edinburgh military tattoo, an event held annually, in the Esplanade in front of the Castle.

From there we walked down the main pedestrian shopping strip called the Royal Mile, stretching from the Castle down to Holryrood Abbey (Next to Holyrood Park) filled with bars, pubs, restaurants and tourist shops. We stopped of at a restaurant to try the traditional Scottish dish of Haggis with a side serving of mash, and Bangers and Mash.
Holyrood Park, and within the park is Arthur's seat, a huge volcanic rock formation. Arthur's seat provides the best views of Edinburgh, (251m elevation) if you can make it to the top, and a major attraction for every tourist. The climb to the top to Arthur's Seat was a steep but short 1 ½ to 2 hours trek. It was a great physical climb but not dangerous due to the marked track and path, but as we climbed higher and higher, the more Edinburgh city revealed itself. The mountain was covered in lush green grass with fields of yellow wild flowers, so it was a great photo opportunity all around. Once at the top however, the view was well worth it! A truly breath taking 360° view of Edinburgh, from the Castle in the horizon, the sprawling city to the right, and the sea behind us. After a while at the top , the wind was becoming too much, and cold, we descended down the mountain, and this was a much easier affair. Lisa decided to run down parts of it, and in her excitement ended up on her bum, luckily, the ground was soft, and she suffered no damage. For the rest of the afternoon, we wondered through the streets of Edinburgh, much more relaxing, quieter, and slower than what we experienced in Glasgow.

The next day, we headed out to Roslin, to see the recently world famous Rosslyn Chapel (Thanks to the novel "The Davinci Code"). We took a 40 minute bus ride out to country-side Edingburgh or see one of the most interesting Chapels in the world, for its one-of-a-kind architecture, it's history, and the legend that it once housed the "Holy Grail" (believed to be either the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper, or the key that that would be the destruction of the Catholic church). In this one chapel, it has stone carvings and symbols belong to many different religions/beliefs all under one roof. However the most interesting feature, was the apprentice pillar, carved out by one talented apprentice, who was in the end killed by the master Mason for out-doing him.
We thoroughly enjoyed our Scotland trip, more Edinburgh than Glasgow, a city rich in history, and culture, and felt all relaxed and ready for the working week ahead. When we got to the airport, we were brought crashing back to reality, as BA stuffed our home trip (as they so often do). After wasting 1hr and 45 minutes, we were on board, to a pathetic excuse of lateness due to weather. We were lucky enough to catch the very last running tube back into London.