Scotland, Pt. 4

We met up with Bret for a traditional Scottish breakfast at the Kenilworth in New Town. This consisted of a tomato slice, mushrooms, two eggs, a thick piece of toast and two Cumberland sausages – and, critically, complimentary coffee, which came with a large amount of cream already in it. It was a hearty, hot meal for a chilly, rainy day.

Bret is from Australia – specifically, Adelaide, which has the distinction of being the only city in Australia settled by non-convicts. He told us it’s quite warm there. Often seen wearing a sweater in Edinburgh, our stories of five foot snow drifts in Michigan had him shivering! Because his dog, a blue healer, was in declining health, Bret planned to return home soon. I asked him what was the most interesting place he’d seen in his travels. “Morocco was amazing,” he said. “But you have to pay attention. There’s almost always someone trying to rip you off.”

We convinced Bret it was worth taking time to check out Edinburgh Castle and we agreed to meet at the Adam Smith statue on the Royal Mile at about 3:00pm. Jason and I set out for the bus station to arrange our travel the next morning to Oban, the port town from which we would access the Isle of Mull and Duart Castle, the home of Clan MacLean. Buying our tickets in advance made them half as expensive as buying them the same day as travel – only 9 pounds each to travel 143 miles.

Then it was to the Royal Museum of Scotland, which is attached to the National Museum, but contains more artifacts and information in the way of natural history from the entire globe. On the way, we detoured across the street to Greyfriar’s Kirk. It was built in the 1600’s and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Edinburgh outside of the Old Town. The grounds have a church and graveyard, and once served as a prison area for Covenanters, to whom supporters would toss bread over the walls. The church is still attended today and is well-maintained. I was particularly taken with the stained glass above the altar. The church’s organ – which was being tuned – accompanied our wandering.

It turned out that the Royal Museum was closed for renovations, so we gave the library another try since we both wanted to e-mail our families. After a short wait we managed to grab some terminals. I was very grateful for being able to update my family. I could hardly believe I was almost halfway through the trip, yet I suppose I felt a little homesick.

Back on the Royal Mile, we walked to Canongate Kirk, built in 1691. This is the resting place of Adam Smith, a famous economist who is widely studied. Jason thought his economics professor would get a kick out of a photo. The inside of the kirk was more simply constructed than Greyfriar’s Kirk, but I found the story of its creation interesting: the founder was about to be gored by a white stag, but saw a vision of the cross upon its antlers, at which point it turned and bounded away. He took it as a sign to establish an Abbey, where the kirk was later built. We wandered around the kirkyard, from which we could see Calton Hill, our last main destination for the day.

On our way to meet Bret, we watched the “Tartan Trickster” produce fruits from containers that were much to small to contain them, and confuse the crowd about just how many ping pong balls he had under his cups. When we found Bret, he seemed underwhelmed by the castle. We had to admit it was touristy. Maybe he also wasn’t as interested in the history. He largely preferred the bus tour he’d taken to the highlands the previous day. Indeed, I bet seeing the highlands would have been awesome.

The views from Calton Hill were terrific, despite an approaching rainstorm, which caught us out in a brief downpour. The skies became clear as a bell in that way they can only be after a storm has passed. Now we could see farther than during most of our stay in Edinburgh. We snapped pictures of the Greek-inspired monuments and the beautiful city laid out before us.

And with that, it was time to bring our time in Edinburgh to a close. We descended in search of a grocery store to get supplies for our early morning bus ride. I marveled at the quaint size of the store and the little checkout stalls. Back at the hostel, I took a snap of the room for posterity, and then we chilled out in the lounge downstairs, reviewing our plans for the next couple days.

Eventually we decided to go out in search of food. During another downpour, we took shelter at Deacon Brodie’s, but the kitchen was closed. We enjoyed a pint instead while waiting for the rain to let up. An older man in glasses approached, and, correctly identifying us as foreigners, asked if he could sit down with us. He was Swiss, a doctor, and on holiday, too. He and his family had just come from the west coast near Kilmartin. He remarked that Kilmartin and Oban were beautiful – his favorite areas, in fact. Although we wouldn’t get a chance to visit Kilmartin, I took his comments as a sign that we made a good choice to go west. There are so many places in Scotland that I wish we could’ve seen, but I don’t regret taking our time.