Saying G’bye to Edinburgh

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

Edinburgh is gearing up for festival season, its amazing. I’ve slowly got used to the idea that I’m living in a tourist town, but now we are in the middle of Edinburgh’s biggest festival – or rather a collection of big festivals. The Fringe Festival, the Military Tatto, the International Festival, the Film Festival, the Literary Festival and a few others are running concurrently, meaning that there are performers and big names all over town. The Royal Mile is a delight to see, clowns and ‘robot people’ everywhere. Of course, its also great watching other tourists getting lost and confused – knowing our way around the city now we’re now able to laugh and point them in the right direction. Bagpipes are everywhere and every now and again you wander past a Highland’s band. On Sunday there was a parade on the High Street to celebrate the beginning of the Fringe Festival, lots of marching bands (mainly military ones, from the Military Tattoo) and floats. So many people lined the streets to watch, I haven’t seen so many people in Edinburgh (except, perhaps, when the protests were happening, but then it was almost all riot police).

Highland Band

Highland Band

One of the boys in our room had a nasty shock last night. Poor guy had just moved into our room, drank too much and passed out on his bed. At 3am the fire alarm went off and the hostel had to be evacuated. Tash and I jumped up and threw on our shoes, then attempted to get Nuffy up. He wasn’t having any of it, we finally rolled him onto the floor (off the top bunk, OUCH), where he continued to snore away. Whilst we were trying to slap him awake, some of the boys came in and just dragged him down the stairs, he woke up about 3 flights down. Luckily it wasn’t a real fire – just someone smoking in the wrong place. It’s the third fire alarm since I’ve been here, they don’t have false alarms, if it goes off the whole building is evacuated, and the fire brigade is automatically called. Interestingly, there is a hostel on the floor below us, and they never evacuate (even though they can clearly hear the alarms). I guess they figure that its just an activity our hostel enjoys, not one for them to join in to. There’s gunna be problems the day it is a real fire…

Apart from dealing with the hoards of people, not much else is new. We went and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the other day, very fun. Of course had to get the compulsory hoard of candy before the movie, needless to say the four of us finished the GIGANTIC popcorn before the movie even started. Many of the people at the hostel are starting to move on now, so alot of our original friends are gone. Consequently, the hostel is a lot quieter, people reflecting what they are going to do, and people planning their next leg of their trips. It’s sad to see everyone go, but great to hear their plans and see another persons opinions about the MUST-GO places.

Elysha, gathering her candy

Elysha, gathering her candy

I’m off to Ireland tomorrow, so incredibly excited. I plan on staying in a castle, visiting the various breweries, going to see Giants Causeway and a heap of other things… Thanks to all for the help with all the advice on places to see, sorry to those who requested leprechauns, not sure I’ll be able to fit them in my luggage, but I’ll keep an eye out!

Hugs and Kisses, Bobbi

Touring the Highlands with mum

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh, Inverness & Loch Ness

Mum arrived safely and soundly, the events in London didn’t significantly alter her travels, although her flight from Germany to London contained a heap of journalists and photographers. Our week has been full of the typical touristy things, it’s been fantastic. Before we were able to do all our sightseeing, however, I had to show mum the hostel we’ve been staying in… Up the 77 steps we climbed, to inspect the bedrooms and hang out rooms. Mum didn’t seem tooooooo upset, it could have been worse! When mum arrived, I commented to her that it was tough luck that she didn’t arrive the week before, so she could see all the protesters and what not. Just after I said this to her, she called me to the window of our hotel room. Right outside, there were alot of people boo-ing, whilst firefighters were getting protesters down off a bridge. They had somehow climbed to the top of the bridge and rolled out a sign. Waiting on the ground, with handcuffs at the ready, were the police…

I took mum to see all my favourite hangouts, including Greyfriars Kirk. Interestingly, after visiting Greyfriars, mum discovered scratches all over her arm – we took a photo. Weird. Also went to Mary Kings Close, very interesting. It is a small street that was closed over and largely forgotten about in the 1700’s, so that the council chambers could be built over the top. The street and some of the buildings have been kept in their original condition. When we entered one of the rooms, our guide told us how, in the 1980’s, a Japanese film crew had come down with a psychic. The psychic felt such strong emotions in this particular room, at first she refused to enter. Eventually she did, and she felt the presence of a small girl, named Anne. She said that the reason the girl was so upset is because her family had left, and she had no-one to play with. The Japanese psychic sent one of her colleagues up to the street to buy a doll for the girl, and ever since then, people have been bringing her toys and money. After a time, the toys and money are donated to a local childrens charity.

Mary Kings Close - notice the prominent orbs

Mary Kings Close - notice the prominent orbs

We hired a car for two days, which allowed us to get out of the city for a while and see the countryside. On the first day we went to Rosslyn Chapel, which was amazing. Built in 1446, Rosslyn Chapel is unique in that it conforms to neither architecture of the time, nor to any fashion of the time. Everything within the chapel is heavily carved, full of symbolism. Things like the carvings of maize from the New World that pre-date the discovery of America by Columbus by at least one hundred years. Rosslyn Chapel feautures in the book, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, as the place where the holy grail is supposedly buried. When we went, the chapel was in the middle of being restored, so there was scaffolding everywhere. Dissapointing, as it meant we couldn’t see the outside of the building well, but rewarding in that it meant we could climb up to the top and view the chapel from above.

The Apprentice Pillar, Rosslyn Chapel - Legend has it that the apprentice stonemason is entombed within his own peice of art

The Apprentice Pillar, Rosslyn Chapel - Legend has it that the apprentice stonemason is entombed within his own peice of art

On our second day with the car we took a road trip. Leaving extremly early, Tash, Elysha, Mike, mum an I set off for the highlands. Our aim of the day was to visit Loch Ness, on the way there we stopped off at tea rooms, to get scones and tea, yum! Lunch at Inverness, then onto Loch Ness. We went through the ‘Loch Ness Discovery Centre’, which was a bit dissapointing, they spent most of their time convincing us that the Loch Ness Monster didn’t exist. Afterwards we set off to the loch, to find out for ourselves. I don’t believe them, there’s definetly something in the waters there, there has to be. The trip home took us through the highlands and past all the lochs. Really beautiful countryside, lots of sheep, cows and Pavlova’s (read: sheep dogs).

Tash, Mike, Elysha & I

Tash, Mike, Elysha & I

Apart from our car travels, we’ve just spent the week discovering Edinburgh. We found the legendary Tesco’s – woohoo! Spent half a day at the castle, which was fun. Saw the dressing room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James I. We also saw the Honours of Scotland, the oldest jewels in the U.K. Saw mum off yesterday, shes off to Thailand to meet Charlotte, they should have a blast. Going to be nice and warm over there… Today I went into an interesting store. It’s called ‘Argos’, you walk in and walk up to a set of catalogues. In the catalogue there is everything you could possibly want to buy – towels, iPods, cameras, sofas, board games, books, hair dryers etc etc. Once you find what you want, you punch the number into the little machine sitting in front of you, which tells you if the item is in stock. After deciding what you want, you go to the front of the store, tell the staff and they give you a receipt. They then fill the order and bring it back to you in about 10 minutes. Amazing! A store that has completely taken away the idea of browsing through stock. It seems to work, it was really busy today.

Mike and Shannon browsing through the catalogues at Argos

Mike and Shannon browsing through the catalogues at Argos

Anyway, thats enough ramblings about weird shops… love to all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH!!!

xoxo bobs

Riots in Edinburgh & Bombs in London

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

It’s been an interesting week in Edinburgh, I’ve participated in my first big protest (the one that was on Saturday, see the previous post…) and I’ve watched a number of more violent protests – or riots if you will. On Monday, anarchists turned the city into mayhem, causing police to come out in their hundreds. The riot police were particularily worrying – they came out with their sheilds and batons, forming a line to block off protesters. We were blocked in the Princes Street Gardens for several hours, whilst police tried to defuse the situation. Some of the more interesting protesters included a giant bunny rabbit who tried to feed the police horses carrots (I talked to him for a while, ashamed to admit he was Australian), a completely naked guy running around, many many clowns and a heap of anarchists with black bandanas over their mouths and noses. The protesters with their faces covered were by far the scariest, not something you expect to experience, being surrounded by black-bandana’d protesters. The police dogs were impressive, very scary looking. I didn’t see them actually being used, they were just brought out and all the protesters backed off immediently. They had a pretty terrifying bark… Not too many injuries, it was reported that there were 21 people admitted to hospital, and 90 people arrested. Since then there have been several protests, a couple more on Monday, some on Wednesday. Of course I’ve been down there in the middle of it all, with a couple of others from the hostel.

Posing in front of the police

Posing in front of the police

This past week, Tash, Elysha, Mike and I also went on a ghost tour. Very exciting, we were lead down to the underground vaults by our guide. Apparently Edinburgh is full of these underground vaults, in the good days they were used as wine cellers and cobblers basements. Soon after using them as storage rooms, it was discovered that, 3 days after raining in Princes Street, the rain would seep through to the vaults. Consequently, they were used as housing for the poor, as many as 15 families would cram into a room. The vaults that we saw were owned by the tour company, there are many more that have been turned into basements, nightclubs, music rehersal areas and bars. Our guide walked us through the vaults, explaining ‘spirits’ that they know to lurk in the particular rooms. After the vaults we concluded the tour at midnight, in the Cannongate Graveyard. I didn’t get any ‘ghostie’ pictures, but did get some photos that have ‘orbs’ in them. Who knows?

Telling spooky stories at Cannongate Graveyard

Telling spooky stories at Cannongate Graveyard

Wow, just got woken up this morning to a text message from Laura, saying that bombs had gone off in London and she was just checking that I was ok. I started to write back, saying that she was wrong, nothing had happened or I’d know, when Ryan came racing into our room, yelling at us to get up and come watch the news – 6 bombs have gone off in central London. Since then another bomb has gone off, all have involved the transport system – busses, tubes and stations. Kind of scary. We’re not sure if it’s to do with the Olympics (London has just been named the winner of the 2012 Olympics) or G8, or even something else. A good number of London Police are up in Edinburgh dealing with the G8, I’ve just heard that they’ve headed back to London to help out. I’m still crossing my fingers and hoping that mum will still get through – she has to fly through Heathrow to get here today, not sure how the airports will be affected. We’ve had two bomb scares in Edinburgh since the attacks – one on a bus, where the police did a ‘controlled explosion’, and another suspicious package around the corner from the hostel. Both were reported as just suspicious packages and nothing more, so we should be fine.
Take care everyone xo Bobs

Marching the streets of Edinburgh

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

Well, its been a hell of a week, and its only just beginning! As I’m sure everyone’s aware, the G8 summit is being held in Edinburgh this week, and as a result, the city is FULL of people ready to protest. Everyday more and more people arrive at the hostel with backpacks, looking for a bed. Everywhere is full, it seems many people are just camping out on the sides of the streets. People at our hostel are making money by ‘selling’ their beds, and sleeping in the tv room for a night (not me, I need a good nights sleep in a bed, otherwise WATCH OUT!!!). Elysha, Nick and I joined the protest on Saturday morning, it was great. Really uplifting, everyone was in a good mood, we had bongo drums and guitars accompanying us the whole time. More people than were expected showed up, they think there were about 200,000 people marching. Protesters were asked to wear white, so we could form a giant white band around the city. However, I’m a backpacker, and all good backpackers stay away from white clothing – it gets dirty way too easily. I managed to rustle up a white rain jacket though, so I was set. The march started and ended at the meadows, the sports area. People were everywhere, the crowd marching was generally a younger one, lots and lots of young families with children in tow.

The march went off without a hitch, there was one slight disturbance when some masked teenagers caused some trouble in a bar, police took them in but didn’t charge them. Of the 200,000, only one person was charged, with drug possession. Since Saturday there’s been a few more marches, theres one on right now, sounds like it’s a fair bit more violent – its a protest by an anarchist groups dissent, there have been police riot vans screaming along Princes street all morning, and I can hear about 3 helicopters hanging around outside. Apparently, police have barricaded a large group of protestors on princess street in front of the castle, with helicopters floating low above them, and a heap of police everywhere. Sounds exciting, I might go down soon and see whats happening.

The lead up to the G8 has been fun to watch. Alot of the shops boarded up their windows – Interestingly, McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks didn’t bother – although they do have a heap more security on. And they seem to have their own contingency of police hanging around. We were watching one of the marches yesterday, one of the guys suggested throwing a McD’s drink in amongst the protestors, to see how much trouble it would cause. We are all a bit put out that whilst the newsagent has boarded up his shop, McD’s is getting away without it, we want to see DAMAGE!!!

Boarding up shops in Edinburgh

Boarding up shops in Edinburgh

Apart from the G8, not much has been happening. I’ve been racing around trying to find accommodation for mum, she’s arriving next week. Elysha, Tash and I were discussing the possibility of her hotel having a bathtub, and ended up basically drooling with the prospect of having a bath – the things you miss when you’re traveling! I went to one of the museums in town last week, the People’s Story. Was really interesting, full of quotes from older generations, about what Edinburgh used to be way back when. Good fun. We’re talking about going on a ghost tour tonight, should be fun. Hopefully not too many protesters about. Last night we went out (normal Sunday occurrence). Expected lots of people to be out drinking, considering how many people are in town at the moment, but there was hardly anyone out, everyone’s too scared in case trouble starts…

Happy Canada day and 4th of July all…
xoxo ~*~Bobbi~*~

Marching along The Mound, Edinburgh

Marching along The Mound, Edinburgh

Sweating it out in Edinburgh

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

How typical is this? We’re in one of the countries that is renowned for its cold and rainy weather and we are in the middle of a ‘hot spell’. Everyone is complaining about the heat, people are having trouble sleeping at night. This morning I was eating my brekky in the dining room (one of the coldest rooms in the hostel, brrr), one of the longtermers walked in and remarked ‘wow, isn’t it nice and cold in here’. Tomorrow the temperature might get as high as 22 degrees Celsius, I wonder how everyone will deal with the heat and lack of sleep. Despite all this, I did manage to get horribly sunburnt the other day, ouch!

We went out for a couple of hours on Sunday night, ended up coming home early because it was oh so hot in the club. Funny, in Australia, Sunday night/afternoon is spent lazing around, sad that the weekends over, slightly sick from a weekend of partying etc etc. You might have a drink or two, but that’s about it. Over here its one of the biggest nights of the week, 1 pound drinks, so everyone gets really drunk, quite different from home.

Next week the G8 is coming to Edinburgh, expected to be pretty big. Not only will we have all the world ‘leaders’, we will have all the protesters that come with them. Bob Geldof is calling for over 1 million people to flood the streets and ‘make poverty history’. The whole of Edinburgh is shaking in their kilts… Everyone has made all sorts of plans – they are closing down the main street (the one that runs past the front of the hostel) and are advising most shops to close for the day, if not the whole week. Pubs are replacing pint glasses with plastic cups and removing all chairs in anticipation of riots. The council is advising people to stock up on groceries and not to venture into town unless ‘absolutely necessary’. Despite all this, some of the shops are staying open – one of my friends shop is staying open, however they have put aside extra funds so they can whisk staff out the back, into taxis and away to safety in the event of riots. Should be fantastic, we’re gunna be right down there in the middle of it all…

Apart from gossiping about what’s going to happen next week, we haven’t been up to much. Just more roaming of the city, yesterday we went for a nice long walk up the mountains. Walked past Holyrood, the Queen’s residence when she’s in town (pretty impressive, she has her very own church in the backyard). Climb up the mountain wasn’t too bad, very impressive seeing the view over the city. The difference between the ‘old town’ and the ‘new town’ is astounding.

Hugs and kisses all [and a special hug to my new 2nd cousin, Phoenix]
xoxo bobs

Tash, Elysha and Mike, on their way up the mountain

Tash, Elysha and Mike, on their way up the mountain