rolled into onE. Part of the reason I've been derelict in my duty to
keep you updated. But hey, more reading for you, and more furious
tap-typing for my thumbs. Our topics for this post are broad; we'll
cover Edinburgh, my biggest problem with crisps, Scotland's
countryside, arrival in Belfast, and the day-long excursion I took
today.
So, to Edinburgh again shall we? On my arrival, it was, as with every
other city I've visited so far, grey and rainy, but on Saturday, the
sun came out. I woke up early (by my standards) and walked around in
search of more old buildings to gawk at. The first was another old
cathedral, St. George's, if memory serves me right, which was of
course both huge and old. Unfortunately for myself, by the time I
reached St. George's the combination if sunny weather and a decidedly
spring-like climate brought on my allergies, and the quiet morning air
was soon punctuated frequently and violently with my sneezes. Great,
now I'm at a cathedral, sneezing an entire orchestra of noises from my
nose and mouth, and my eyes take on their customary red, watery glaze
that renders vision nearly impossible and keeps fresh tears cascading
down my cheeks. In a matter of moments I go from looking like a
tourist to a sneezing, silently weeping, stoned tourist. Perfect for
a cathedral wouldn't you agree? I stumble, half blind, to my hostel,
my body already aching from the force of so many sneezes, ask where
the nearest pharmacy is, and go purchase zyrtec. It might be almost 10
am by this time, and until the meds kick in, I'm worthless, so back to
the hospital to lay on my back and sleep it off. That afternoon,
feeling somewhat better but sounding rather goose-ish and with a nose
as red and raw as ground beef, I hit the town again and do a TON of
walking, as I try and take in the whole of the city and get accustomed
to it's layout. For those unfamiliar with European streets, they
change names about five or six times without changing direction, and
maps that hostels give you are almost always awful (well, they are
free after all), so walking as much of the city is highly recommended
so that later, when others are lost and can't tell left from right,
you are depended upon as "the guy who knows where we are"...if you've
ever held this title, you know how awesome it is, but oh man, don't
get cocky and attempt what you believe to be a shortcut, lest ye be
certain it actually is a shortcut...folks don't quickly forget those
sorts of things...
Annnywhooo, I DID go up to Edinburgh castle, twice actually, but both
times the line to get a ticket just to get in was over an hour, no
spank you, this isn't six flags, and there are plenty of free
attractions without a wait to explore, so I walked down the "royal
mile" (a street leading up to the castle lined with old
cathedrals-now-turned-cafes/hostels/anything except a cathedral.) and
did some people watching, saw a lady who claims to be in the guinness
book of world records for the most piercings in her face...quite a
spectacle I assure you. I also revisited the national gallery for a
closer look at the paintings, and also visited scotland's national
museum, which covers all of scotland's history and has tons of
artifacts. Got to meet the Maiden firsthand, which was surreal. The
Maiden was a very famous guillotine back in the day, google it to find
out some of the heads that rolled under her blade. Also got to see
some of the artifacts of the real William Wallace (remember
braveheart?) and the helmet of Graeme Obree, who, several hundred
years later, set world records in track cycling for Scotland. A very
much all-encompassing museum, definitely worth spending some time in.
I also had a baked potato (not at the musem), that was packed to the
hilt with goodness, and it was all vegetarian (kinda nice to get a few
veggies other than potatoes, although be sure there was still plenty
of that as well.), loaded down with vegetarian chilli, spicy hummus,
and a roasted corn and red pepper mix. Quite good, and different from
the pub food that dominates your world here if you aren't eating
baguettes or burger king.
I wrapped up my stay in Edinburgh with a visit to an old, old cemetery
(the newest tombstone I saw dated 1850s) at about the same time that
the rain came back, and it got all gloomy. Fitting, considering
Edinburgh is supposed to be the mist haunted city in Europe.
Another loooong travel day yesterday, from Edinburgh to Glasgow (1
hour), to Stranraer (4 and a half hours), ferry to Belfast (2 hours),
and of course all the waiting in between. Apparently July 12 is a
national holiday for Northern Ireland, and because it landed on a
Sunday, they waited until Monday to celebrate, the day I arrived.
When I started walking from my bus station in Belfast to my hostel,
the rain started pouring, and upon exiting the stationand setting out
on the streets, I was greeted by a large wall mural with a masked
gunman proclaiming that I was now entering the Loyalists of Sandy Row
territory, (anyone unfamiliar with Belfast and it's history should
google Belfast conflicts and also Belfast murals so you have some idea
what I'm talking about and why I would be just so thrilled to be
greeted with this in the pouring rain, on a national holiday. in an
unfamiliar city. In a celebratiob that involves burning of massive
bonfires, Irish "tri-colors" (again, google for pictures and
explanations) and a massive, drunken parade that weaves through
several other towns, and traditionally catholic, Irish national
neighborhoods. People line the streets as band after band after band,
each representing a different group of L.O.L.s (Local Orange Lords)
who belong to different neighborhood loyalist Protestant groups (I
hope I'm getting this right, I had to piece this together from many
different jubilant, yet intoxicated, sources) march through the
streets and celebrate victory over nationalists so many years back.
It's their fourth of July, in a sense, only much rowdier, drunker, and
messier. It's also supposed to bring about a brief stint each year in
which there is a significant rise in violence between the nationalists
and loyalists, who have been working on bridging the gap between them
for some time now, but with this public display of defiance and
disrespect (it's not necessary to march through nationalists catholic
neighborhoods, even most drunk loyalists were quick to tell me that
much), it's kind of like ripping a scab off that and letting the wound
bleed all over again.
I tell you this earnestly, I have never seen more union jacks and
white flags with the red cross and red fist of ulster flying or being
worn, probably combined in my whole life than I saw in half a mile
yesterday...I reminded myself this would not be a good day to conduct
a delayed fourth of July celebration.
Today I took a tourbus from the hostel to a rope-bridge out on the
coast, the carrick-a-rede rope bridge if you've kept your google page
open..wow! This is what I've been waiting for! Beautiful coastal
scenery, rolling, green hills falling away to jagged cliffs and a
blue, blue sea below them. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather
today, and could actually see Scotland faaar across the water. After
the rope bridge we then made our way to Giant's Causeway, an
incredible honeycomb of natural Basalt rocks that have shot up from
the ground, each rock pretty daggum close to a hexagon in it's shape,
said to have been made, many many years ago by giants (there's another
causeway whose name eludes me on the far Scottish shore) it's hard to
describe, but magnificent to see and climb around on, so dare I
suggest, once again, that you become friends with Google? Hey, maybe
they'll pay me for this!
From there, a hot steaming bowl of Irish stew, and then on the ride
back, we passed and saw a real, legitimate, skeleton of the old castle
Dunluce, which is built right onto the cliffs over the sea. Tomorrow
I'm going to go hunting for more murals, and we'll see what else from
there, and then, on Thursday, I'm off to Galway!
Unfortunately I have no remarkable new culinary dishes to tell you
about, but rest assured, I'm always on the prowl!
Looks like more rain tonight...thanks for tuning in!
Bryan, the lonely traveler
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