Scotland

“Not a penny more, not a penny less”, the book by the Rt. Honorable Archer came to mind as I boarded the train to Edinburgh on a cold wednesday morning. In the book, he states that it is cheaper to buy a standard ticket and dine at the first class lounge on board the train, rather than buying a first class ticket. I concur wholeheartedly. Thus, I achieved another childhood dream of mine, an english breakfast in a dining car. Next wish, dining on the orient express!

Reached Edinburgh and the first thing I see as I step out of the station? “Jimmy Chung’s Buffet!! All you can eat for 4.99″. Sheesh. I have a good mind to write to the Scotland tourism board about such blasphemy.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. It is small enough that the whole city can be walked during the course of the day. The castle is impressive and I got to see the cannon being fired at 1pm to tell everyone around a 32 mile radius, the time.

Edinburgh also enjoys a reputation of being one of the literary cities of scotland. Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, R.L. Stevenson all lived here and yes, J.K. rowling did too.

Went for a rather curious pub crawl. It is called the literary pub crawl. Two actors quote poetry (both gaelic and english) and take us through the various pubs that were frequented by literary greats. One also got to see the famous thriftiness of the scots. One guy took a swig at a dram of whiskey and offered to his friend saying “here, show some respect for Sir Walter Scott”, the other guy took a swig and as he was about to take another swig, his friend grabbed the bottle stating “now, that’s enough respect!”. Another one went on the lines of…

A Scottish prayer - “Lord, we do not ask ye to give us wealth — but show us where it is instead!”

They talk a different shade of english too. My hostel had a huge sign stating “keep yir shite dawn in theese hoose”. But, they are very gregarious people. Also, they are rooting for Trinidad and Tobago (four of them play in the scottish league) in this edition of the world cup. Any country other than england being the motto here.

Another thing I noticed about Edinburgh was the difference between the old town and the new town. There are some houses that are 800 years old, standing just beside a house that’s 50 years old. The effect, is stunning. One interesting trivia piece, the old houses have stairs of uneven height, the aim being to unsettle a burglar who is climbing up the steps in the darkness. neat.