I've made it to Edinburgh! I flew in to London early this morning, dropped my pack off at King's Cross and spent the whole day walking and tubing (?) around London. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to see in one day, so had a conservative plan of just going to Westminister Abby. Well, I was there when they opened at 9:30, and then left after an hour or so of touring, so had plenty of time to sight-see before my 4:30 train. I went by the houses of parliament and Big Ben, had a picnic lunch on the Thames overlooking the London Eye. Then I went over to London Bridge, and in my wanderings happened upon none other than St. Paul's cathedral. Then I walked all the way back to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. From there, already being exhausted, I took the tube to Green Park and walked through the park to Buckingham Palace. Then finally it was back to King's Cross to pick up my bag and take the 4.5 hr train ride to Edinburgh.
There's so much more I could say about today, but as you can imagine, at this point I'm barely coherant. It's 11:15 pm here in Scotland, and the sun just went down. Seriously. That's probably part of the reason why I'm able to still be awake right now -- the ridiculous amount of summer daylight. But in HK time it's 6:15 am and I've pulled an all-nighter. Jon has been a very gracious host, and is offering me his room while I'm here. Not sure I should take him up on it the whole time I'm here though... we'll see. I can't wait to see more of this amazing city tomorrow. It's spectacularly beautiful, but still quite quaint for a capital city. Another cool thing is that it seems to be the perfect size to explore on foot! I'll try to post a few photos soon!
photos photos photos! i'm itching to leave too...ahh it's been too long since we've been out of school. have fun exploring!
ReplyDeleteHave a great time! I voted for your friend's band, btw.
ReplyDeleteTake a lot of pictures so I can regret not going with you...and will have to go next year.
Hey, I'm thinking about getting a pilot license next summer...wanna do it with me?
Ji
P.S. -- I've been complimented on your cozy everytime I've used it. I love it -- thank you again!
I love how easy Edinburgh is to explore on foot. I've been there twice and would love to go again. And I love the long days this time of year.
ReplyDeleteMy two big recs are (a) climb Arthur's Seat near sunset (so, you know, late at night :-)), because it's beautiful, and (b) go to Finnegan's Wake; it's an Irish Pub that has fantastic live music 7 nights a week. The Roods used to play every Sunday, but that was 7 years ago so I'm sure things have changed, but a quick internet search is indicating to me that the place is still a favorite pub in Edinburgh for live music.
Are you going to explore other places in Scotland, too, or just Edinburgh? If you have time to get up to Skye (one of the only Hebrides you can take a bus to, though I recommend dramamine if you do; I got pretty sick as the bus driver took liberties with speed limits on those windy mountain roads), I would HIGHLY recommend it.