Edinburgh for Easter

6-9 April 2007

Was good to have a bit of a late start (11am train) after the concert the night before, met Paul at Kings Cross and we were on our way, the train up to Edinburgh only takes 4.5 hours but because it was Easter weekend there were no spare seats but we had a lot of fun making ourselves comfortable in the doorway!! Upon arrival we missioned out looking for a good feed and found Ensign Ewart, a pub on the Royal Mile (named after Ensign Charles Ewart - "the hero of the battle of Waterloo") and decided a hearty meal of haggis (chopped lungs, heart and liver mixed with oatmeal) neeps and tatties was just what we needed for a late lunch! So delicious that we returned to the same pub 3 times in our 4 day stay!









We had the Elemeno P/Steriogram gig that night (my second in two nights, see previous post) which was awesome. Great small crowd in a funky club called Liquid Room, had our first taste of Scotch whisky and then continued of the night with a few beers with a couple of the guys from the band at Finegan Mike's (an Irish pub next door), danced to the live cover band there for a bit and finished the night off dancing away at a club called Espionage which was just confusingly fun at 1am with all the different underground levels and types of music










Needless to say after two concerts in two nights, Saturday was nice and relaxed : ) We decided to get some fresh air and walked through Holyrood Park and up the Salisbury Crags in the morning. It was pretty windy up there but really nice views out over the city and it was quite nice to be able to see the sea again! Beautiful just walking through the hills back to the town afterwards too, great how the park is really close to the central city and it was nice just to get back to nature for a little bit



















After the walk we decided to have haggis for lunch again and it was a short walk from Ensign Ewart to the famous Edinburgh castle. It is built on top of Castle Rock, a 400m high extinct volcano and is pretty impressive. We wandered through the Great Hall, checked out the crown jewels of Scotland and the Scottish National War Museum. St Margaret's Chapel - the oldest building in the Castle (and in Edinburgh), is one of the smallest churches in Britain it was built in 1203 by King David I and dedicated to his mother - how cute : )

Sunday we walked up the Scott Monument (all 287 spiral steps to the top) a victorian Gothic Monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. While it was pretty windy and dizzying walking up, the viewing deck from the top of the 200ft monument afforded us more great views of the Castle and a good look out over though whole city. Ditched the haggis today in order for a traditional lamb roast for lunch (seeing as it was Easter Sunday) and then wandered around the new town and had tea and scones with jam and cream at "The Dome" beautiful inside with a huge Dome as the roof (duh!) live music, huge chandeliers and had the biggest bunch of lillies Ive ever seen!

Continuing the theme of eating far too much and then walking it off we wandered up Carlton Hill in the afternoon, unfortunately Nelson's Monument was closed on Sundays but we clambered onto the National Monument to make up for it! Checked out Mary King's Close in the evening to see how people lived in the 1600s, these tiny alleyways were covered up when the new city chambers were built but people used to live in houses off these lanes that were 11 stories high with the small alleyways running all the way down from the Royal Mile to the Nor Loch (later drained and is now the site of beautiful Princess Gardens which divide the new and old town. Paul shouted me to dinner at a beautiful French bistro, I had mussels, veal escalope and we shared a bottle of wine, continued drinking on for a little bit, there was Karaoke going on at Filthy McNasty's at 9pm and a few other random bars along George Street before calling it a night










Monday we walked back to Holyrood Park just outside the city and climbed Arthurs Peak (an extinct volcano standing at 251m - so not that high but very windy at the top) Great view of the city and out to the North Sea, great to get some fresh air and one last meal of haggis before heading back to London mid afternoon - yum yum! Surprising how nice it was, just tastes like the best mince you've ever had in your life, with a great consistency and lots of flavour, almost like a peppered steak.

P.S Everyone in the office has started calling me Melissa McHuggins after my trip, I think it was the three meals of haggis, neeps and tatties in four days that did it - oh and maybe the tartan tie! What a great wee trip : )