Rosslyn Chapel
For all the Da Vinci Code fans out there, we went to Rosslyn Chapel. Due to all the elemental damage on the outside, there’s a permanent cover over the chapel. We were able to take lots of pictures on the outside, but none from inside. The inside of the chapel has lots of cool hidden designs throughout. The Apprentice Pillar and the Master Pillar are definitely sights to behold. The detail work is so intricate. There’s lots of little figureheads of the “Green Man” all over the interior. The chapel still holds Sunday services, and there are donation boxes to help with the upkeep and restoration.
Glasgow
I got to go to Glasgow over July 4th weekend. We, as a class, had initially planned to attend the Screen Conference (where academics go to discuss papers written about film), but it was overbooked. I ended up going to a meeting with a woman who works for Scottish Screen. Her name is Linda McClure, and she’s the head of Business Affairs. Very nice lady. Mark, Michael, and I had lunch with her and her partner, Ruth. We talked about the film industry, and I got to pass on my resume in the hopes that she might be able to pass it along to the right person.
I didn’t get to do as much sightseeing, because we were really here about 24 hours. I got to see from the outside, Glasgow University (third oldest University in the world), and the outside of the Botanical Gardens. I’m attaching some pictures of the trip. While Glasgow was interesting, I wasn’t there long enough to get to know it well. The architecture is a mixture of old and new, and I saw more new than old. To be honest, I didn’t particularly care for it. I like Edinburgh better, and felt at home when I got back there.
Food
Edinburgh is full of great places to eat. There are traditional pubs dating as far back as the mid-1400s. There’s also American fast food chains: McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway. I tried not to eat these while I was here, but slipped up once.
Breakfast for me (for the first part of the trip) was usually taken in my flat’s kitchen, with the other girls. However, as the program went on, and reviews and such began to build up, somewhere with a really good wireless internet connection became essential. Enter Scott’s Deli. The food is made fresh daily (quiche, salad items, and sandwich things), and the prices are good. Plus, now that I’ve been in there almost everyday for the past two weeks, the owner recognizes me when I come in, and tells me if my classmates are already there. Breakfast from Scott’s usually consists of an apricot pastry, and a smoothie. We are usually there for lunch, too, so we’ll get our lunch, and go back to the computer work. For me, lunch would be a quiche and maybe a salad. The salads aren’t just the green stuff that we’re used to. More often than not, I get a potato salad (with potatoes, chorizo, spinach, and olive oil). During the festival, lunch was usually a quicker affair. We’d walk to a sandwich shop, grab a sandwich and walk back to wherever we were going for screenings. A pub with the best fish and chips we ever had, was just down the street from Scott’s. It’s called Bennett’s (est. 1837) and it’s identifiable by the green front door.
Dinner would depend on whether or not we had time to cook a meal and eat it between the break from class. If we did, then dinner could be any number of things, such as chicken and mushrooms with vegetables, to chinese noodles and soup with a poached egg on top. If we went out for dinner, well…let’s just say that some of us are more adventurous than others. We found a really good place for sushi (called No. 1 Sushi), that also had delicious red bean ice cream. A walk up the street from our flats had us discovering a place called Peckham’s. It’s a deli on the street level (connected to a liquor store), and downstairs there’s a full service bar and restaurant. I had the antipasti platter for dinner (olives, salami, cheese, pita, hummus and some other spreads). My friends got an assortment of things ranging from bangers and mash, to squid ragout. We shared a dessert plate, because for £8, you got a selection of three of their desserts. -Profiteroles, Sticky Toffee Pudding (so good), and Banoffee Pie (my new favorite dessert) were our choices. A restaurant I stumbled upon early in the trip was called Thai Lemongrass. The classmate who was with me shared an appetizer plate with me, and we each got a dessert. The dessert was coconut milk, sliced bananas, and little chunks of ice. The pub around the corner from our flats had good food, too. The Links was great on atmosphere, and had a wonderful dispenser in the bathroom. Usually, in women’s restrooms, there are dispensers for feminine products. This dispenser had “naughty” items in it. Just for laughs, we pooled our money and bought a little inflatable sheep. Let’s just say there are some interesting photos of this sheep out there somewhere. –Yes, we tried haggis. Not the best tasting stuff in the world, but I can at least say I’ve had it.
Edinburgh
I have enjoyed this city so much. It’s laid out in such a way as to make walking easy. Out of the four weeks I’ve been here, I’ve ridden the bus once. That was to get me out to Rosslyn Chapel. I’ve explored the various streets (and shops) and loved just about every second of it. Only those days when I was exhausted, and lugging my laptop around did I wish I could magically transport myself to the next location. Evenings here, once class was over with, could be spent doing any number of things. The majority of my evenings were spent in one of the flats, just hanging out. We’d borrow the class movie projector and watch DVDs, sit around and do homework together, or just chat. Maybe take a walk. I found some great streets just wandering around without a map. Free time during the days has been used to catch up on classwork, or get in some quick sightseeing. The weekends are when we’ve been able to do the big touristy things like go to Edinburgh Castle, or the Zoo. I feel completely comfortable here, and if given the opportunity, could see moving. The people are so friendly, and willing to talk to you. During the film festival, we kept running into this one girl who began to write down our names on the attendance sheets when she saw us coming. She gave us some tips on places to go, and things to do, both here in Edinburgh, and other places.
Edinburgh Castle
I’ve included some photos here of the castle. The day I went it was a bit rainy and cold. I went with a couple of friends, and we got lots of pictures around the castle grounds. We couldn’t take pictures in the room with the crown jewels, so you’ll just have to ask me about those. There’s a Scottish Military Museum, and a Regimental Museum that we got pictures in as well. The Scottish War Memorial didn’t allow photography, so we bought a book and some slides that has information and pictures. It’s quite a big space, commemorated for the soldiers who fell during WWI, and they’ve since included dedications to soldiers from WWII up to the present. In fact, one of the books in front of a specific division listed a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan on June 26 of this year.
Edinburgh Zoo
I went to the zoo the same day as the castle. I’ve included some, but not all of the photos from that experience. If you want to see them all, you’ll probably need to see me in person for a slideshow or something of the sort.
