Today I caught an EasyJet flight to Edinburgh. Karen & David live about 10 minutes from Gatwick. EasyJet is a discount airline that goes throughout europe. It's definitely a different boarding process, even from Southwest. Theres no assigned seating, but there's also no assigned boarding #. 40 minutes before departure they announce the gate. Everyone quickly makes their way to the gate and then queues up. Better hope you've used the bathroom, because you don't want to lose your spot! Then when you get on board, you find a seat that looks good and grab it! I got an exit row seat with pleeeennnty of legroom and a window seat so I could see Scotland from the air.
The flight to Edinburgh was only a little over an hour long and was cheaper than a train ticket which would take 7-9 hours! EasyJet is a definite recommendation to check out for cheap Euro travel.
Once in Edinburgh, I checked out Holyrood Palace, one of the royal residences only used a few months out of the year and open to tourists the rest of the time:
Having gone recently to Windsor Castle, another of the Queen's digs, I have to say that this is my favorite. Windsor Castle is opulent, spacious, and regal. It's also behind a huge stone wall and very fortified. Holyrood seems relatively relaxed in comparison. It's very small, especially considering what is actually lived in by the Queen. Now I didn't get to actually see where she lives when she's there (I think), but it was only like one floor of this whole building. Crazy. Anyway, this palace was built next to an Abbey because one of the Kings was a pretty religious guy (ahem, King James) and wanted to be close to the Abbey. At least, that's how I'm remembering it right now. Anyways, there are Abbey ruins about 20 feet behind the palace.
Directly across from the Abbey stands this monstrosity:
Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom, but have their own Parliament (that still interacts with the other parliament down further south). Scotland appears to be making its way towards gaining independence, but I heard a few people saying that they aren't sure if they actually want that or not. Interesting.
I then headed up the Royal Mile:
It's hard to see in these pictures, but almost every single shop was a tourist shop. Don't you worry, I didn't buy a tam o'shanter or a kilt. I almost bought a towel that looked like a kilt, but I restrained myself. Anyway, just shopping. But it looks cool! Apparently back before the 1600s, the buildings in Old Town Edinburgh were 14stories tall and slanted such that one could walk across the buildings at the top. It meant that no sunlight would make it to the bottom, though. Yuck.
I saw a few street performers along the way:
So you pay a few pounds and get to pose with an infamous Braveheart Scotsman! Don't worry that Braveheart was about 40% true, nobody painted their faces, and william wallace was basically insane. Oh, and he's wearing underwear. He was showing it off. :)
I also visited Edinburgh Castle, which was pretty ok. I had a few gripes with it, such as the exorbitant price they charged for entrance fee and then didn't include an audio guide with it! I think I got spoilt in London. Geez.
Anyway, next up is the Highlands!
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