Whiskey and Elephants

As I'm sure you have been able to surmise from earlier posts, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland last weekend. Sidenote: if you go to Edinburgh, it's important that you pronounce it correctly. Although it appears that way, the end isn't pronounced like -burg. It's actually said Ed-in-bur-ah. If you pronounce it wrong, you will get weird looks (luckily I don't know this from personal experience; I thankfully knew this before I left).

Our trip was from Saturday to Monday, leaving early on Saturday morning, staying overnight on Saturday and Sunday and leaving Edinburgh on Monday morning. This left only one and a half days to see what we wanted to see in a brand new city in a brand new country, so easy as pie, right?  Before we left, we made a list of all the things we’d like to see in Edinburgh, and we had a rough plan as to when we would do what.

When we got to Edinburgh on Saturday, we checked the weather and, realizing that it was supposed to rain the next day (surprise, surprise), we decided that it was a good idea to go see the Royal Botanic Gardens on Saturday since it was a pretty nice day, especially for Scotland. The Botanic Gardens were breathtaking--much more interesting than I was expecting them to be, and the weather was perfect for walking around the gardens. You know that weather where sometimes you're quite chilly but then you can feel the sun on your back and your whole body feels warm. That's exactly how it felt. I personally love fall weather, so walking through these beautiful gardens in this beautiful weather was a fantastic start to our trip.

Queen Mother Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens

My favorite part of the garden was definitely the Queen Mother Garden, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth's mother. She was Scottish, which is why they decided to build this memorial to her in Edinburgh. Around the entire perimeter of the garden were rectangular stone slabs with the names of foundations and charities that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother supported and cared about. At the back of the garden was a very interesting structure lined on the inside with sea shells and pine cones. Kind of hard to imagine, I know, so I have included a picture so you could see for yourself. If you click the picture you can see a larger version of the picture.

The Gardens are free to visit, and if I were a student in Edinburgh I could definitely see myself going there to clear my head or read my textbooks if I wanted to get away from the city. If you're looking for a relaxing destination to loose yourself in the colorful flowers and tall hedges, the Royal Botanic Garden is the place for you!

The walk to the Royal Botanic Gardens was pretty long, tiring and hard on our feet, so we were starving by the time we got back to our hostel. We ended up eating at Wannaburger, a restaurant right next to our hostel. I give your permission to find it ironic and a little bit pathetic that the first restaurant we ate at in Scotland was an extremely Americanized burger joint, I won't hold it against you. They actually listed fries as fries on the menu (as opposed to chips), sold "American Style Lemonade" and even had on the menu "American Pancakes" complete with maple syrup, available as both breakfast and dessert. (Though the dessert version comes with ice cream as well. I was beginning to wonder if they even knew what maple syrup was here, so it was reassuring to know that they've at least heard of it. Although the fact that they think that maple syrup should be paired with ice cream is a little bit worrying.) But seriously, this place even smelled like America--greasy, and delicious and super unhealthy. So really, it was nice to have a little bit of home, even in Scotland. The meal was delicious, but that might have been because we were famished.

That night as we sat in the lounge of our hostel, I looked out the window and saw a beautiful church sitting catty-corner to the building we were in. It struck me that I had not been to a proper church service since Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral and I realized that with a church that convenient  I couldn't not go. After a googled 'church' and searched nearby, I found out it was St John's Episcopal Church. I'm Episcopalian so I decided this was fate and decided I had to go. There was a 9:30 Choral Matins Morning Prayer service that fit perfectly into our schedule, and all four of us ended up deciding to go.

St John's was a beautiful church. It's amazing how the local neighborhood church in the UK can be so amazing. The architecture looked a lot like the cathedrals of Salisbury and Chartres that we study in art classes. I unfortunately couldn't get more than this one picture before I had to put my camera away and the service began. Everything about the service was different yet familiar at the same time. There was an alter, but where my home church's is plain, theirs was ornate. There was stained glass, but where my church's was simple, theirs was complex. The choir sang songs I didn't recognize with text I did. The priest plain-chanted to the liturgy, but the words were the same. Where I normally say the Nicene Creed they said the Apostles Creed. And of course, everything was said in an accent. I didn't realize how much of a cultural experience going to a church service in another country could be, and I'd really like to experience a church service in some of the other countries I visit as well. 

On Sunday the weather played out so many different types that looking through pictures I can't believe it was the same day. When we left the hostel to go to the church in the morning is was pouring and super windy. Regardless of our umbrellas we still got wet and Caitlin's umbrella even blew partially inside out. By the time we left the service though, the rain had stopped but it was still dreary. It rained on and off our entire walk to the National Museum of Scotland as well as our walk to the Elephant House for lunch and when we finished lunch it wasn't rainy anymore but it was quite cold Somewhere between leaving the Elephant House and arriving at the Scotch Whisky Experience the day became beautiful--you wouldn't have known it had rain had you not experienced it. And lucky for us--at the Camera Obscura museum of optical illusions we got an amazing view of Edinburgh that we wouldn't have been able to experience had the weather not done a complete 360. When we walked back to the hostel through Princes Street Park the weather was so gorgeous we had to sit down and soak in the sun. Like I said, a crazy day of weather. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

As I said above, we had lunch at the Elephant House. There are elephants all over this cafe. I don't know how they decided that elephants would be the theme, but they took the idea of elephants and they committed to it 100%: elephant chairs, elephant figurines, elephant pictures, elephant news clippings, elephant books, you name it, they have it. This is also where JK Rowling famously wrote the first Harry Potter book on a napkin. It's become almost a pilgrimage for Harry Potter fans to go the Elephant House and write on the wall of the bathroom. Literally the entire wall of the bathroom is covered in messages like the one below.

While it was absolutely amazing, as a Harry Potter fan, to visit this iconic location in the history of the novels, it also made me a feel a little sad. In a way, the moment she announced where she had written most of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, that place would never be able to be found again. You can visit the physical location but no one will ever be able to experience the atmosphere that inspired JK Rowling to pen now one of the most iconic book series ever written. When JK Rowling used to write there, it was a lazy place where a struggling write could buy one cup of tea with her dwindling fund and stay and write all day to escape the Scottish weather. It's now a bustling coffeeshop that capitalizes on the fact that it is the "Birthplace of Harry Potter" (this statement is on the sign outside and on employee's shirts). It always has a line out the door and requires a quick table turnaround in order for everyone to be able to be seated. It truly isn't the same place anymore. Yes, it is the physical location that JK Rowling sat in day after day, but it isn't the same place she wrote in emotionally, spiritually or mentally. 

Next up was the Scotch Whisky Experience. Why we decided to do this, I'm not entirely sure, but it actually was very interesting. And I learned that whiskey is pretty terrible, even if it costs $200 a bottle. I also learned all about how whiskey is made, the different types of whiskey based on in what part of Scotland they are made (apparently some taste slightly fruity and some taste like vanilla but I don't think these supposed tastes actually exist) and then we got to try some whiskey. I tried the Speyside variety (the one that was supposed to be fruit-esq) and it was actually terrible. Seriously, so bad. Throat burning, face twisting, cough inducing bad.  After trying it, I just really wanted some water, which they had pitchers of. But I didn't have a glass to use, because there was still whiskey in my glass. So I downed my glass of whiskey (just as bad the second time) and got myself some water. Only after I finished the glass did Libby inform me that there was a bucket you could pour the rest of your drink into if you didn't want any more. Good looking out Libby (not).

Another really interesting thing was the room we tried our whiskey in which was covered floor to ceiling with bottles of whiskey. None of them have ever been opened, but a number are less than full because the whiskey evaporates with tim   e, which I thought was really interesting. The picture to the right is of the oldest bottles in the collection (c. 1897 and 1904) and as you can see, a lot of whiskey has evaporated. That just blows my mind. Basically, if this collection exists for another 500 years, it will be just a collection of empty bottles. Crazy.

After the Scotch Whisky Experience we went to Camera Obscura, a museum of optical illusions. What has really interesting about Camera Obscura was the actual camera obscura--a dark room at the top of the building that, using a pinhole camera, mirror and a white tube allows the operator to reflect onto a a white surface what is going on outside. This particular camera obscura showed the Edinburgh skyline and it was really beautiful. The rest of the museum was really fun too, including holographs, visual illusions, shadow pictures and more. It was a silly follow up to the more grown up whiskey tour.

That night for dinner we went to a pub called The Amber Rose which was a very quintessential Scottish atmosphere and a lot of fun to experience. As you can imagine, this dinner was quite different from our very American dinner the night before, and this contrast was very interesting to me, especially since I got a chicken dish at each place. It's amazing how different cultures and countries can produce such different tasting food using the same basic ingredients. Although I am an extremely picky eater and don't try new things very often, when I get a chance to experience this I find it very interesting. 

So, Edinburgh was an immense success--I nice blend of adventure, beauty, fun and history. If you are interested in seeing some more pictures from my trip, you can view them in the slideshow below.