Edinburgh is God's country...
This enormous city blends a rich history of bloodshed, violence and political crises with beautiful scenery, endless festivals, a mammoth volcano and 200,000 Scots. The Scots to me are the rednecks of the UK, a fun-loving, crazy and welcoming group of people. The French were snobby and the Britains were depressing, still I felt like they were very similar to our American culture. The Scots are quite a different story.
On my first night in Edinburgh, several of us went to The Three Sisters. It is a huge club near the college area of Edinburgh. We were lucky enough to catch fancy-dress night, meaning nearly half of the women there were dressed in either a sexy police outfit, greek outfit or some other ensemble. No Scot is too old - many of the woman in these risqué outfits were well over 60. Many of the guys were dressed up also, some of them as women. The Scottish men dance with one another in a way quite stunning to a Louisiana man, but it was explained to me that it is part of their culture. Still, after being crept upon on the dance floor, I stepped away and sat against the wall.
The next day, I woke up early and explored the city on my own in search of a laundry service. Before I found one, I found at least 27 barber shops. The Scots have some of the most interesting hairstyles I've seen. It's like the 90s rock scene come back to life. In the past few days, I've seen mullets, shaved heads with only bangs and the reverse of such, and what can only be explained as a dread-lock rat-tail. As crazy as it all seems, they make me feel at home.
Haircuts aren't the only interesting sites of Edinburgh, however. I've seen a couple of castles and I've seen the royal palace at Hollyrood. We took a 45 minute hike to sit on top of a volcano at midnight on Arthur's seat and gaze at the surrounding cities. It was a breathtaking site. We visited Mary King's Close also. A close is a small stairway alley that leads in between the buildings in Scotland. Because the island was formed by a volcano, everything slopes up or down. At Mary King's Close, we learned that everyone in the 1300s used to toss their shit out of the window and it all dripped down the street to the loch. Because of this, only the rich lived at the top of the hills and on the higher parts of the buildings. The poor were forced to live lower and close to the loch. Those convicted of crime were often drowned in the piss and shit filled loch. Only the nobility were lucky enough to have their heads cut off.
Changing the tone a bit...
Tonight, I ate supper with Dr. Joe Goldblatt, and we went to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society after. I met his family, and their friends Amber and David, who also came to the scotch bar. I had a dram of whisky that was a complete ass kicker. It was an amazing night.
Sadly, the media tour will be ending soon. I will be leaving for America a week from now. It's going to be sad to leave Scotland behind because I have had the best time. There is no place like Edinburgh. I will be back one day, hopefully in August to catch the Fringe Festival which is comparable to Mardi Gras, but crazier. There are also several other festivals in August in Edinburgh.
Tomorrow, I will be visiting Queen Margaret University and find out more about their Events Management Graduate curriculum there. And because it has been at least 9 or 10 days since I last wrote, I am missing a lot of things on London. So, my next post will be going back in time to the last several days in London. But it will probably be short, because London wasn't as exciting as Scotland has been.
