Fireworks over the Castle as my farewell to Edinburgh!

National Monumnet (based off of Parthenon in Athens) on top of Calton Hill in Edinburgh. This is the uncompleted memorial to commemorate those who died in fighting for the U.K. in the Napoleonic Wars.

Nelson's Monument

Views of Edinburgh from Calton Hill

View of Palace of Holyroodhouse at the end of the Royal Mile-official residence of the Scottish queen. At leats I think that's what this is.

View of the Old Town

The spire on the left is St. Gile's Cathedral

This was the view from my seat on the side of the hill under the observatory to watch the fireworks. Too bad it's like 7 p.m. at this point and fireworks don't start until 9 p.m.... (Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground-what a Scottish name-Dugald...)

Same view, but around 8 p.m. (there wasn't much to do...)

Sunset over Edinburgh!

Sunset over Princes Street and the Castle

Maybe 8:45ish or so-finally getting dark!!

Finally!

Last morning in Edinburgh-A cathedral on York Street that I saw from the bus coming back from Glasgow and wanted to check out

One last look at the Scott Monument on the way back to the hostel

One last view of the Castle through Princes Street Gardens

Ross Bandstand where the orchestra played the night before to the tune of the fireworks (or maybe vice versa)

Little kid kilts!haha Colton's lucky he didn't get one of these ultra-hip outfits. It would have been like Ralphie getting the bunny suit in The Christmas Story-he would have had to wear it at least for Halloween.haha

Farwell to kilts and Scotland. I loved my time there!

So when I arrived back to St. Andrew Square (where the bus station is), I decided that as I was already fairly near it, I would go up to Calton Hill which boasts some of the best views of Edinburgh. It stands at the end of Princes Street (exactly the opposite end of the street from my hostel and the Castle). It was also about 6:30 p.m., so I could get some good dusk shots of the city. Well walking up there, I kept seeing Event Staff like those that were stationed all along Princes Street (the street had closed at 6 p.m. to allow the spectators to start lining up along the barricades). After taking in the views, I noticed that quite a few people were sitting around on the hill facing the Castle with blankets, beer, and dinner. I decided that even though it was about 2 hours until the start of the fireworks, there couldn't be a more perfect place to watch them than from here (well actually in Princes Street Garden would have been nice-or at the bandstand underneath the Castle where the Orchestra was playing, but those seats were either sold out or you had to buy tickets for them somewhere that was unknown to me). So I found an old man that had set up his tripod and fancy camera and sat near him as he must know where the best view is. It turned out that he was a professional photographer and had photographed the fireworks from all over the city throughout the years and liked this spot best.

As the sun started going down, I began to get pretty cold (the sweet old man even offered me his jacket). I hadn't planned on staying out past dark, I had planned on going back to the hostel to change before the fireworks, but there was no point in that now. The hill was getting packed, and I would lose my seat in the good hour it would take me to run back to the hostel and get back. I also knew that realistically, if I made it back to the hostel, I woudl not leave again after being out all day. So once the fireworks actually started, I positioned my camera on my knee and took hundreds of continuous shots. Too bad my knee and hands were shaking so much from the cold that most of the shots were blurry, but it was still a great show! We couldn't hear the music from up there, but I think we had the best view of the 45 minute fireworks show. Afterwards, trying to get hundreds of people down the one ancient staircase up to the hill took quite some time, then fighting the crowds down Princes Street to get back to the hostel was tiring after a long day, but definitely worth it!

My last morning in Edinburgh, the tiredness and running around finally hit me (my train left around 12:30 in the afternoon, and of course I was up by 7 because just like every other morning, the girl above my bunk was the one in the room who had to get up at 6 to catch a plane/train/bus somewhere else). I tried to go back down near Calton Hill/St. Andrew Square to look at the Cathedral and also go in the tourist shops to buy Cotlon a little surprise. I didn't have much energy though and finally headed back to the hostel to hang out before the train. My nice dormate even carried my suitcase down al the stairs to help me out!

When I got to the train station, I was a bit early and looked at the arrivals board instead of the departures and went to the wrong platform. Luckily, another lady was just as confused and had enlisted the help of station staff to take us to the right one which was miles away and all under scaffolding in the part of the station being renovated. We would have never found it! The station was in an uproar because Prince Charles was coming into Edinburgh from Glasgow in just a few hours, so the station was buzzing with police and drug dogs. Finally on the train, but not in my reserved seat because a really sweet lady and her dog were in it, and she preferred not to move him as her dog had just had a fright when he had fallen in between the platform and train at the last station. She told me that he was not currently speaking to her, so moving him would be troublesome, but the seat in front of mine was available if that was ok. Between her, the lady that had gotten lost with me who I talked to for about an hour or so, and the nice old photographer from the night before, I decided that Scottish people were among the nicest I had encountered. All in all, I loved Scotland and the really nice people that call it their home!

Glasgow & Mackintosh

St. George Square-Apparently I came on the day of the Great Scottish Run-a half marathon and 10K with about 22,000 people participating. This was either the starting point/finish line or both for the event which seemed to just be cleaning up as I arrived around 11 a.m. Reminded me of Dad and I's half last January!

Montrose Street! But we are not in Houston...

On my way to the Cathedral. Things are pretty spread out in Glasgow and the Cathedral was no exception!

Possibly the coolest lamposts I've seen yet?? Not sure why they have a fish on them...

Gate to the Necropolis, which apparently is a cemetery. This cemetery was up on the hill though, so it had great views of the Cathedral!

Road to the Necropolis

View of the Cathedral from the Necropolis

Inside the Cathedral

Buchanan Street-I think it's the main shopping street in Glasgow. It was packed with people and modern shops, but reminded more of London, so I didn't spend much time there.

You know I love my modern thrown in with the traditional!

This is the hill up to the Glasgow School of Art. I didn't know that Sctoland was so hilly! This also happened to be on the other side of the city from the Cathedral...

Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh-Going to Glasgow, I had no idea what to see there. I happened to wander into tourist information and find a map of Mackintosh's buildings in and around Glasgow. Touring the Glasgow School of Art was the highlight of the trip, and honestly made it worth the day away from beautiful Edinburgh! Too bad they allowed no photography inside the budilng b/c their postcards with interiors shots really didn't do it justice!

Across the street from Mackintosh's building was another of the buildings of the art school. They have a campus of 10 buildings within the area for their 2,000 students.

First phase of the building was completed in 1899 with the second phase being completed in 1909.

Mackintosh was a stickler for detail and designed most of the fixtures, furniture, and small design details that most would usually not. This is his signature font (Yes, I'm such a nerd, but I LOVE this stuff).

Entrance to the shop and museum- Interesting fact-When it was built, it was the tallest buidling in Glasgow. There is a glass "greenhouse" on the top floor of the building (actually just an all glass room used for studios for students to see views of the city to sketch-Mackintosh also incorporated numerous plaster statues around the school for sketching). In World War II, the government would recruit students of the school to sit in this greenhouse over night to watch for incoming enemy planes and report bombings. Glasgow was heavily bombed during the war, hence why it's more modern and not quite as quaint as Edinburgh (also a much larger city)...

Another of Mackintosh's buildings-The Willow Tea Room. This one was just around the corner from the Glasgow School of Art. It apprently has some of the original funriture, but I was a little confused as the front also said jewelers...

Typical Glasgow architecture (I would assume-the dark red buildings were everywehere)

This buildng was in an alleyway, and I couldn't get a good shot of it because of the angles. I don't think it is actually the records buidling anymore as a huge restaurant now occpied the first floor and the rest of the building looked pretty run-down.

The building on the right is another of Mackintosh's called the Lighthouse. It housed a Mackintosh museum and cafe, but they weren't open as it was a Sunday.

Back on Buchanan Street...

So despite how much I would have liked an extra day in Edinburgh, I thought while I was there, I should take advantage of seeing another city in Scotland. I intended on taking the train, but a girl in my dorm suggetsed the bus as it ran more frequently on Sundays and was half the price. It was a good suggestion because it also took the same amount of time! So upon arriving in Glasgow, I wasn't very impressed. I guess bus stations are never very impressive, but the city itself seemed kind of dingey compared to the lush green parks of Princes Street and views of the Castle and Old Town on the hill above. Plus, the city seemed kind of deserted except for the people I saw returning to their cars with the medals for the Great Scottish Run and the event staff cleaning up the barriers. I had asked around for things to do in Glasgow before I left, and everyone kind of said there's not much to do but just walk around. Problem was, I didn't even know where the main streets/squares/or anything were or have a map. So I asked a girl working at Starbucks in the train station for some ideas. She suggetsed the Cathedral and places like Buchanan Street and Argyle street (main shopping streets). On my way to the Cathedral, I also spotted the tourist information in St. George Square. Inside I found the guide to Mackintosh buidlings and decided that after the Cathedral, my main priority would be the Glasgow School of Art as I had learned so much about it (which now I could not remember) in school.

I saw the Necropolis on the hill behind the Cathedral and wondered why the girl at Starbucks hadn't mentioned it as well. It had tons of monuments and what looked like little chapels and possibly a great view of the city. I guess she didn't mention it as it was actually a cemetery and that might be morbid.haha. The Cathedral didn't open until one p.m. because of Sunday mass though, so I headed up to the Necropolis to take some pictures as it was about 20 minutes to one.

After the Cathedral and Necropolis, I headed to the other side of town (one of the things I didn't like about Glasgow was how spread out everything was!) to the Glasgow School of Art. I had looked at the map of Mackintosh buidlings to see which ones were closest to the town center as I was only there for about 5 hours. Unfortunately some of the cooler budilings (like the Hill House, the Mackintosh Church, and the Scotland Street School Museum) were on the outskirts more, but my main thing was the Glasgow School of Art. And taking the tour made the whole trip worth it! The other buildings I could access without buses or metro were the Willow Tea Room, the Daily Records Building, and the Lighthouse. I walked all over town finding each one, but none of them were that spectacular. The Willow Tea Room now said Jewelers, the Daily Records buidling facade was so crammed into an alley you could't even see it, and the Lighthouse entrance was also in an alley and closed. Had I known how unimpressive these budilngs would have been, I might have just skipped them for a walk along the River to see the Clyde Arc bridge, but oh well! By the time I had walked all over town to see these sites, it was about 4:30 p.m., and I wanted to catch the 5 p.m. bus back to Edinburgh as the fireworks show was that night and it was my last night there! The next post, I will include the rest of my evening in Edinburgh, and my last morning.