05/10/11 Day 2: Edinburgh

It's strange to experience a country I've hardly imagined. What few images I had of Scotland made me think of Ireland, except that the men wore kilts. Here, in Edinburgh, some men do wear kilts, but I suspect them of tourism if they don't carry bagpipes too.

Today I've found jet lag most challenging. In the past I've arrived at my destination around dinner time, so staying awake wasn't too difficult. We arrived around 10 a.m. and had our first tour scheduled at 11 a.m. It was, of course, too early to buy lunch, and too early to check into our rooms (and freshen up), so we had to start our first couple tours in our flight attire. I felt disgusting until I took my shower before dinner.

Sir Walter Scott Tower

Another feat was climbing up all 287 steps of the Scott Monument. I'm not a fan of spiral staircases without a railing, but apparently Europeans are. Before the end of this trip, I experienced many more instances of spiral staircases. If I climb another one before I die, it will be too soon.

Heinous climb aside, the Tower was very interesting. The Monument is built with sandstone that have oxidized due to acid rain. Every level has reliefs of Sir Walter Scott's characters, and one level has a small chapel.

St. Giles Cathedral

I enjoyed my time at St. Giles, and I think I can say I've been to  a Presbyterian service now. (The Church of England is Anglican, while the Church of Scotland is Presbyterian. The former has bishops while the later doesn't.) St. Giles has a ten minute prayer service and scripture reading every day. The reader for the service was definitely American. Not only have I heard American accents in Edinburgh, but French accents and English ones. I found it sad that the tour guide for the church isn't even religious, let alone Christian. She said she just liked the history of it. How can someone talk about Christ all day and yet not believe?

St. Giles is probably more well known for one of its former ministers: John Knox. He was a Calvinist minister in England under the reign of Mary Tudor (aka "Bloody Mary") so he fled to Scotland, where he remained until his death. The church itself is named for the relics of a saint that were brought there.

Another notable feature of St. Giles is the Thistle Chapel. It is the place of worship for the Knights of the Thistle, the most prestigious order of chivalry in England. Each living knight has a crest on the ceiling.

Cemetery

After lunch, Jake and I headed to a cemetery the bus driver had mentioned in the "New Town" of Edinburgh. By "new", they mean 18th century, as opposed to the "Old Town" laid out in medieval times. The cemetery contained a memorial to the Scottish Americans who fought in the American Civil War. Yes, that's a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

The Elephant House Cafe

For dinner we were going to go to a restaurant recommended by our bus driver, but it went out of business.  Ten of us decided to go to the Elephant House Cafe, the place where J.K. Rowling  first came up with Harry Potter. I had a lamb meat pie, and "mash." Here mash means a baked potato with gravy . I prefer the American-style mash, but the meat pie tasted great.