11.02.09 Family Reunited: Destination Edinburgh

For weeks, I had been discussing with a few of my best friends from Muhlenberg, Kelly, Matt and Kelsey, whether or not, and if so where and when we would all meet while abroad in Europe. This is of course the best semester of our lives and why not share at least one weekend of it with each other – if not more! So this was the big weekend. Edinburgh, Scotland, where Kelsey was studying. Matt was touring Ireland during his mid-semester break and finished his trek by arriving into Edinburgh on Wednesday, and Kelly and I navigated a 7:35 PM Ryanair flight from Eindhoven to London Standsted and then 1 hour later an EasyJet 8:50 PM flight to Edinburgh arriving us into Scotland late Thursday night around 10:30 PM. United! Matt and Kelsey met us at the Waverly Bridge bus stop and as Kel and I climbed down the double decker bus into the arms of our family, I can say for myself, it felt like a real vacation had just begun. The four of us walked back to Kelsey’s flat, which she shares with 4 other lovely Edinburgh University students also from the states, dropped off our stuff into her small room, which was going to be our hub for the duration of our stay, and then strolled to the Three Sisters pub for drinks and story-telling. We had a lot to catch up on.
Friday morning Kelsey rolled out early for class, while the three of us slept in. Around midday Matt, Kelly and I got up and proceeded to walk around the Royal Mile, passed Adam Smith’s statue, up to Edinburgh castle and back around. Matt who had been in Edinburgh for two days now was the tour guide. He had an excellent feel for the city. On a personal note, it was amazing not being in charge of logistics, navigation or event planning for once while away on a weekend. Sure I have no idea how to get around Edinburgh and I probably didn’t see everything that I normally would have if I was in my touring craze but nonetheless not being in charge and just going with the flow for once was a great relief and afforded me with the opportunity to truly appreciate each moment I had with my friends. Around noon we reunited with Kels and found a delicious lunch setup of soup and sandwiches at Bobbies Sandwiches.
After Bobbies we strolled back to Edinburgh castle for an informative tour, nice look-around and some funny pictures, of course led by our expert photographer Matt. The view from the peak of the castle provided an incredible outlook of the whole city, just second to the one we would get the following day on Arthur’s Seat. At the Castle we saw the Chapel, large cannons, crown jewels, World War II memorial, famous hall, royal apartments and dungeons. From Edinburgh castle we tiredly walked to our Whiskey Tour just a few feet below the castle. The tour consisted of a more entertaining than edifying explanation of the brewing process. We rolled through on the seats of a fake barrel car that rode us through a series of narrated projector images. From this 7 minute excursion we entered into a small exhibit, which then flowed into a tasting room. In the tasting room we sat around a long counter table where in front of us we were given four canisters with cotton balls inside, each containing one of the specific scents of the four different whiskey brewing regions of Scotland. After sampling what the four regions’ whiskies stereotypically smelled like we were given a choice which of the four whiskies we would like to try. Once we had our whiskey, we entered into a large whiskey showcase room, where we learned the appropriate way to assess and sample our liquor and then each got to ‘enjoy’ our small sip. After the tour we got to keep our individual whiskey glasses as souvenirs.
From the whiskey tour we were pretty pooped. So, we grabbed boxed pizza from Pizza Paradise, some drinks form the nearby store, and had a nice quiet dinner in Kelsey’s kitchen. For the rest of the early evening we relaxed in the flat and continued to catch up. Around 8 PM we were joined by Kelsey’s friends. Once all acquainted we rolled out for a night on the town passing by different dance clubs, bars and pubs, before we settled on one very lively spot. We packed it in around 1 AM that night, but of course Matt and I stayed awake to watch the Yanks beat up Pedro and defeat the Phillies.
Saturday morning we again woke up relatively later – love vacation. For breakfast master chef Matt made everyone omelets with the remaining eggs in the fridge. For me my big debate was whether to continue my trip to Belfast or not. For a slew of reasons, which were: being in the midst of my country counting – the need to see every country craze; because the tickets were slightly cheaper; and because Matt was leaving on Sunday morning, I decided to book myself to fly to Belfast Sunday morning for a one day excursion, leaving the northern Ireland UK province on Monday afternoon, and arriving me in Amsterdam around 4 PM the next day, Monday 11.02. At the time, little did I realize that the valuable lesson of spending time with the ones you truly care about should always override personal and solitary goals, especial ones that are somewhat ambiguous and potentially stressful, like navigating Northern Ireland for one day. So despite the large fee I accrued from switching my flight, which I figured my budget could eat the costs, and considering my mother chirping in my ear not to travel alone, I changed my flight to fly out with Kelly on Monday afternoon. This alteration gave me another day and a half with my buddies. I also think my last minute decision to stay in Edinburgh for the extra day and half stemmed from the following dream I had:

Ok. So that is a little much but it is true. Saturday midday we walked to Dynamic Earth a famous relatively new Earth Science exhibit where you can ‘walk in a rain forest and touch an iceberg.’ Dynamic earth highlighted key events and compositional facets from the earth’s conception to current times. After traveling back in time to 4 billion years ago and in the course of an hour aging to the present, we entered into the museum’s main attraction, its 25 minute astronomy and space technology circular theater. It was really a neat little museum. Once we were done prancing around the exhibit and got some lunch at their café, we proceeded to adventure up the face of Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh’s tallest peak and ultimate viewpoint. My only stipulation while touring in Edinburgh was that we hike Arthur’s Seat at either sunrise or sunset. Although it took some time, and some varying routes throughout our ascent we made it just in time. To climb up we ascended along the ridge that enabled us an increasingly panoramic view of much of Edinburgh and the Ferth of Forth. At the last stage Matt and I elected to scale the steep face right up the middle of the mountain because we feared that we would miss the sunset; the girls took the more traditional route around the side. At times Matt and I were climbing at near 60 degree angles right through the cutout of the rocks. All four of us made it just in time for the setting sun through the clouds. The view was spectacular! At that moment I truly realized how special Edinburgh was. I questioned though was my connection to Scotland rooted in my first visit to the country with my family in August three years earlier? Was it because I was enjoying the bagpipe country’s capital city with my Muhlenberg family now? Was it because I had not a worry in the world, nor did I have the pressure of making any decisions or stating where, when and how we should go about our touring? Or could it be that me and Scotland are just meant to be? Although ridiculous, I think it may be a combination of all of the above. As that Saturday sun set through the clouds and the haze of Edinburgh gave way to little night lights sprinkled across the horizon I realized how much I truly loved the city.
Upon Arthur we saw everything from the Castle to the rubgy stadium, from the North Sea to the innermost parts of the bay. We overlooked the nearby mountain, or hill in comparison to the magnitude of Arthur’s seat, and we witnessed a major international city illuminate as dusk set in. Edinburgh in full autumn forum, with tinges of oranges, reds, grays and blues outlining the darkening sky, and a masterful palette of all other colors sprouting up like play cities and picturesque landscapes below our feet made for the ultimate Berg family photo. If only Maetal and Molly, the two missing family members, were there to join. Maybe we can crop them in?
It was getting dark so we had to begin our descent. Luckily we got down relatively quickly, despite the surging stiffness in our lower halves from the pounding walk. Once off of Arthur we booked it to the infamous Chocolate Soup café where we indulged in spirit of ‘dessert first.’ Kels wisely chose a less heavy coffee chocolate drink whereas Kelly, Matt and I each got a version of a chocolate brownie dish. It was like eating our deaths, but you gotta do that sometimes. We gulfed down our dishes attempting to savor each inhalation of a bite. Once consumed, no less than ten minutes later, we scampered a few blocks away to catch an epic Halloween night ghost tour that Kelsey had arranged. Kels, who had been on a tour before, warned us in advance of the scares that occur on the tour. So even before we joined the group I can honestly say that each of us was a little nervous. Huddled together we embarked with 50 other Edinburgh students on a very entertaining ghost tour. It started out with a soliloquy by our costume wearing guide on the steps of the town church. As she recited the history of Edinburgh’s dark days of torture, witchery and war, she had Matt stand next to her to make an example of what would happen to those accused of witchery or other crimes. It was quite comical listening to the guide describe Matt being tortured, thrown into a river of poop, knowing that we would also stone him, and then hearing that he would be burned at the cross – just lovely. Eventually, we made it into the feared vaults where the guide separated all the men and women at one point to emphasize what horrors occurred in one of the rooms. The tour at times was a little creepy, but didn’t live up to the hype. My guess was that because we were squeezed into a timeslot and were such a large group that navigating all the depths of the feared vaults were too challenging. No worries. Nonetheless it was still entertaining.
After the vaults we returned to Kelsey’s flat to get changed for a night of Halloween fun. The girls put together a relatively creative costume of a rugby player (Kelsey) and a librarian/teacher (Kelly). Matt and I vacillated between costume ideas but eventually settled with him being a prep and me donning Kelsey’s sheet as a toga. Lets just say, entering into the Vodka Revolution restaurant, especially before the Halloween crowd arrived, we turned some heads, me especially because I wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath Kelsey’s sheet. Regardless, we enjoyed a delicious dinner with some drinks and it proved to be an excellent start to the night.
Around 10 ish, after sulking in our meal for a good amount of time, we moseyed on over to the Edinburgh student center to celebrate Halloween. Kels had purchased tickets in advance for all of us. Although the party wasn’t really hopping so much it was still awesome to see a whole university building, with long wood staircases, libraries, couches and student work areas transformed to look like a real party scene. And people got really dressed up! Very scary! At the student center we met up with Kelsey’s friends, walked around the scene for a little and then packed it in around midnight or so because Matt had to be up around 3 AM for his bus trip to the airport. Upon returning to Kelsey’s flat, I flipped on the Yankee game and chatted with one of Kelsey’s flat mates, Katie, while the three others napped. At 3:15 AM, Katie went to sleep, it was about the 5th inning or so, and the four of us walked Matt to the bus station on Waverly Bridge. Edinburgh at 3:30 AM on Halloween night was quite the scene. When the ghost tour guide said that Edinburgh was the most haunted city in the world we now knew what she meant. Every street we turned was filled with Edinburgh locals or students dressed in horribly terrifying costumes just laying around the streets, yelling, drinking, fraternizing and of course more. We huddled close for fear that we would be sucked in the perils of the underworld. It literally looked like purgatory or something. Eventually Matt’s Airlink bus came and it was just so comical to watch Matt with his suitcase, Yankees hat and sperries board next to a myriad of costume sporting people, one guy especially, being that he was a face painted, hair dyed barbarian. Once Matt was safely on his way to the airport, we hope being protected by his new barbarian friend, we sped walked back to Kelsey’s flat for more sleep. I of course stayed up to watch the Yankees close out another game.
Sunday morning was a little slower because we were pretty tired, Matt had left, and of course we had some authentic Scottish weather consisting of heavy downpours. We had a filling brunch at Always Sunday and then roamed the Royal Mile between various shops looking for different souvenirs, such as sweaters, rugby shirts and scarves. After a successful shopping spree, we dropped our stuff back off at Kelsey’s flat, grabbed a quick bite from the fridge, and then boarded a cab to the local Edinburgh v. Newport Rugby match. To be honest, I am still uncertain of all of the rules of the sport but I think I gathered a fair amount. We huddled underneath the overhang out of the rain with most of the other nonchalant fans. It appeared that this rugby match was played at a lower skilled level, most likely because of the two teams’ abilities and the inclement weather. The visiting team happened two score the equivalent of a field goal three separate times and Edinburgh didn’t retaliate until the last ten minutes. So for most of the game the 15 on 15 players just exchanged positions, seemingly smacking each other, kicking the ball from end to end, and not appearing to capitalize. But spontaneously, at the 70th minute Edinburgh made a surge down the right field side, which made things much more exciting. Although our hot chocolate actually appeared browner then poop, and was potentially glossed with sewer water, as Kelly noted, we found a way to stay warm, stay entertained and thoroughly enjoy the match.
From the match we were all craving a nice dinner. Our cab dropped us off at Maggie Dickson’s where Kelly and I had a massive platter of fish and chips, while Kels had macaroni. We stayed at Dickson’s for over two hours enjoying our food, warming up and speculating on life, the future, our friendships and the semester ahead. From the restaurant we splurged on ice cream sundaes at Made in Italy. What a night. From there we walked back to the flat to pack it in.
Monday morning was somewhat bittersweet. We slept in a little bit, but relative to the other mornings we were up early. We packed up, showered, and prepared for departure. Prior to leaving we strolled around the Royal Mile one last time and walked into Kelsey’s religion building to print out our boarding passes. Around noon, Kelsey walked Kel and me to Waverly Bridge where we said our final ‘cya laters.’ It was really bittersweet. Then we boarded the Airlink bus back to the airport, eventually boarded our EasyJet flight to Amsterdam and once in Amsterdam trained back to Maastricht, getting us back into our home station around 8 PM.
I can say for all of us, no one really wanted to split. The weekend was truly the ultimate family vacation. We all did one or more thing that individually we wanted to accomplish (ie Kelly with the ghost tour, me with Arthur’s Seat etc.) At school we have bonding nights where we all just chill and it reminded us of those nights. This past weekend really made us all extremely excited to be back at Muhlenberg for the upcoming few semesters.
This weekend for me was by far my most enjoyable weekend. It may not have been the most adventuresome, like Copenhagen, or most touristy, like London, or craziest, prettiest or whatever. But hands down it was my most enjoyable and fulfilling weekend. For this reason Edinburgh will always remain one of my favorite cities. Spending this weekend with my best friends really capped off my abroad experience. For the most part, everything else from here on out I will most likely consider icing on the cake. But please do bring on the icing because I got 6 weeks left to live up my semester in Europe!