Bryce abroad: Edinburgh

So here is my proper post on mine and Alan's adventure in Scotland. I won't go into great detail because I think it is some place that if you have a chance to go to you should. It is amazing and just BEAUTIFUL. No other way to put, I have never seen anything like it.

So for basic background Edinburgh is, I don't know because Wiki is still down because Congress is being dumb currently (so my first draft was during the protest I just decided its easier to keep the made up facts). I could get around it but to be honest I'm just that lazy most the time. So here are my wonderful made up facts:

Edinburgh is really far north, and when staring at a map is more northern than parts of Scandinavia. It is on the North Sea, making it extremely windy and very old. The population is smaller than Glasgow, but both are pretty small compared to London, but then again most most cities are pretty small compared to London.

The city itself is built around a castle

We couldn't get into the castle because the weather was so horrid while we where there, more to come on that later.

So it is built on 2 levels. We stayed below the castle and had to climb a steep close to get up to where the center of Edinburgh was. Much like this one:

It is basically a tiny ally that one can walk. Suffice to say the one we took was so steep that I almost fell a number of times. I have since remedied that and bought a better pair of boots.

So back at the trip, it basically rained the entire time, like pissing rain with wind. Clothes were soaked and my socks were wet. It was either that it was raining and windy or the buildings were really old but stuff was falling from the sky. Chunks of buildings were just laying about on the sidewalk. Neither one of us died which was the good thing.

So besides the dominating castle there is also a palace at the end of the royal mile. Apparently she spends a month or two up there in the summer and hosts a very large party. They have a newly built parliament that doesn't fit in at all. I don't think anything that would be built to have a commanding presence in the city would necessarily fit in. It just seemed weird to me, especially considering it was across the street from the palace.

The whisky was good, it helped warm you up from the weather. They have a thing called the King Rib which will kill you. Basically it is a McRib deep fried. So nasty but worth eating one. But they fry everything up there, cheeseburgers, pizza, mars bars, it was pretty gross.

That is Edinburgh, I know there is stuff I'm forgetting but I plan on returning before my time is up in the UK. I am currently looking into my dissertation topic being the difference in governance between England, Wales and Scotland regarding the planning process. England and Wales are under one planning law, but the Scottish Parliament has planning under is jurisdiction. If I do decide to do that, I will most likely either move up there for a couple months or at least be visiting for periods of time to interview different mp's.

So for those who can't view my photos on facebook below are more photos I took.