York round 1.

Just a quick update to let you know I've been in York a week and it hasn't stopped raining since I arrived. Seen some of the sights (from the outside) but mainly spent my days jobhunting and relaxing. Hopefully it will clear up next week! Manchester this weekend, Cambridge the next and back to York in between so I should have something more interesting to post about next week.

The problem with Edinburgh is that there are too many pretty buildings...

Sorry this is a bit of a long one...

I've spent the past week hanging out in Edinburgh, being a tourist and getting to grips with the local shops. But what I've really been here to do, and at which I have failed utterly, is set up a bank account. Welcome to British bureaucracy! In order to get a bank account I need proof of a UK address... I can apparently use my national insurance number confirmation for this. In order to get an NI number I had to ring a number and request the forms, which they will post to me, taking 7-10 working days. I then fill it out, send it back and wait another 10 working days to get the number. I will be visiting my friend in York (who is kindly letting me use her address) quite a bit I think. So in 3 weeks I may just have a bank account! Watch this space.

So on to my tourist adventures. I've visited the National Museum of Scotland, climbed Carlton Hill and Arthur's Seat, wandered around Edinburgh Castle, looked at the stained glass windows in St Giles, and visited Bobby's grave at Greyfriars.

On Carlton Hill

Inside the Museum

Greyfriars

Greyfriars Bobby

Up Arthurs Seat

Across town from Arthurs Seat

Me and Susan up Arthurs Seat.

This could be anywhere in NZ, but no its Scotland! Gorse in its natural habitat people.

I spent 5 hours wandering around Edinburgh Castle. There is the national war museum on the grounds as well as a number of exhibits in the castle. Although it was £15 to get in, it was definitely worth it. There was a lot of security around the Scottish crown jewels, but their value probably lies more in that they are the oldest crown jewels in Europe rather than their actual jewels. I suspect the London ones have a bit more bling, but will need to go check those out to confirm.  I went on the 30 minute guided tour and basically the history of the place largely revolves around people being held prisoner, executed or various factions trying to win back the castle. Our guide also told us the story of Private McBain, whose wife gave birth and decided shortly afterwards to go back to England. She gave her husband the three week old baby and being sent out to fight immediately and with no one to give the kid to he stuck it in his knapsack and carried it into battle. Apparently they both survived and the kid grew up ok. I was also surprised to find out that they have a dog cemetery for all the army dogs since Queen Victoria's day. There are a lot of cannons around, but apparently the majority have never been fired.

Edinburgh Castle

Mons Meg

One o'clock gun - fired at 1pm, followed by the time ball on Carlton Hill dropping.

National War Memorial - contains the names of the 148,000 Scotsmen killed in the first world war.

Argyll Tower - named after some guy they held prisoner there for a few months before they chopped off his head.

St Giles.

Not sure if it is the same seagull but there was one on top of this statue every time I walked past.

I've also seen some interestingly dressed people doing a half marathon and seen enough scottish kilts/scarves/accessories/tourist junk shops to last a lifetime (there are at least 10 along the Royal Mile to the Castle alone). Highlight of the week was watching a dalmatian running around the top of Arthurs Seat. A kid in front of us was eating lunch with his dad. He put his sandwich down on his bag and the dog came running over and scoffed it in about 3 bites then stuck its nose in the bag looking for more food. The poor kid didn't know whether to laugh or cry but the kid's father thought it was hilarious and yelled out to the owner "you owe me a sandwich!" The boy did get a chocolate bar out of it so probably not a bad trade, but highly entertaining watching the owner try and grab the dog.

Off to York tomorrow.

London town

Far too many hours on a plane and a tube trip later I made to Earl's Court McDonalds and met Susan as planned. While waiting I discovered the wonders of 99p porridge with pancake syrup. I've now been to Maccas several times in a week... Over the next few days we jumped on the tourist conveyer belt and checked out the main tourist sites and museums around Westminster.

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Slavery abolition monument

Big Ben! Plus a clock tower.

Tate Britain - everything opens at 10am...

At Buckingham Palace

How do they see? @ Buckingham Palace

View from the Observatory at Greenwich

London is an interesting place, but there are far too many people for me. Greenwich and Soho were really nice and had a much nicer vibe than the area we were staying in. I will of course have to go back, as we only covered a fraction of all the things you can do in london. Highlights were as follows:

• The National Maritime Museum, which was really interesting and very well laid out. Considering that we only intended to stop to use the loos on the way to the observatory we ended up staying there for several hours.

National Maritime Museum

• Patisserie Valerie, an amazing french cafe/pastry shop. Lunch was BLT triangle sandwiches with a side salad, raspberry tart and peppermint tea. We bought a lemon tart to take back to the hostel with us! 

Om nom nom nom

• Les Miserables, an awesome show (if a tad depressing given most of the characters die) with an excellent cast. Most enjoyable.
• M&M world and Hamleys toy store - so much unneccessary stuff! So many things to photograph...

Susan meets her knight in shining armour @ M&M World

Meeting Lego Queenie at Hamleys

A breakdown for the interested:


Wed 4th: Arrived, found hostel, wandered around Battersea Gardens and scoped out the local shops. Weather - overcast, freezing.
Thurs 5th: Tate Britain, V&A, Natural History museums.Weather - overcast, freezing.
Fri 6th: Leceister Square to get theatre tickets, tubed to Greenwich (Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory), back to Soho - saw Les Miserables at the Queens theatre. Weather - sunny, freezing.
Sat 7th: Wandered from our hostel in Westminster up to Buckingham Palace, down the Mall to Trafalger Square. Wandered around the National Gallery and through Leceister Square (visitng M&M world) to Soho shops. Spent several hours in the wonderful Patisserie Valerie then checked out Hamleys toy store. Weather - overcast, freezing.
Sun 8th: Train to Edinburgh.