Edinburgh was wonderful! The whole reason for this trip was Becky's conference there. The whole reason we went to Dublin was that tickets to Edinburgh were much more expensive. In any case, after 3 days in Dublin, Becky, her brother and I took a cheap flight to Scotland and we were meeting my friend who had taken a train up from London. Gabor and I have known each other for ages, from when I started fencing back in Hungary - referee, coach, boyfriend briefly, then friend since. He's now working as a coach in London teaching rich private school kids and their parents how to play with foils. I called him from the airport to find out he was in a pub already so we took the bus directly there. With our backpacks and suitcases, we trotted into the pub to find him sitting with a guy I recognized. We were all introduced and I realized I had seen this guy many years ago at fencing camp in Hungary - at least 10 years ago, actually. Small world! I think I remembered him so clearly (I could recall his last name since it's written on the backs of fencers' uniforms and I always saw him in his uniform at practice) because I mist have had a teenage crush on him :) So funny to bump into him all these years later, in Scotland. Of course, he didn't recognize me, probably for the best. He then took us out in the city, and after a few too many ciders, I was dancing and singing along to the songs in a very crowded club. Great way to start off the visit!
The next day we joined a free walking tour of the old city where we were told so many cute and interesting stories about the city and the Scottish and Harry Potter and ghosts and dogs who sat by graves for years. My favorite things were seeing the school which supposedly inspired Hogwarts and where JK Rowling's daughter now goes.
About JK Rowling: the same Scottish fencer I mentioned above was apparently asked by her assistant if he would coach her daughter! Best chance to make some connections with the richest person in Britain! But, he is so committed to his competitive career, he's training so hard for the 2012 Olympics, that he passed this chance up. That's dedication! Maybe I'll move to Edinburgh and start coaching and maybe work in a pub on the side or something. Sounds very tempting.
The story of the Stone of Destiny in the Edinburgh Castle was my other favorite. It looks like a really ordinary sandstone, with some chains on the side for lifting. It symbolizes Scotland's independence and ironically, for the longest time, it was in Westminster Abbey in London. In the 1950's, a bunch of drunk students from the University of Edinburgh decided that it should return to its home and they broke into the Abbey to steal the stone. I don't remember all the details, but apparently the stone is very heavy and it wasn't so easy to move so it was buried for a while under some field and had gypsies help dig it up and was then left in a Scottish church with a Scottish flag covering it for the priest to find it and return in to the English. In the end, Queen Elisabeth decided to finally return it to the Scottish and it is now on display at the castle next to the crown jewels.
I had to realize that traveling with many people, especially if they are not friends too, is very difficult. Becky and her brother are both very organized, they had done their research and know all the places they to check out, all the deals and free things in the city. On the other hand, Gabor is the exact opposite! He wanted to relax, sleep late, eat lunch for 2 hours, walk around a bit, then have coffee or a beer for another hour. I am sort of in the middle. I want to see as much as possible, but without running around, I want to relax as well, but sitting for hours in a coffee-shop is something I can also do in New York. This difference in styles made for some conflict and what I thought would be a happy group, hanging out with many friends just didn't really work like that. In the end, I think it was all OK, once Becky's conference started, I got to spend some quality time with Gabor, but I still think he had had very different expectations and he's not the most flexible person.
In any case, the trip was wonderful, here are some more pictures:
The hostel we stayed in was in a church, very mysterious in the fog one night... also, some cool artwork on the wall of the hostel-turned church.
I got to play with some swords in the castle. :)
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