If One More Person Uses the Word "Character..." (First Scotland Post)

(Boarding the plane from Copenhagen to Scotland)

So, I'm back from Scotland, and after a few days of reflection, I'm ready to write. I'm not sure whether a full chronological account is as appropriate for this trip as it was for my Jutland trip, so instead I'm going to take my posts in a thematic order, of sorts. The first thing I want to talk about are the two cities we visited, and the differences between the two.

We spent three days in Edinburgh and two in Glasgow, and the cities are very different from each other. Edinburgh is more of a cultural/governmental center, while Glasgow is more of a business center. It's noticeable as soon as you enter the cities. In Edinburgh, all the buildings look old and castle-y, and in Glasgow they look like modern office buildings. Edinburgh is "prettier" by some people's standards, but I have this nasty habit of seeing beauty where others don't, and there were things I preferred about each city. However, it's no wonder that most of our "cultural visits" were in Edinburgh and most of our "academic visits" were in Glasgow. You'll get what I mean by the end of this post.

Edinburgh has that old-Europe tourist appeal to it. It's no accident, either: there were about eight shops within sight of each other along two blocks where one could purchase the same tourist items. CDs, shortbread cookies, "I *heart* Scotland" t-shirts, and of course, kilts. Edinburgh castle is both large and beautiful, and the whole city seems to fit in with the castle motif.


(The view of Edinburgh, as seen from behind a cannon in the castle)

Glasgow on the other hand... well, it's a city. It looks like Boston, or maybe DC. There are many buildings that have that "old city" look to them, but then there's the unmistakable modernity to the rest of it that completely overshadows any sense of antiquity. As soon as we got off the bus, some students were already complaining that Glasgow didn't have as much "character" as Edinburgh, a statement which I found to be completely unfair. My view was that Glasgow was simply more of a modern city. I quickly found supermarkets, clothing stores, cafes, and several dozen restaurants of every variety.

In Glasgow, I found several pound stores (like a dollar store, but everything costs $1.58). It wasn't until then that realized I hadn't seen a single supermarket in Edinburgh. Admittedly, I only strayed a few blocks from the touristy area, but I don't see that as a coincidence. They don't stick "real people" stores in the middle of the touristy part of town; there's an unspoken (or sometimes spoken) rule that we all understand. It breaks our suspension of disbelief. I've heard many historic cities have ordinances stating that no new buildings can be taller than the current ones. The churches sticking out above the other rooftops are part of the charm. Edinburgh at least appears to have such a rule (once again, it may not be codified, but it's certainly observed).


(The inner wall of Edinburgh castle, taken from the outer wall)

I'd have a hard time convincing anybody that one city is better than the other, least of all myself. At times, I felt like Edinburgh was a tourist attraction, while Glasgow was more of a genuine city with "real people." But then again, I've never been one to think of businessmen as genuine. A lot of my classmates had more fun in Edinburgh, though, and I suppose I did too. But I'm glad I went to both places, and I wouldn't take any part of the trip back. Both cities have plenty of "character," albeit of a different variety.

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Now, for my two favorite things in Edinburgh castle:


This is an old cannon hole in David's Tower, which was part of the castle before the tower was destroyed, I believe, by a fire. Don't quote me on that. What you're looking at here, though, is that the cannon hole has become a wishing well of sorts. It reminded me of one of those coin-pusher arcade games. I imagined that if I could roll a coin at just the right angle, I could cause the whole pile to come cascading out the other end (where they would land in some unreachable bushes. But let's face it, it's not really about the coins. It's about bragging rights.)

Moment #2: Walking through an exhibit on Scotland's crown jewels, I came across a great line. Unfortunately, I didn't have my notebook on me, but this is almost a direct quote: "In 1707, the crown jewels were lost, and by the early 19th century, people began to wonder what had happened to them." Apparently nobody noticed they were missing for 100 years.

The actual story is that they had lost their symbolic value when the English took over, so they were locked up in a chest and put somewhere off in a corner where everyone promptly stopped caring. But the way they phrase it is way funnier.