Glasgow to Edinburgh

Today we started out knowing we were leaving Glasgow forever... So we made fried egg sandwiches from all of our leftovers. We decided to see what we could in the morning as our train to Edinburgh left at 11:50. We left our hostel at about 10am, and arrived at the station much to early. We decided to visit "The Lighthouse" which was a tall building near the GoMA while we still had the chance. Inside there was a small gift shop, but nothing else we were particularly interested in, so we decided to just go to the sixth story and take a look at the view. It was great that the rain in Glasgow had cleared up as we were able to get this great picture of the city.

Lighthouse View of Glasgow

After this visit to the Lighthouse we went to the Princes Mall which was an expensive shopping center near Glasgow Central Station. We went inside to see spirling staircases, wifi, a glass roof, and an expensive pub on the bottom floor. After touring around inside we decided we might as well head back to the station. We sat down, and as I read Daniel explored the station. He dropped by to get chips and kindly shared them with me while we waited for the train. The train arrived exactly on schedule and we were soon on our way to Edinburgh.

A rare picture of Daniel

After a short 50 minute train ride, we exited Edinburgh Waverly station, and immediately got lost and began to walk the wrong way. Luckily whilst walking the wrong way we saw the gigantic Olympic rings, which were near the split between the Old Town and New Town (I'll talk about that next post). Soon enough, using a map, we started in the right direction to our place of residence for the night.

Imposing Monument

While walking to our hostel, we saw the great Sir Walter Scott Monument. This giant building served as a great landmark if we ever got lost in the city. There were stairs inside the monument but climbing up it cost £3, so we opted out.

Olympic Rings 

We walked to the edge of down town and finally found our hostel which turned out to be the West End Hotel. We went up to reception, and then learned that nobody under the age of majority, 18, is allowed to stay alone at the hostel. We pleaded our case, telling him that the website allowed us to book in and did not ask about the age. Luckily he let us stay for the one night we had already booked.

Saxophone Quintet 

The wifi at the nice hotel we were staying at was not the best with the entire hotel was connected to it so we decided we would leave and explore the city a bit. We stopped by a Starbucks while walking back down the main street, and decided to get something to drink while we used their wifi. After a short break we decided we would continue on our walk. On our way down the street we were greeted by the amazing site of a saxophone quintet playing on the street. A full ensemble was playing interesting jazz music as we walked, which put a nice spring into our step.

Band 1

We then went to a square behind the National Gallery of Scotland. This square was full of street perfomers, artists, and musicians. We were quite amazed with everything that seemed to by constantly going on here, so we had to aptly name in The Awesome Square. First there was the band pictured above playing covers and their own music. We were only got to this square in time to hear them finishing off, but they were great.

Spray Paint Artist

The next artist we saw was this painter. He used only spray paint to create amazing pictures. Me and Daniel must have spent nearly 25 minutes just watching him complete the picture he is painting above. It was great to watch him work. Another one of his pictures was:

Spray Paint Art

Piper Duet

Then out of no where, two men showed up in kilts just 100m away from the awesome spray painter, and started a piper's duet. They played some great pieces and we were able to listen as we watched the painter paint.

Band 2

Finally after Band 1 had closed up we the second band pictured above started to get set up. They put together their instruments, but needed an accompanist. A piper that had been playing earlier volunteered and in complete improvisational he started to play with them. Their first song was very humorous as they decided that they would jump while playing.

After sitting in The Awesome Square for about an hour or so, we wanted to get food, though we could not find any place cheap enough. We ended up at subway on a pedestrian street just north of Princes Street. After having a good warm dinner, we headed back to our hotel, and did nothing till it was time to sleep.

Almost caught up,

-Kamaljot