Scotland 2023 - Day 2. Edinburgh downs and ups

I found out that at 7 am it is impossible to find an Uber that could take me from Livingston Lodge, in the town of Livingston (named after the famous Scottish missionary and explorer of Africa) to the airport, so I thought I could take the bus there. Enter Google maps while I have wi-fi at the hotel, so I looked carefully at the route, trying to imprint it in my mind. Unbelievably I didn’t get lost, but walking along narrow roads with no sidewalks was a little unnerving. I do hate being a pedestrian!

My luck held, though, and after a couple of moments of doubt I finally got close enough to the right bus stop, and after what seemed like 10 miles the bus dropped me off close enough to the airport that I could reach it walking. I breathed deeply, getting ready for a battle with Hertz, but after some initial confusion they came through, and by 11 am I was driving out of the airport in a tiny Fiat. Note to Dennis: I had to add insurance of 33 pounds per day, and when you make plans be careful that you arrive between 8 am and 5 pm.

By now I had already lost two full days of vacation, so I had no time to loose and headed directly to Edinburgh Centre, intent on doing as much tourism as possible on my one day in the capital of Scotland. I was a bit concerned about finding a place to park, but my geographic sense held true and when I saw that I had entered the financial district I found a small street and parked there. By chance I found myself within two blocks of one of the stops of the tourist Hop On - Hop Off bus. Eureka! In no time whatsoever I was on board, with a senior ticket that gave me free access to the three routes through the city. This is my favorite way to see a new city, in the “comfort” of a double-decker bus (unfortunately the top deck is a bit drafty, but I was wearing my polar explorer jacket and lived true to my motto “Turisums muss Weh tun”).

Edinburgh is a beautiful city that had its origins in the XVth century but was gentrified in the 18 century during the Scottish Enlightenment into a city of handsome mansions, government buildings, bridges, and cathedrals. It is considered to be in the “flats” of Scotland, but in reality is built over the roots of a Paleozoic volcano, which left behind lots of volcanic necks and thick lava flows, that the glaciers of the Ice Age sculpted into roches muttonnees. The one in the center of the city was used as the foundation of the Edinburgh Castle, and the one in the southeast was reserved as the Royal Hunting Preserve, but is now the Holyrood Park, which is the delight of all folks who love to go hiking and climb Arthur’s Seat, or just go for a Sunday stroll. Today happens to be Sunday, so I joined the fun and lost myself in one of the trails up the mountain. For you geologists, this is the same walk that James Hutton took with his little dog, and it was close inspection of Arthur’s Seat that led him to formulate the principles of Uniformitarianism and Geologic Time. Adjacent to Holyrood Park is the high tech museum Dynamic Earth, devoted to explaining the fabulous history of the universe, the Solar System, and our Blue Planet.

For lunch I stopped at a Chinese place and had Pigs Feet in a Szechwan sauce that was super delicious. The owner of the joint looked at me with surprise, and took great pains into explaining me what exactly was in the dish. I assured her that it was exactly what I wanted, and proceeded to demonstrate my admiration of her culinary art by leaving a small pile of bones behind. “Wow”, she said, “you are even more thorough than I am”.  I know, I know, I should have gone for something Scottish, but I am going to save that for country pubs.

Edinburgh University is of course very famous. For geologists it is because James Hutton and James Playfair worked there, but for the rest of the world it is better known for its School of Medicine, with names such as Simpson (the discoverer of chloroform) and Lister (the discoverer of carbolic spray and Father of Aseptic Surgery). There was one problem, though; with so many medical students there was great demand for dissection bodies, so grave robbing was a fluorishing trade. Thousands of tombs in the many cemeteries around the city are actually empty boxes. But there was still good money to be made, so a couple of canal digging contractors simply went into the very profitable murder business as a side gig.

Speaking of cemeteries, the one on the Church of Saint Cuthbert, established in the XVth century, has the statue of a dog (a Golden Retriever look-alike), whose owner died when the dog was but two years old. Every night after the interment the dog would come to sleep over the tomb of his master, and this went on for the next 12 years, until the dog himself died of old age. How is that for devotion?

If I continue telling all the things I saw and did this letter would be a very long indeed, so I will save some of my stories for the next time I see you.

Eventually I made it back to my little car, right at the time when a cop was giving it the stink eye. So I clicked the door open from a few feet way and lied “I was just leaving, officer”. He accepted my claim without much trouble and proceeded to inspect the next car in the line. Maybe my luck has come back. Yes, it must be back, because I managed to navigate my way back to my hotel without any significant trouble. I am now back in my overheated room, basking on the warmth after a very cold and windy day (but also an unusual sunny day). Life is good.