Traveling isn’t as glamorous as I (or other travel writers) make it out to be. There’s the mundane that you have to deal with: dirty clothes. It becomes sort of a challenge to find a.) a sink to do laundry in and b.) somewhere to hang your clothes to dry that isn’t offensive to the strangers you share a room with. Luckily for me, there’s a nice bunk bed and charging station that I have commandeered for my laundry needs. I’m super impressed with my new clothesline that I purchased specifically for this trip. It’s made of surgical tubing and can stretch to ~6ft. The absolute best part is that it’s braided tubing so I can weave my clothes inside the braids to dry!
Now that we got that out of the way…on to the recap of Edinburgh day 2: Wandering around is my favorite go-to travel style. It’s both thrilling and exciting to stumble down some street or around a corner with anticipation of what new thing you’ll come across. This morning, I happily found myself on different streets and near things I never would have “planned” to be at – like the Waverly train station or next to the Ferris wheel.
After this mindless wandering, I decided to look for a new shirt. Yes, backpack space is at a premium but I have allowed myself to buy 1 new top as I recently threw out a shirt in Dublin that had a thread unraveling. Don’t feel sorry for the shirt. I don’t know why I packed it, I think it was ugly and the Universe was trying to tell me to find something more suiting to my style. I finally went into Primark which sells really cheap clothing in Europe and bought 2 tank tops for 6 pounds total! In US dollars, that’s like $4 a top! Score!
After shopping, I went to the “Real Mary King’s Close.” Get ready as I am now going to geek out on some history and fun facts for you. In Scotland, alleys are known as “closes.” Sometimes the closes are named after their purpose (like the one named “Fleshmarket Close” connecting to Market Street via Cockburn Street. Use your imagination and even I can’t make up how rated XX those street names are). Mary Kings Close is famous because closes were never named after women. When her husband died, she became a merchant burgess which means she was one Boss Lady in the 17th century. The close is now a paid attraction that still has remnants of olden days (like horse hair used to bind plaster for the ceilings) and it sits underground beneath the current City Chambers building. No photography was allowed so you’ll have to visit for yourself. One close I got to walk through was Advocates Close which lead me down a long flight of stairs to Cockburn Street:
Finally, on my way back to the hostel, I came across the last public execution site in Edinburgh, marked by this plaque. It’s a bit strange to have walked over it without knowing what it was so now my eyes are peeled for all kinds of facts/tidbits I can pick up from just walking around.
Tonight, I sat at the hostel bar watching World Cup and met a guy from Luxembourg. I literally just decided this evening to go there at some point during this EuroTrip (it’s a really small country next to Belgium) so this is the Universe’s way of letting me know I made the right decision. Also, he says there’s 2 spots where you can be in 3 countries at one time so I think I have my Luxembourg bucket list mapped out!
Tomorrow is my day tour to a castle and a lake (not Loch Ness). I’m beginning to like these day tours as I think it gives me a real sense of what the country is like and I can decide if I need to explore further when I make it back (ie, road tripping around Ireland is high on my list of life goals).
There She Goes... 