Edinburgh At A Glance

I lived in Edinburgh for two magnificent years, the best of my life. Every day I was there I experienced the grandeur of the Scottish seat in all its glory and every day since departing, I’ve conjured images in dreams. There’s no leaving Edinburgh, it always stays with you.

Many people feel the same as I do about ‘Auld Reekie’, as its affectionately called. In fact, Edinburgh is the second most visited tourist destination in Britain. Edinburgh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its cultural and physical significance. It's often referred to as 'the Athens of the North' because eighteenth century Edinburgh had more impact on our ideas than any town of its size since the time of Socrates. The city was one of the historical major centers of the enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, long regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

My Alma Mater

In addition to its intellectual merits, Edinburgh manages to combine both ancient and modern in a uniquely Scottish atmosphere. Watched over by the imposing castle, the symbol of the city, Edinburgh combines medieval relics, Georgian opulence and a powerful layer of modern life with contemporary avant-garde. Medieval palaces rub shoulders with the best of modern architecture, Gothic churches with remarkable museums and galleries. Edinburgh is also a feast for the mind and the senses, playing host to great restaurants, shops and an unequaled program of city festivals throughout the year. Robert Louis Stevenson said, ‘Edinburgh is everything Paris ought to be’.

I am homesick for a home I held so briefly. I yearn for the essence of the city. Most of all, I miss everyday things like the sound of cars as they swish past on a rain-soaked cobbled street, ‘thump, thump, thump, whoosh’, the tires digging into the wet grooves of a three-hundred year-old road. I miss the smell of hops in the air as the scent of the nearby Caledonian brewery wafts through town. I hunger for the taste of Scotch foods like Heather honey, Monkfish, oatcakes, and haggis. I daydream about the view from high atop the Nelson Monument, looking over the city like a bird. I ache for the feel of cold morning mist on my rosy cheeks.

My perfect day in Edinburgh starts with a ‘white coffee’ and a pastry at Patisserie Florentin in Stockbridge, a neighborhood just a five-minute walk north of city centre. I lived in Stockbridge during my time in Edinburgh and it’s one of my favorite areas. It feels like a village within a city; small and quaint but part of something larger. Charity shops, boutiques, restaurants and pubs line both sides Raeburn Street, the main thoroughfare.

Stockbridge

After a leisurely stroll through Stockbridge I walk onto the Water of Leith Walkway and walk southwest along the Water of Leith, a river that flows through Edinburgh to the Port of Leith and then to the sea, via the Firth of Forth. My favorite section of this promenade is through Dean Village. Now a part of Edinburgh, it was formerly a successful grain milling hamlet for more than eight hundred years. In 1833 the four-arched Dean Bridge, was erected and today provides one of the most scenic views in Edinburgh.

Dean Bridge

Midmorning is a perfect time to sit and enjoy the quiet serenity on a bench under the Dean Bridge. Woodland and water birds chirp as a passerby’s feet shuffle along the gravel path. Very few tourists know about the Water of Leith Walkway and those who I see here are most likely locals.

After a lovely morning repose I head up Queensferry road to Princes Street, Edinburgh’s main thoroughfare. This Street separates the city into two districts, Old Town to the south and New Town to the north. New Town was built between 1765 and 1850 and is rich in Georgian architecture, posh restaurants, and high-end shops. Old Town is the medieval part of the city built from the twelfth century on. Old Town is a bit more rowdy and there’s always something going on here! Whether it’s a parade, a boisterous display from Uni students or a kilted bagpiper playing on a street corner, Old Town leaves the impression that Scots love to party!

I stroll along Princes Street and take in the mighty view of the impressive castle. I window shop at a few British chain stores (High Street shops). Then, I walk one street north to the parallel, George Street, the city’s most celebrated shopping area. I walk east, all the way to the end of George Street to Saint Andrew Square where I enter Harvey Nichols, an upmarket department store. I head straight upstairs to the Forth Floor Brasserie.

Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street

It’s lunchtime and the Forth Floor offers modern Scottish cuisine with a spectacular view of the city from floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The Forth Floor offers three distinctly different areas; cocktails at the bar, a lunch in the brasserie or a gourmet dinner in the restaurant- all sharing impeccable views of the city and the Firth of Forth.

After lunch I cross Princes Street and head to Old Town via North Bridge. Everytime I cross North bridge I pause midway and gawk at the view of the city; the spires, the castle, the ancient buildings and the buzzing train station in one direction and stately Calton Hill in the other.

Calton Hill is a memorial hill just to the east of New Town. Views from a top the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the city. Calton Hill is the headquarters of the Scottish Government which is based at St Andrew's House, on the steep southern slope of the hill. The hill also includes several iconic monuments and buildings.

View of the city from Calton Hill

It is early afternoon and the perfect time to visit Edinburgh Castle. Tourists and organized groups flock in the morning so the afternoon offers a better experience for the independent traveler. I’m fascinated by each room of this ancient fortress and am baffled how the English managed to conquer this stronghold…twice!

This brings me to an important point, The Scottish are more Scottish than they are British. While a part of the United Kingdom, Scotland differs greatly from England in many ways. There is a long history of conflict between the two nations and to this day, tension still exists. See it for yourself in a pub during a football (soccer) match. The Scots will cheer for Scotland or any team playing against England!

After visiting the castle I walk down the Royal Mile, an ancient mile-long road that connects the Castle and Holyrood Palace, her majesty’s residence in Edinburgh. Tours are available when HM is not there.

While in Old Town, I pop round to the University of Edinburgh. This is the historic location where many great minds transformed the future of the modern world. Alumni include former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Princess Margarita of Romania, Princess Raiyah of Jordan, Prime Minister of Canada Charles Tupper, Naturalist Charles Darwin, Economist Adam Smith, Engineer and inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell, Philosopher David Hume, Writer Robert Louis Stevenson, and… me!

George IV Bridge is another main road in Old Town and where the National Museum of Scotland and the National Library are located. The museum houses relics from throughout Scottish history including possessions of the revered Robert the Bruce and William Wallace as well as Dolly the first cloned sheep!

The National Library brings back memories as I spent most my time here while writing my masters dissertation. It was always quiet and cold inside. I’d park myself in my usual corner with twenty or more books. I’d read all day and get lost in the research. It was dark when I got there and dark when I left.

In the winter sunrise is at around 9am and sunset at around 3pm. Because the nights are so long for a good portion of the year many social activities take place inside and usually in a public house (pub). People love to drink in Scotland and it’s as much a part of the culture as kilts and sarcasm. Whisky is the national drink but Scotland also produces some delicious beer like Deuchars IPA and Belhaven Best.

Some of my favorite pubs are the Bow Bar (Old Town), the Bailie Bar (New Town), the Cumberland Bar (New Town), The Last Drop pub (Old Town), and Jekyll and Hyde (New Town). There are pubs absolutely everywhere and I’d venture to say you won’t go a block without at least one option.

After a pre-dinner pint I head over to Castle Terrace Restaurant, one of two Michelin-starred restaurants in town. Chef Dominic Jack presents the finest Scottish produce and his philosophy of ‘Nature to Plate’ in a modern and innovative way. I have ravioli of Bowmont Valley partridge with seared fois gras, red cabbage, marjoram and partridge consommé followed by saddle of roe deer from Saltoun estate with quince tatin, seared pumpkin, chestnut and pepper sauce. For dessert I enjoy a selection of British and French cheeses from the trolley. The meal is refined but not pretentious, modern but rooted in tradition, beautiful but approachable and comforting.

I recently visited Edinburgh for business and had one free day to roam around the city. I realized that it is impossible to do everything that I love about this city in a mere 24 hours. Now home, I look back and reminisce. It’s about the little things, as much of life is. The intricacies of daily life are what I miss most and are what define Edinburgh, to me...

The one hundred and fifty year-old arched stone steps of the building where I used to live that have been filed down by generations of shoes walking up and down them.

Having two faucets on every sink- one for hot water and one for cold water.

The sound of ‘Scotland the Brave’ being played by bagpipers on street corners.

The taste of fifty-pent Gregg’s sausage rolls and the feeling of grease dripping down my contented chin.

The smell of the local cheese monger and the scent of its pungent dairy delicacies.

Fish and chips at 2am.

The Scottish brogue and Scots words like, blather, steamin’, lad and lassie, pasties, baps, bridie, and slainte mhath, ceilidh.

The rain.

The weight of the thick, British one pound piece in my pocket.

The musty smell of ancient buildings and the feeling of living history when I brush my hand across their stones.

Seeing the sea from the top of Hanover Street on a clear day.

The sound of seagulls outside my bedroom window.

The madness of the Fringe Festival. Edinburgh becomes the cultural center of Europe once a year. Everyone becomes an artist or performer in August.

Clotted cream, scones and the color of ‘builders tea’ with milk.

My favorite restaurants; Nargile, Kushis, and The Kitchin.

Princes Street Gardens.

The Christmas Market and the mulled wine!

The One O'Clock Gun (canon) fired everyday from the castle.

Green hills dotted with white sheep.

The sand on Portobello Beach.

My friend Jean with whom I shared my experience at the University of Edinburgh.

I miss ‘walking and gawking’, slowly taking in each breath, thinking to myself, ‘I love this place.’

If every city has a word that exemplifies it, Edinburgh’s word should be ‘magic’. All who visit are charmed by its many spells; beguiled by the shifting light, captivated by the changing skies, and enchanted by the sudden vistas. It is a city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.

Edinburgh at dusk

Photos: University of Edinburgh, gerald-massey.org.uk, www.beautifulplacestovisit.com, www.eurocheapo.com, www.concierge.com, www.tripadvisor.com

Why Do So Few Americans Have Passports?

My thirty-eight year-old co-worker has just applied for his first passport, which got me wondering why are passports such a low priority for the majority of Americans?

I was 10 years old when I got my first passport. I was so excited to embark on my first international adventure and getting my passport felt like an initiation into a club of world travelers. I’ve grown up fortunate enough to travel widely and have always appreciated the worldly viewpoints I’ve gained along the way.

Because I value travel so much and know the merits of a multicultural upbringing, I couldn’t wait to get my children their passports. Literally, I couldn’t wait. In fact, I joked that on the way home from the hospital we’d pop round the post office with the brand new baby and get the passport process rolling. Getting my children their passports was a priority to me.

I finally had the resolve when the baby was 2 months old and my oldest was 18 months old. With their passport applications in hand, and one child each in tow, my husband and I entered into a queue at the nearest post office. Five minutes passed, then ten. Finally we reached the front of the line and were called to the counter by the available postal worker. She was a sweet, older Asian woman with compassionate eyes and a patient demeanor. We handed her our heap of paperwork, which she kindly sorted. By then both kids were howling with boredom and unrest. I was clutching onto my twenty-two pound toddler as if he was a rearing bull. Throwing himself about, he was desperate to spring from my control.

The infant had fallen asleep only to be awoken for the obligatory passport photo. There are several requirements for the photo; the subject must be against a white background with eyes fully open, mouth closed with a neutral expression, facing forward, without anything covering the face, etc. For those of you without children you’ll have to take my word for it, this was an impossible task. First, for a baby who cannot sit up or hold his head up on his own, the only conceivable position to be photographed is laying down.

The resourceful postal worker delicately laid flattened white boxes along the floor and draped the baby’s soft white blanket over them. It truly was a MacGyver move. I laid Baby on the ‘photo platform’ aka the floor. As a new mother; anxious, tired, worried and stressed, I nearly fainted at the sight of my newborn on the post office floor. We tried in vain to get a viable photo of the irritated baby. He’d grimace, close his eyes, cry, or look away. At this point I realized, ok the kids may be a bit too young for passports.

Though I now understand that not everything needs to be rushed and that my children don't necessarily need passports as babies, I still don’t identify with people who are perfectly happy to go through their whole lives without the prospect of experiencing faraway lands. In an effort to understand I’ve asked around and have come up with the conclusion that few Americans make world travel, therefore passports, a priority because of money, geography, and the passport application process itself.

Most Americans do not have passports. According to the most recent statistics issued by the Department of State in January of 2011, only 37% of Americans have passports.That means nearly 2 out of 3 Americans can’t even fly to Mexico or Canada, let alone anywhere else in the world.


Travel.state.gov

One explanation is money. According to the last census, the average American household salary is $50,233 per year. After housing (around 32.6% of annual income), other necessary expenses such as children (approximately $10,000 per child per year), gas for one midsized car (about $2,000 a year), car insurance for two drivers (about $1,500 a year), a health plan for a family of four (approximately $3,300 annually), there's not much left for travel.1 According to Orbitz.com, airfare to London is around $1,000 per person, paired with hotel accommodation for one week, the average family vacation to Europe costs well over $8,000. Most American families can't afford international trips.

Another reason is geography. The statistic that only 37% (often embellished to be more like 10%) amuses Europeans more than you could imagine. ‘Ignorant, isolated, stupid Americans’ or something to that tune is often accompanied with the figure of just how few Americans own passports. This coming from people who can literally jump on a $30 Ryan Air flight from Scotland to Stockholm and be there in one hour isn’t necessarily fair. European countries are so close together and so culturally diverse that a two hour drive or an hour flight presents opportunities for countless cross-cultural explorations.

Americans however, live on a continent that spans 2269 million acres and is isolated by two oceans. It costs much more time and money for us to travel internationally. Aside from the financial aspect, America itself is geographically and culturally diverse. The U.S. includes most climate types; semi-tropical, tropical, alpine, continental, polar, desert, semi-arid, and sub-arctic. Likewise, Americans can experience different cultures, traditions, and ways of life stateside.

America is called the ‘Melting Pot of the World’ because it is the conglomeration of many people form very different ethnic groups with their own unique traditions and values. America is also, called the ‘Salad Bowl’ of the world because these different cultures remain heterogeneous and retain distinctive cultural characteristics. You can experience a variety of heritages by staying right in the good ol' U.S. of A. Experience the native hula in the Hawaiian Islands, the time-honored tradition of horse breeding and racing in Kentucky, Lobster farming in Maine, Alligator wrangling in Florida, traditional Navajo Hogan homes in Southern Colorado, etc. etc. etc! America the Beautiful is a combo platter and presents innumerable travel opportunities.

If the above isn’t enough to put Americans off world travel, the passport application process is a deterrent to many. This explanation doesn’t really fly with me (if I can do it with two small children, you can do it too) but I do understand the hoops to jump through can be a bit off-putting. The DS-11 form is required, as well as two photos that meet specifications and $165. It can take up to 6-8 weeks to receive your passport after your application is received so make sure to plan ahead.

While I'm not defending those sans passports, I do understand why only a minority of Americans travel abroad. It simply isn’t feasible or desirable for most to travel internationally. That is why I want my children, now part of the 37% of Americans with a passport, to fully appreciate the opportunity that has been given to them and to pursue every international adventure possible...once they get just a bit older.

I'm learning to be more patient and I will take the kids abroad when the time is right. That is to say, I'll take them along when they both acknowledge that they are traveling, when they can appreciate it, and manage such a long journey. I think a good test to know when kids are ready to travel internationally is to take them to the post office to get their passports. If you come out of there needing a stiff drink, they're not ready. Trust me.

There are few pleasures akin to finding yourself lost, in a foreign land, out of your element completely. There is much to experience in America, but you can't imagine how special it is to eat a real croissant in Paris, to see the Whirling Dervish in Istanbul, to samba the night away in Rio de Janeiro, to hear the nightly drums pulsate through the Ghanaian darkness. 'The world is a book and those who don’t travel, read only a page.' My edit to the famous St. Augustine quote… 'the world is a book and those who don’t travel {internationally} read only the first couple of chapters.

Go get yourself a beautiful blue travel document and even if you never leave these enchanted shores you'll own a ticket to endless possibilities.

www.columbiamissourian.com
www.travel,state,gov