I am back from Edinburgh. General impressions:
- The city is lovely. Now I know where all those gothic buildings in the American horror movies come from.
- It actually is pretty nice, sorry for repeating myself. The contrast between the dark gray gothic buildings and the brightly painted stores on their first floors is in fact quite pleasant.
- The people speak some Germanic language, which can be recognized as English with a bit of effort.
- The people seem quite friendly, and somewhat strangely dressed. There are no cute guys at all (I saw only one, and he spoke Norwegian), but also fewer really ugly ones than in England.
- The tourist attractions are either really expensive or totally free.
- There are several bus companies and each has its own numbering, so 15 Lothian and 15 First are not the same bus route. Unless you live somewhere where you need to use one of the other companies, Lothian is the way to go.
- Traditional Scottish food, at least as sold by the pubs, is something that you eat when all the edible food has been eaten. There are many nice restaurants with normal food, though.
- Scotland is very much behind Finland as a beer country, in the sense that the bars in downtown Helsinki offer a much better selection of beer than the ones in Edinburgh and Glasgow. They do have great selections of whiskey, though, and quite a ot of cocktails.
- Leith was a disappointment.
- Glasgow is not nearly as beautiful as Edinburgh, but has a great cathedral, and the cutest tiniest subway ever.
- The ill-behaved gangs of young people were nowhere to be seen.
- People there really take their football seriously.
Funny moments:
- Breasts stuck in Sir Walter Scott monument.
- Seals riding by on a device that resembled a water bike, but apparently wasn't.
- A military parade and a Gay Pride parade at the same time in the same part of town, with the result that the military had a lot more colorfully dressed guys in skirts than the Gay Pride.
Friday, July 02, 2010
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- Scotland is very much behind Finland as a beer country, in the sense that the bars in downtown Helsinki offer a much better selection of beer than the ones in Edinburgh and Glasgow. They do have great selections of whiskey, though, and quite a ot of cocktails.
Were there any beers from Harviestoun and Brew Dog breweries available at the pubs?
By the way, I've been told that British pubs tend to have a smaller selection of beers than Finland because of the fact that pubs are often owned by breweries.
I didn't notice any Harviestoun or Brew Dog beers.
Yes, this would explain a smaller selection, but it wouldn't explain a smaller selection of foreign beers. I can't imagine any ownership-related thing that would explain why some place only has light Staropramen and dark Leffe - even if they are owned by those breweries together, shouldn't they also have dark Staropramen and light Leffe?
Breasts stuck in Sir Walter Scott monument.
Please elaborate.
Sir Walter Scott monument
Top Secret Drum Corps Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2009
WB, Vera. Eaten any haggis?
Ironmistress: yes. It falls into the category "something that you eat when all the edible food has been eaten". :)
Tommi: the monument has a number of spiral staircases so narrow that a person has to move sideways, and they get even narrower at the top. A careless person with large breasts suddenly notices that her breasts are pressed to the wall, and her back to the opposite wall.
Vera: yup - it belongs in the same category with mämmi, surströmming, vobla, falukorv, nattó and thousand-year eggs.
Surprisingly, that stuff is not treif per sé.
Yes, I saw the pictures on your picasaweb. Nice town!
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