Edinburgh is world famous for a bunch of things: the Fringe Festival, terrible weather, more castles per square mile than anywhere else in the world (…probably), David Hume, terrible weather, Hogmanay, the Edinburgh Tattoo, Robbie Burns, and terrible weather.
Aside from the obvious listed above, and a few drunken anecdotes from friends, I didn’t really know much about the place before moving here from the Edinburgh of the South: Dunedin, New Zealand. Over the last six months I have spent settling here in the Edinburgh of the North I have realized just how different this place is to my old university town. Yes Dunedin was settled by Scots and a bunch of the streets have the same name, but the similarities pretty much end there.
First of all, let me get this out of the way: the weather here is total bollucks. If you ever come here, bring something warm and waterproof. I cannot stress this enough. Edinburgh isn’t the coldest place in the world, but be prepared for some utterly miserable weather. Rain, sleet and snow are standard fair throughout the depths of the winter months, and are usually accompanied by a vicious arctic gale that’ll whip your kilt off. Also, don’t bother with an umbrella; those things are good for about 10 seconds over here. Actually, a balaclava and a snowsuit is probably the way to go. The silver lining in all this is that it really does make you appreciate the 5-10% of the time when the weather is actually half decent.
Gripes about the weather aside, Edinburgh really is a pretty sweet place for a student to live, not least of all because of the abundance of pubs, bars and clubs all eager to get their hands on whatever student loan you have left after paying your course fees for the year. Around the Old Town (the main university area) in particular you can find a diverse mix of delightfully seedy old-man pubs, try-hard bars full of freshers, and boho-chic establishments full of patrons that have been at university for way too long. And if drinking indoors gets too much for you (and you don’t mind being outside in the cold), then Edinburgh has an abundance of outdoor festivals, including the carnage of the Hogmanay Street Party. On this unique occasion you can celebrate the New Year in true scottish style: crammed into Princes street with 10,000 other drunken revelers.
As far as local cuisine goes, there are two varieties: deep fried, and everything else. For every pub in this city, there is a ‘chippie’ which will sell you a wide range of amorphous deep fried entities. Some local favourites included deep fried pizza, haggis, and my own personal favourite, deep fried Mars Bars (which has a calorie content equivalent to a roast dinner but fits right in the palm of your hand). And no matter what you say it all comes drowning in vinegar and brown sauce. A couple of weeks on this diet and you’ll probably knock a good decade or so off your life expectancy.
Fortunately, the traffic and road layout here in Edinburgh is rubbish, meaning that you will (by necessity) be able to walk off all those pints and pies. The scenery of the place does make for a pleasant stroll though. Aside from the main drags of the Royal Mile and Princes St, Edinburgh contains an interconnected 3D lattice of back alleys, staircases and closes that reveal a city bursting at the seems with outrageously old school architecture (remember, I’m from New Zealand, where anything built over 50 years ago is considered a historical monument). Seriously though, while the main touristy landmarks are well worth the visit, you can get a much deeper feel for the place for free by simply walking up, down, and around the streets. To be perfectly honest I haven’t even visited Edinburgh Castle yet, I’m waiting for my parents to come visit me so they can pay my entrance fee.
(Part of the latest edition of Carnival of Cities hosted by GrrlScientist)
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