Edinburgh, Scotland - 03/28/17

Flag of Scotland

Our trip continues in Scotland, here we will explore three major cities in the country and then leave for swim across the ocean- a new land.

We arrive directly in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh (pronounced without the the 'gh'), the second most populous city in the country. Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region had 1,339,380 inhabitants in 2014 while the city of Edinburg had 464.990.
Additionally, the city is very economically successful, having the strongest economy outside London and the highest percentage of professionals in the UK. Today it's economy is based in Financial Services, scientific research, higher education and tourism.
Unemployment is low, at 3.6%. The city is also the second most visited city in the United Kingdom, after London.

Old Town and New Town

Much to our surprise, we discovered that Edinburgh is divided in two towns, Old Town and New Town. While Old Town maintains the original character of the early residences in the city, Tenements, which are multi-occupancy buildings, New Town was began in 1766 with a new view, and as a solution to the overcrowding in the city, implementing ordered grids and better city planning.

Most of the visitors come for the Festivals which take place annually in the city, attracting over 4.4 mi people and generating a high profit for the city's economy.

Some of the festivals are; Edinburgh International Festival, Hogmanay, Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Edinburgh International Book Festival. 

Interesting Facts:

• Rockstar North, Game Developer, is based in Edinburg.

• Edinburgh Airport is Scotland's biggest and busiest airport, serving as a gateway to the country. Edinburgh Waverley Station is the second-busiest railway station in Scotland, after Glasgow, and UK's second biggest in number of platforms.

• Edinburgh Zoo was the first zoo in the world to house and to breed penguins. It is also the only zoo in England to house koalas and giant pandas. 

• Queen Elizabeth spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh at the beginning of each summer, where she carries out a range of official agreements and cerimonies. 

Notable People born in Edinburg:

• Creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in Edinburg (1859-1930)

• James Clerk Maxwell, founder of the modern theory of electromagnetism, was born in Edinburg and educated at Edinburgh Academy and University.

• Telephone Pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), was born in Edinburg.

• James Braidwood (1800–1861), founder of firefighting, was born in Edinburgh.

Time to show our hidden appreciation for Celtic music and the uplifting sound of Bagpipes, to remember that they may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom! We arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland within 2 days.

Just as we arrived at the city, our eyes caught an enormous structure standing out in between all the buildings, we followed the path towards it in awe, admiring the city's setting.

We arrive at Edinburgh Castle, as we discovered, it was built on top of a 700 million year old extinct volcano called Castle Rock. It was the most attacked castle in the world, confirming our preconceptions about Scotland in the middle ages. The castle also has a Memorial Museum since 1927, in honor of the Scottish soldiers, servers, fighters of the two World Wars and more recent conflicts. The memorial has over 200.000 names. 

The castle dates from the 12th century, and has been used as royal residence for many generations, though there is evidence that Castle rock has been inhabited for at least 2865 years.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Festival, which is a performance military parade in large scale and complexity, happens in the castle during the month of August, at the same time as Fringe Festival, the world's largest arts festival, and attracts over 217.000 people annually. The first official MilitaryTattoo was held in 1950.

As we were heading to the castle we heard a loud bang, but weren't sure of what it was, as time went by we forgot about it. Now that we are here in the castle we learned about the One O'clock Gun, which is the firing of a cannon gun from the castle that is used as a time signal in the city. 

We wonder how many rounds have been fired already and where they are ending up...

Our culture visits begin in Surgeons Hall, a medical museum opened in 1832.
Surgeon Hall is focused in Anatomy, pathology and surgery, displaying many specimens and surgical instruments and equipment, extremely helpful for trainees. But in the current time, the museum is emphasizing in making the collections more interesting for the lay public.
The museum has over 6 distinct collections, and is connected to many important people such as Conan Doyle, and occasionally makes special exhibitions such as: breast cancer care, and exhibitions dedicated to specific compounds and physicians.
We saw three displays there, in one we could learn plenty about diseases and it seemed that sexually transmitted diseases were the focus, we had close contact to and completed our understanding of the HIV virus in the Pathology museum. Then we learned more about the history of Surgery itself on the History of Surgery Museum and finally we learned about the techniques and technologies used in surgery, saw artefacts, engravings, models and paintings with dental themes in the Techniques and technologies and dental collection

Our next next cultural visit will be the Museum of Childhood, the first museum of it's kind.



We came hoping to remember our childhoods and maybe bring some nostalgia. Turns out most of us are still living their childhoods.
We discovered an immense collection of toys of many generations, rides such as bicycles and tricycles, illustrations of childplay, miniature trains and railways, costumes and all kinds of toy vehicles, but we left without the feeling of nostalgia.

Less than a mile away is Dynamic Earth, an interactive educational experience with very elaborate exhibitions teaching about the entire history of planet Earth.
Just as we get in we get lost in the time travel experience, standing for literally hours in awe, watching as each step takes place to form the planet, then we proceeded to the next experiences, each one polished and elaborate, with real demonstrations of glaciers and volcanoes, real rain, demonstrations of life on earth including mechatronik animals and making science interesting in each topic, and much more (like a 360° dome planetarium, for instance).
After all, it was the child-like enthusiasm and excitement brought by such a passionate exhibition and our engagement with the topic that brought us nostalgia and memories of our childhoods. This is why we are doing this! - The party gains a buff to constitution



We walked 5 miles feeling the planet and noticing the small things, reaching Edinburgh Zoo without even noticing.
Here we continue our discovery of the diversity of live on earth and the evolution of all things. Also thinking of how selfish we human beings are, to lock away these beings, sometimes only for our own amusement, for one can't own another's life. But at the same time we recognize the importance of research and the respect most museums have for the animals.
Edinburgh Zoo is an open museum, as in, most of the animals are free to roam a given area, the pathways in said areas are the way to observe the animals in their habitat. The Zoo is 82 acres in size (33 m²/0.12² mi), 104 years old and is currently Edinburgh's second most popular paid attraction, after the Castle.
Though many controversies arose about the museum in these 104 years, it remains a decent housing, conducting behavioral research and breeding programmes for sustainability and maintaining a substantial and rare number of animals of all kinds, also having the greatest tree collection in the area.

Our new mindset drove us to a nearby Islamic centre, Edinburgh Central Mosque, instead of the conventional church or cathedral visit, in this case St Giles' Cathedral.

Prior the construction of the mosque there was no temple large enough to fulfill the needs of the Muslims in the city center. The project was funded by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia who donated of 90% of the total cost and opened by his son, Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd, the patron of the project, on July 1998.

The mosque has an outdoor restaurant, a library and separate wudu rooms for males and females, besides the main prayer hall and a multi-purpose hall.

The Islam Festival is held here during the entire month of August in the multi-purpose hall. The mosque's restaurant has been awarded the Best Festival Food in Edinburgh by the 'The Scotsman' newspaper in 2007.

There are many nationalities and religions in this group, we will explore that further.



Edinburgh is the greenest city in the UK, followed by Glasgow, also in Scotland. By chance, we walked through Meadows park on our way to Livingston, being satisfied with what Edinburgh has to offer, certainly an unforgettable experience.
The Meadows Park is a large public park consisted mostly of open grasslands and tree-lined paths, it also has many facilities and support many activities such as tennis, croquet and golf and has wheelchair access.
We couldn't find any bagpipe players around, so we quickly left, without showing our appreciation for Scottish music.
Also no one seems to know the real size of the park, but our running experience says it is around 3-5 km²/  1.9 square miles, pretty big. 

Our next stop is the 55 year old town Livingston.