Edinburgh (and Stirling)

I promised I was going to be better this semester about keeping you all updated and I’ve already fallen behind (by two weeks or two blog posts, depending on how you want to count it). I make no excuses but instead will tell you a little bit about how my semester is starting…

We are now three weeks in. I’m currently taking 6 classes during the week, most for 4 hours once a week (one was four hours twice a week but now lecture is complete). With that comes at least double the amount of reading as class time, a group project with almost every class (I’m auditing one so while I have to attend class, I’m not graded so I don’t participate in assignments), and an individual assignment with every class. I really like most of my classes so that’s nice but four hours of class is a lot and the amount of work outside the classroom just seems to grow every week.

We did have a Burns dinner in honour of Robert Burns a week or so ago. It’s tradition across Scotland and around the world to celebrate his works. There is a lot of tradition, including an Address to the Haggis, an Immortal Memory (to Burns), a Toast to the Lassies, and a Reply to the Laddies (both the Toast and the Reply are meant to be insulting to that sex), and it’s followed by a ceildh. It was so much fun, dancing and drinking with my closest friends here. I don’t have any pictures of the dancing but here are some from the photo booth after dinner and drinks but before dancing.

MBAs clean up quite nicely…

The next progression is pretty much what happens on a daily basis… Start out smart

and then…

basically

fall apart.

I’m trying some new things this semester as well – I’m serving as a business mentor for an undergraduate project, joined a gym, and am trying to do more in Edinburgh. While the gym and mentoring is going great, I haven’t started to explore Edinburgh as much as I wanted.

I did my first “sight” on Friday, stopping into the National Library of Scotland (similar to the Library of Congress in that it is a reading library rather than a lending library and has a copy of every book printed in the United Kingdom in stock) to see an exhibit on the Jacobite Rising of 1715 (called Game of Crowns). There was a lot of history, a lot of old documents, and a lot of reading (you know it’s a lot when I have to stop halfway through reading every placard). For an exhibit that was only one large room, there were at least 8 displays with 10-15 documents and a note on the display case about each documents place in history. My exploration only took maybe 30 minutes but I gave up reading everything after awhile. I’ve been wanting to go in the library since I arrived and I walk past it everyday so I finally slipped in on my walk home yesterday. My next stop there will be to get a library card and explore the John Murray Archive exhibit.

A bit of the background on the Jacobite Rising of 1715 (it’s a short history lesson so feel free to skip if you don’t care) – England and Scotland has the same ruler from 1603 onward (after Elizabeth I (Tudor dynasty) died childless and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, son, James VI of Scotland, succeeded her as James I of England (starting the Stuart dynasty). While the countries had the same ruler, they were still two separate countries with separate parliaments. (If you remember your British History, it goes something briefly like this – James I, Charles I (beheaded by Oliver Cromwell’s government), Cromwell (not a king), Charles II (Happy Kind Charles – restored as monarch), James II – who was then overthrown when William of Orange and his wife Mary were invited to invade and take over).That caused some issues – mainly that many people thought James II of England (aka James VII of Scotland) was the rightful sovereign. For the next several decades, there were uprisings under the name Jacobite (Jacob is the Latin for James so if you supported James VII as king, you were a Jacobite). The first uprising was in 1708 and the last in 1745 (led by Bonnie Prince Charlie). The first came after the Act of Union, uniting Scotland and England into one country (aka the United Kingdom), which dissolved Scotland Parliament and put full power in London for the country. By the last rising, Scotland was becoming more integrated in the United Kingdom and the Stuarts no longer had the absolute support of Scotland. 

Much to my surprise, my trip to Stirling gave me a lot of insight into the last of the Stuart rulers in Scotland. Stirling is a quick hour train ride from Edinburgh and has a castle that is almost as famous. A quick step out of the train station, the thought that entered my head was “It’s like a little version of Edinburgh” but much more Scottish. Stirling played a huge rule in Scottish history (William Wallace won the Battle of the Bridge in Stirling, stopping the English army, the Stuart family lived and was baptised at Stirling Castle) and it’s worth a day trip (but maybe no longer than that, particularly in the winter when most of the tourist attractions have limited hours or are closed).

Church of the Holy Rude – James Vi of Scotland was crowed and John Knox preached

Stirling Castle – the bright building is the Great Hall, which has been restored to what it would have looked like when it was built

The snow capped hills (or mountains) from Stirling

Part of Mar’s Walk, what was to be the home of one of the regents, now only the facade remainds

Across the cemetery to Holy Rude (whose name comes from the same root as Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh)

The gate

The outer courtyear

The Palace and the Great Hall from on the outer defences

The oldest remaining part of the castle – the North Gate, pretty much a back door.

The Chapel – James VI tore down the chapel in which he was baptised and built this for his son Henry’s baptism. It was completed in under a year

The fresco around the ceiling was painted for Charles II’s visit to Scotland

The Chaprel

In the Great Hall at Stirling currently resides the Tapestry of Scotland, detailing the history of Scotland from the Ice Age to present.

A favourite panel – did you know that Scotland had four major centres of learning before 1600 (St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh), while England only had two (Oxford, Cambridge)? The next university in Scotland wasn’t founded until 1964.

This panel discussed the plan for New Town and princes street. My street (where I live) is the first named street from the left. HOW COOL!

The palace at Stirling has been done to reflect how it would’ve looked during the time of James V (who had it built but died before completion) and while Mary, Queen of Scots, was a child.

Very Disney-esque but the Great Kitchens have been “redone” to show up food would’ve been prepared during the time of James VI

Argyll’s Lodging – one of the best examples of a 17th century “townhouse” The Earl of Argyll was tried and convicted of treason, managed to escape Edinburgh Castle once by swapping clothes with a Page, was then captured again, returned to Edinburgh Castle, and chained to the wall until his execution.

Stirling Bridge today. Not the exact bridge that William Wallace won the battle from but similar.

The castle from below

 

Hopefully I’ll be doing more both in Edinburgh and around Edinburgh. I recently purchased a Historic Scotland membership so the list of places I want to see in Scotland is now a whole lot bigger. Additionally, I WILL get my posts about Ireland (and my quick weekend in Malaga) up in the next two weeks. That’s a promise.