Edinburgh

We stayed in Edinburgh for two days to conclude our Scotland adventure. Hannah spent a semester in Edinburgh in her spritely college days and she remembers it fondly. As we wandered through the city, Hannah would point out various places and reminisce. Here was the restaurant where she would gather with friends to celebrate special occasions (The Outsider), here was the local café they frequented between classes (Peter's Yard), this was the park she walked through to get home (The Meadows), and there is the shitty hostel she stayed in when she arrived (less interesting!). 

Edinburgh was fun. We liked it more than Glasgow. Edinburgh had more to see (more ancient castles, museums and monuments) and the city was denser and more lively. Glasgow just felt more utilitarian. 

Hannah - of course - led me to the far-flung corners of the city in an effort to find the newest and best food, including marching me straight out of Edinburgh and into the neighboring city of Leith. We ate well at The Little Chartroom and The Palmerston.

We enjoyed the Scottish National Gallery, which had a lovely collection of Scottish and European paintings but should not to be confused with the nearby National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait Gallery (also lovely, but basically just portraits of Scottish notables). 

We visited the Holyrood Palace, the royal residence in Edinburgh and I went to Edinburgh castle (Hannah had already been), which was formerly a royal residence but ceased to be one when it's medieval fortifications became less useful (it was apparently a bit too drafty up on the hill for the royals). Holyrood is so named because apparently King David saw a stag in the woods with a cross between its antlers (ruid or rude being Scots for cross). An abbey was built on the location and later a royal residence. Edinburgh castle existed as a fortification in various forms for over a thousand years at its present hilltop location (an ancient and - supposedly - dormant volcano) overlooking the city. In approximately the 1400s, the "black dinner" occurred here, which partly inspired the infamous red wedding from Game of Thrones.    

The Gumball 3000 was in town while we were visiting. This is a conspicuous consumption extravaganza that gathers supercars for a 3,000 mile globetrotting journey. As a car buff, I appreciated the many, many Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Aston Martins, etc. I especially enjoyed seeing a Bugatti Chiron Sport, of which there was only one participating. Bugatti Chirons are rare: There were only 500 made, including about half a dozen variants. They made only 60 of this Sport variant, each selling for about $3.3 million. For day-to-day driving, Chirons are electronically limited to 236 miles per hour. But, if you insert a special second key and activate "Top Speed Mode", the car will go through a battery of tests to ensure it is ready for you to do something really stupid. Assuming it is happy with the test results, it will lower the ride height and the rear wing to reduce drag and allow you to attempt to reach 261MPH, where it will cut you off again. Problem is, production tires today aren't capable of handling the stresses of speeds much in excess of that (shucks!). Apparently, the company's test driver has achieved speeds of over 300 miles per hour in a variant named (aptly) the "Super Sport 300+" though the other variants are also said to be capable of exceeding 300. Airplanes still go faster.