Edinburgh (1)
Edinburgh is a beautiful place. A definately must-go for any travelers to the UK. It has everything - history, art, culture, shopping, food, sceneries and wonderful people speaking in lovely Scottish accents!
Unfortunately for us, the welcome was far from warm. We arrived by train at the very central ly located Edinburgh train station on the evening of Christmas eve. The train station was crazy - people were all getting ready to leave for their Christmas holidays, to return home or to visit some other place. Everything had that "last-minute" feel. After all, the place will "close down" for the next few days - some places even closing until the new year!
We went to get our reserved car from Europcar. Want some advice? Dun ever get your car from them. In spite of having proper reservations made weeks ago, i was told by a most unhelpful staff (his name is Barry) that there is no car for me! He was neither sympathetic nor apologetic. He just basically told me "Tough". Too bad. Yes, we know you have a reservation but sorry, we dun have a car for you! All they had for us is a Wolkswagen Transporter - a huge van without any windows on the side or back! Take it or leave it, we were told.
We had no choice. If we din take it, we'd be stuck in Edinburgh for a few days and that would ruin our plans completely - my travel mates had flight tickets booked out of Edinburgh in a few days time! Under normal circumstances, being "stuck" in Edinburgh is not a bad thing - but we were there on Christmas Eve which was a Friday and everything will be closed for the weekend and Christmas.
We took the van - reluctantly, of course. I've driven vans before but this is the biggest and broadest van i have ever driven. Take a look at it:-
I couldn't rely on the rear-view mirror since there is no rear windscreen! Parking was an absolute nightmare - thank God for patient people at Perth (that's another story).
But in the end, it din turn out that bad. I felt a little safe driving in the highlands cuz i know that the van was tough. It was powerful too - and it ran on diesel which prolly save us quite a bit of money.
So dun ever go to Europcar - altho when i returned the van, the staff was really nice and helpful - and he apologised for Barry's behaviour!
Anyways, Edinburgh. One of its uniqueness is the lay-out of the place. There is the old town and the new town - and u'd know which part of it you are in! And it is conveniently divided by the railway lines.
For the new part of town, there'll be all the nice new buildings and shopping areas. The girls had a nice time doing their post-Christmas sale shopping when we got back!
Here are some pics of the new town:-
There was a carnival-feel like atmosphere as everyone was ready for Christmas. A little ice-skating rink was set up along with a ferris wheel!
The railway lines which divides the city - bright lights of the new town on the left!
View of the new town from the old part.
One of the bridges across the railway lines to take you into the new town.
Unfortunately for us, the welcome was far from warm. We arrived by train at the very central ly located Edinburgh train station on the evening of Christmas eve. The train station was crazy - people were all getting ready to leave for their Christmas holidays, to return home or to visit some other place. Everything had that "last-minute" feel. After all, the place will "close down" for the next few days - some places even closing until the new year!
We went to get our reserved car from Europcar. Want some advice? Dun ever get your car from them. In spite of having proper reservations made weeks ago, i was told by a most unhelpful staff (his name is Barry) that there is no car for me! He was neither sympathetic nor apologetic. He just basically told me "Tough". Too bad. Yes, we know you have a reservation but sorry, we dun have a car for you! All they had for us is a Wolkswagen Transporter - a huge van without any windows on the side or back! Take it or leave it, we were told.
We had no choice. If we din take it, we'd be stuck in Edinburgh for a few days and that would ruin our plans completely - my travel mates had flight tickets booked out of Edinburgh in a few days time! Under normal circumstances, being "stuck" in Edinburgh is not a bad thing - but we were there on Christmas Eve which was a Friday and everything will be closed for the weekend and Christmas.
We took the van - reluctantly, of course. I've driven vans before but this is the biggest and broadest van i have ever driven. Take a look at it:-
I couldn't rely on the rear-view mirror since there is no rear windscreen! Parking was an absolute nightmare - thank God for patient people at Perth (that's another story).
But in the end, it din turn out that bad. I felt a little safe driving in the highlands cuz i know that the van was tough. It was powerful too - and it ran on diesel which prolly save us quite a bit of money.
So dun ever go to Europcar - altho when i returned the van, the staff was really nice and helpful - and he apologised for Barry's behaviour!
Anyways, Edinburgh. One of its uniqueness is the lay-out of the place. There is the old town and the new town - and u'd know which part of it you are in! And it is conveniently divided by the railway lines.
For the new part of town, there'll be all the nice new buildings and shopping areas. The girls had a nice time doing their post-Christmas sale shopping when we got back!
Here are some pics of the new town:-
To be continued...
