F... is for Forth Bridge

This is a strange post. I haven't been to see the Forth bridge, but it's been on my mind. Especially, I can spot it every time from M8 (that links Edinburgh and Glasgow). And funny thing is, I'm going to see it on Monday, I think it looks gorgeous! It goes over the Firth of Forth and links to Fife (you could literally pick out an F word out of those!).
I'm leaving you with a picture of the view of the Firth from Edinburgh Castle, and another of the bridge itself.
Once I'm back on Monday from my three day trip, I will update this post with one of my pictures :)

(Source: Boo Hewerdine's Blog Thing)

Iconic and marvellous, isn't it?
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Update: The Forth Bridge is so magnificent that I have no idea why anyone would rave or keep going on about the Tower Bridge in London. I have been there as well, and it isn’t half as impressive as this! Cantilever bridges are wayyy cooler. Anyway, this massive maroon beast is huge and beautiful. If you can, do go.

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability, Edinburgh.

E... is for Edinburgh!

When I got here, I came via London. I had a nightmarish time at Heathrow, didn't have to get out of the airport, and flew on to here. I had no internet, no phone connection. I had a piece of paper with an address on what was going to be my flat. I took a cab.
It was sunny and windy. It was unreal. It was poetry in motion. It was so gorgeous, like nothing I'd seen before. I started Uni, started living my foreign life, got along brilliantly with my lovely foreign flatmates, and stopped converting currency in my head!
I  love this city to bits, love its people, its cobbled streets, its slow moving traffic, architecture, feel. I love the terrible weather, the occasional gorgeous sunshine. If I had my way, I would definitely never leave, or realistically, not leave for a very very long time. Some photos, all from Facebook...

Skyline

Hogmanay 2012 - 13

Old College, Uni of Edinburgh

McEwan Hall, this is where I'll graduate

From Wikipedia "Edinburgh is the world's first UNESCO City of Literature and the city's Old Town and New Town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and regularly polls as one of the best places to live, having won more than 12 UK Best City Awards in 8 years to 2013. Attracting over one million overseas visitors a year, Edinburgh is the second most popular tourist destination in the UK and was voted European Destination of the Year at the World Travel Awards 2012."
I've written some more about my experiences here and here.

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability.

D... is for Disability

I've travelled a lot around India, and if you have any idea of India, then you'll believe me when I say, very little surprises me. One of the most stark things that stared me in the face when I came to Scotland was, disability. So many people, both young and old, rich and poor, native and foreign origin, seemed to be disabled. What on earth was going on? And why? I wondered for a few weeks... I thought on the lines of genetic factors, social and environmental factors, and various other things before the answer hit me.
It wasn't at all that more people were disabled here; it was that I ran into more disabled people, because they were out and about. They were in buses, on the streets, in the supermarkets, at cafes. They were in castles and cathedrals, shops and cinemas, and they were leading normal lives. This realisation was a harsh one... for in India, the disabled are hidden away and cloistered, most building still don't have access for disabled people...
I like that the Government here helps people. It is kind. It is on the rest of us.
I took this picture on a bus, by stealth, because he looked like a pukka Scot, had quite a fiesty personality :)
and was on a motorised wheelchair (which went vroom vroom!). He nodded off to sleep, the darling man...

Update: I have since found out that this is Tom Gilzean, do read about him here. What a man!

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond.

C... is for Cramond!

Cramond is a beach. It is located about a half hour's bus ride from Edinburgh towards the north-west, where the River Almond enters the Firth of Forth. I went to Cramond during winter break, it was a very cold day. The bus dropped us off at a place which seemed like the end of the world, no trees, just a few shrubs, a few sheep on the hill slopes, and wind. Oh wind... it was blowing and whistling and generally creating a ruckus.
The seaside is beautiful, not a traditional sandy beach, but more of a driveway. People jogging, walking their dogs, kids playing, the usual.

There's an island a little way off into the sea called Cramond island. Wiki tells me that it's a mile into the sea. The really cool thing is that it is connected to the mainland by a really narrow, ledge-like path that gets exposed at low tide. You can walk into the sea! I haven't been there, we didn't know about it and by the time we were there the tide was up and there was no sign of a path :P

Someday, for sure, must go back.

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick.

B... is for Berwick!

Berwick, or North Berwick, is a tiny little town about an hour's drive northwards from Edinburgh. I've been here twice. Both long and lovely stories. Take 1, V's friend lived in Edinburgh a couple of years ago and came up to spend a week in winter 2012 from Birmingham. His ex-landlady, who must be between 75 and 80, drove the three of us upto Tantallon Castle on 31st December. On the way back, we stopped in Berwick at her friends'. A group of 5 - 6 people who fed us cakes, biscuits, cheeses, and lots of tea just sat around in a warm room on a cold night and talked, about various things. It was the last evening of 2012 and it was so random, yet so beautiful.

 Take two: Su's parents, 5 days later, drove us to a beach nearby... and obviously, we headed to Berwick again after a day of picnic and hiking. This time, it was a ball! We went to Daffodil Cafe, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is owned and run by a slightly eccentric Greek and he makes the most delicious blueberry scones, when he has fresh berries and he feels like making them! They are usually announced by the clanging of plates, and it's a small and packed cafe, so that's pretty darn noisy. And I'm sure they are what heaven must smell like!

Anyway, my memories of North Berwick, unlike Harold Fry's, are far from depressing. It is a quaint town with some lovely beaches and you all should visit!
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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, A.

A is for Aye!

Oh yes, that's the word all Scots use. Okay, a bit of background. I come from India, in particular, Bengal. Now, Bengal has had a very heavy British influence, and so, as compared to the rest of India, people in Bengal know wayyyy more about British people, their ways and customs and things. Now when you move to a different country for the first time in your life, you hear things about it, what it's like, what the people, the country, the weather is like, what they sound like, and such other things. I did too.
And then, when I got to Scotland, I was amazed! Everything seemed to match with what I'd heard, except for the people. They were friendly, and laughed loudly, helpful, very very enthusiastic and welcoming, absolutely adorable, and highly unlike what I'd assumed they would be like, quiet and reserved. I asked for directions, 'Aye' they'd say, and proceed to walk me to where I needed to go. 'I didn't think you people here were like this!' 'Aye, they'd say, we know! That's what the English are like!'
Scotland, good people, is very very different from England. People are warm, unlike the weather, which never is. They are also slow, in a good way, in the way they get to know someone, in how they drive, in how they repeat themselves because their accent is so different, but not how they drink ;)
Aye, they say to everything :D

The first time I was lost, in Bonnyrigg. The bus guy gave me a guided tour on

the way back to my place about 5 miles away, and didn't charge me a ticket

A to Z 2013

So much has changed in my life in the last 6 - 7 months. If you know me from my social network or from my BookMark blog, then you know that I came to Edinburgh for my Masters, fell in love with the country, have been studying a lot and travelling a bit. So I've been busy overall.
I did the Challenge thing last year, when I was busy working and mailing my applications to the UK, life was busy then too, but I enjoyed having a constant for a month going on here. So I decided to do it this year as well. Just for the heck of it. And also, to find new people to read :)
This year's theme is, of course, Scotland. It is more beautiful, more quirky, more quaint, and far more fantastic than I expected it to be. So, if you are going to stop by... this is going to be a good April.

Me on Princes Street, with the Christmas time ferris wheel

and the Scott monument and Balmoral Hotel clock tower in the backdrop