The Journey to Edinburgh

One of the best way to travel in UK are the trains. The initial fear of traveling alone, which holds me back for a week at a new terrain was kicked out with this first journey. Now I am almost hopping in and out of the trains to travel in and around Glasgow. 

It is an hour of travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Got into a train with a return ticket that costed 13 pounds and enjoyed the changing landscape through the windows till I reached the Edinburgh Waverley Station.

The stations are architecturally amazing with the structures, columns and glass panes and roofs. 

Easy access from the heart of the city

We can enjoy the beauty of the city from inside the station. 

Yey!!

Art is almost everywhere. This has some meaning. I will never get it :)

So clean and tidy. Operated by a private firm, the standards are never compromised.

Airport styled status boards. Efficient way to find out the next train with ease. No confusions.

Back at the Queens Street station Glasgow.

Why To Visit Edinburgh?

To be frank, I didn't see 90% of Glasgow yet. But Edinburgh travel happened due to couple of reasons.

First, Glasgow is a fashion center. The city and the crowd is not something that I enjoy in my travel. I like the places which are serene and ambient. Edinburgh surely matches this like.

Second, the old charm city plus the castles and the narrow stone paved alleys which makes it a historically significant world heritage destination.

These two reasons were enough for me to hop on the Scotrail and an hour of travel slipped me to the beautiful terrain of Edinburgh. Awesome.

Few interesting facts about Edinburgh below:

• Mons Meg: The Edinburgh castle has this super power canon which fired the canon balls weighing close to 200kg to almost 4km (Wow!) Just imagine the moment the canon is fired. That guy will be dead probably due to the sound waves around :)
• Walking back from the castle I noticed a Greece architecture styled structure on the top of the hill. It was the The National Monument on Calton Hill, which is also called the Edinburgh’s Shame. Because this high profile construction got stalled due to fund issues. 
• Nicolson's Cafe where JK Rowling penned Harry Potter which is owned by her brother in law. I had a pen and a paper with me too :P
• Britannica Encyclopedia is born at Edinburgh
• Edinburgh castle is seated on a dormant volcano. Oh yes, its dormant and that's why I could click a picture :)
• Royal Mile the straight path from the castle to Holyroodhouse palace. I photographed the entire path throughout.
• August is the time of Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the worlds BIGGEST art festival. Not much relevant for me anyway :)

The places visited in Edinburgh. 

• Arthur's Seat
• Edinburgh Castle
• Edinburgh Old Town
• National Museum of Scotland
• Camera Obscura and Wold of Illusions
• Calton Hill
• Palace of Holyroodhouse
• Royal Mile
• Edinburgh New Town
• Princess Street 
• And a whole lot of walking up and down the beautiful streets.

The magnificent Edinburgh Castle. View from the street. 

This is what I could cover in a day. Pictures and posts to follow. 

Can't leave this post without saying that Edinburgh is a must visit place in Scotland.

Glasgow Necropolis Vlog

Short video I took while visiting the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. Some photos from the visit, you can view by clicking here.

Video - World Piping Championship 2015

Time Lapses are recommended to be recorded on a tripod. I didnt have one, so had to hold the camera for minutes to get the initial time lapse from the event. I could have stabilized the visual, but it will kill the entire clarity. So keeping it as it was recorded. Enjoy!

World Piping Championship 2015

I did prepare to go and see this event from the moment I heard about it from the colleagues. Everything at this place was awesome except the entry ticket for 16 pounds (that's too costly) and it became worse when the security blocked me from clicking the photos. 

I was kind of frustrated but then noticed that several visitors were clicking pics around. Then I asked another security at the event about clicking the photos and he agreed to it. Weird! 

Anyway that was enough for me to get started. 

A little history about this event before we dive into some pictures.

The World Pipe Band Championships is a pipe band competition currently held in Glasgow, Scotland every August. The event has been operating regularly since 1930, when the Scottish Pipe Band Association (today known as the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association) was formed. For competitive bands, the title of World Champion is highly coveted, and this event is seen as the culmination of a year's worth of preparation, rehearsal and practice. This makes it a tough competition.

Until 2013, the entirety of the World Championships has taken place on one day in August, the current venue being Glasgow Green (which is a minute walk from my apartment).Typically several hundred bands attend, traveling from all over the world. And the entire place was crowded with bands and people.

Okay. That's enough.

The venue was awesome and the climate was wonderful. I walked around and enjoyed the whole show that they presented. 

The bands has to perform several rounds to reach the final. This is one of such qualification rounds that was happening when I reached the venue.

The band is so synced and disciplined that almost entire team sticks to pre-defined plan for any kind of movement until they move out from the competition ground. All the bands will have a set of bagpipers and drummers, the core part.

Drummers of the team towards the end of the formation.

Scotland is all about food and drinks. Behind the shop is People's Palace.

Practice session going on before the real fight.

The venue had other events too. Like this one, heavy weight championship. Jaw dropping competitions. Wooh!

He just threw a 15kg stone to the thin air. 

I loved it when the sun was out and froze to death while the clouds hid it.

The Scottish dance competition that was held as a part of the event. Skilled students. Totally enjoyed the show.