Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, the capital of the oil-rich nation of Scotland and seat of The Rt Hon First Minister Nicola “Most-Dangerous-Woman-in-Britain” Surgeon.

Pictured above was the Edinburgh Castle.

Many people opine that Edin is the prettiest city in the UK. It wasn’t very good weather when I went, so the overall tone of the city with such an atmosphere wasn’t too appealing to me, but it was pretty indeed. It felt ancient while at the same time managed to be pretty busy.

The town was old and thus the whole thing was practically centred around the…centre. The centre being Hollywood Holywood and the castle. Basically,  to navigate you only really need to know whether you’re up or down hill.

Also, they did a mean fish and chips.

The Scottish Borders/Jedburgh, UK

The ceremonial, historic English-Scottish border not in use since the passing of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth I, and made relevant again after the election of former first minister The Rt Hon Alex Salmon.

Whilst I’ve only lived in England, I do am entitled to wearing two different Scottish tartans due to my university connections – Kellogg College is the only Oxford college to have a registered tartan, and Aberdeen University gifted one to Hong Kong University as a centennial gift.

The real-life wall that’s inspired The Wall in the Game of Thrones. Not nearly as tall, but as it turns out (*spoilers*), just as useless.

Jedburgh. Whilst the convent was quite impressive-looking (and about as well-maintained as the Acropolis was in Athens), the thing that stood out to me here was a coin-operated machine asking people to “vote” for either Her Majesty The Queen Marie of Scots, Queen Dowager of France (“Mary, Queen of Scots”) or Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth of England and Ireland (“The Virgin Queen”). Or rather…Do you think Marie’s full title was rather “The Queen of Scots, The Queen of England, The Queen Dowager of France, The Lord of Ireland” and Liz I “The Bastard, former princess”.