England is both very old and very modern. Today we got up and made our way to Kings Cross station to get the train to Edinburgh. As I write this we are on the train – there is a table and power at our seat for the laptop, and free wi-fi courtesy of the Great Northeast Railway. We also had a free-range egg & cress sandwich with a fair-trade chocolate bar for desert. Somehow it all makes the public transport systems in our own country seem a bit primitive.
Taking photos from the train is tricky since the windows aren’t terribly clean and we’re likely traveling somewhere near 70mph. Despite the bad photos, there have been plenty of interesting things to see:
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Many sheep, cattle, horses and some donkeys
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More than one castle on hills in the distance
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Arsenal’s home stadium, and Newcastle United’s training grounds (no one was practicing when we went by)
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Several nuclear power plants
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A Ferris wheel in York
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A lot of large round bundles of hay
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Several golf courses
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A few people fishing
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Many different old churches, villages, and country farms. We imagine that most of the buildings we’ve seen have been there since before our country was settled.
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The coast! The last leg of our journey between Newcastle and Edinburgh is along the east coast of England
Mary even noticed that the Coke here uses sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup – you’d be surprised how good it tastes.
Here are a few photos from the train:
After we arrived we started to explore Edinburgh and met up with Graeme for a pint...
Tomorrow we hope to see more of the city and prepare for Dan to arrive on Friday.