Elegant Edinburgh (3)

To read before: Part 2

Day 4 (16 December 2014)

After 2 days fully exploring the city center, we decided to see another part of Edinburgh. We went to coastal area of this city where there lay “Britannia” royal yacht, a vessel that used to sail around the world by British royal family. My classmate, Lukas from Germany, joined Lely and I for this trip. We met at city center and went together by bus to the Ocean Terminal, a beach-side shopping mall and an entrance to Britannia.

Britannia, apparently was not a huge ship I imagined as Titanic-look like. However, still it looks majestic. It hasn’t been sailing anymore since 1997, and now permanently moored at Edinburgh’s coast, connected to Ocean Terminal. It is now a kind of Royal Museum that become one of the most popular tourist attraction at Edinburgh. An adult ticket to enter Britannia was priced £12.75, but we got student’s discount to be £11.50 (don’t forget to bring your student ID!).

Before entering the yacht we were equipped with a kind of walkie-talkie that contained audio explanation of Britannia’s each room. The audio was available in several languages (even Thai) but not Bahasa Indonesia 🙁 so we chose English instead.

There were twenty-something rooms inside the 3-levels deck. We went through almost all parts of the yacht, from the forecastle, car garage, royal family’s bedroom, dining room, bar, crew’s room, even the laundry and mini-hospital. All rooms were carefully designed as it was used before. You really can sense the feeling of ‘royal heritage’ here. Well I’m not that into British Royal family things, but if you’re fan of them (like Lely), you will be really satisfied by this yacht original exhibition. You can imagine how Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince William and Harry, and other royal family members spend the past days sailing on this yacht.

 

It’s a coincidence that I went there right on my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. I took this chance by making a short congratulation video in front of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s honeymoon suite (well I don’t know if it’s good choice considering what happened to their marriage–but anyway :p).

 

 

After exploring Britannia, we walked through Ocean Terminal and try to find something to eat. However, we ended up going back to city center and eat at Yokoco again^^” I felt a bit regret to forget visiting Edinburgh Royal Garden. It was actually near Ocean Terminal, however since the sky is getting darker (and I was starving) we decide to rush back to the city.

I spent the last night in hostel by sitting in the lounge, having some conversation with Alex, a French guy who’d been my roommate along with Sharon. Oh, I also unexpectedly met an Indonesian family in this hostel the morning before (mom, dad, and son). They had holiday while attending their son’s graduation from Queen’s Mary College at London. I was so surprised (and happy) to meet them. We were walking together to the city center but I forgot to ask their contact :/

Day 5 (17 December 2014)

It was a packing day! Lely and I decided to get the most of our last day by taking pictures of some beautiful objects around the city. We will continue our trip to London by train at 11 am. It’s sooo sad to leave Edinburgh 🙁 I have fallen in love to the city. I promise will go back again by the next summer (well I really hope so!)

To be continued in London (Part 1).