Edinburgh Scotland

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Edinburgh Scotland – a place that I’ve actually visited a couple of times back in the mid-1980s while I was living in England. My family visited me from stateside, and we went on a week-long coach tour out of London that circled much of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, and Wales. I forget which direction it went (clockwise or counter-clockwise). My Dad took all of the pictures of the experience, and those pictures are (hopefully) located in an album or shoebox somewhere in North Texas today. Eventually they may be uncovered, and me and my brother will have fun reminiscing on that trip again – from back when we were 20 and 12 respectively.

I also visited Edinburgh with friends on a road-trip. We took some great road-trips back then !

Edinburgh Scotland stands-out for me as the northern-most point I’ve ever set foot on in my life. It straddles the 56TH parallel north. For 2 years (1985-1987) I lived just below the 52ND parallel north in Gloucestershire England. Other than those 2 years I’ve never ventured too far above the 43RD parallel (Milwaukee, Niagara Falls, and Syracuse – all future ideas for #TravelThursday).

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, but it’s not the largest city of Scotland. (That’s Glasgow.) Both cities include over a half-million residents. They are the two population centers of the “Central Belt” of Scotland near both coasts – about 45 miles away from each other along the M8.

Scotland’s population is near 5.5 million, and more than half of the residents live in Glasgow, Edinburgh, or near or in-between the two cities.

On a future trip back to the United Kingdom – it won’t be complete without a visit to both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

One of the greatest music acts to come out of Edinburgh Scotland are none other than The Bay City Rollers. They were one of the hottest teeny-bopper acts of the 1970s – not just in Scotland and the United Kingdom, but all around the world. Here in the U.S. they scored with 8 hits at Top 40 radio – including their biggest of them all – “Saturday Night” – the first # 1 smash of 1976. It remains in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles. It’s one of my favorite songs of all-time !

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)