jtoews – ToewsTravels

edinburgh!

we went to edinburgh, scotland this summer! it was beatrix’s first country outside the united states and canada, and she really loved it! traveling with a young baby definitely changed our pace, but it was really nice to have a change of scenery after a number of months at home. we learned that edinburgh has a rich medical history on a very cool walking tour of some of the city’s medicine related sites, which was a birthday gift to me from ann! we also had a very nice afternoon tea at the bonham hotel, where we stayed for one night, and even saw a celebrity there. the other nights we stayed in some dorms at the university of edinburgh, and spent some good time relaxing on the “meadows,” beneath which is a burial ground of tens of thousands of the city’s residents who died during the bubonic plague. mostly we just walked around the city, which was a lot of fun!

beatrix in her baller bassinet en route to edinburgh, scotland

beatrix in the bonham hotel, edinburgh, scotland

st. giles cathedral, edinburgh, scotland

national museum of scotland, edinburgh

beatrix and i spent some time at the sprawling national museum of scotland in edinburgh. there is a great view of the city from the open air rooftop.

the national museum of scotland, edinburgh

beatrix at the national museum of scotland, edinburgh

view from the rooftop of the national museum of scotland, edinburgh

“the scotch whisky experience,” edinburgh

scotland is known for its whisky, and i enjoyed the “scotch whisky experience” in edinburgh. it starts as a ride in which you sit in a large replica of a whisky barrel on a moving track, during which the production stages of whisky are explained. they then take you on a virtual flyover tour of the 5 distinct whisky-producing regions of scotland, and what makes the whisky from these regions unique. there is then a tasting of the different varieties of scotch (my favorite are the peatiest), in a room surrounded by glass cabinets containing the world’s largest collection of scotch whisky.

“the scotch whisky experience,” edinburgh, scotland

superlatives included world’s smallest bottles of scotch whisky, “the scotch whisky experience,” edinburgh, scotland

tasting, “the scotch whisky experience,” edinburgh, scotland

medical walking tour of edinburgh

mcewan hall, university of edinburgh, edinburgh, scotland

surgeon hall museums, edinburgh, scotland

ann gifted me a privately guided walking tour of edinburgh for my birthday! there is an outsized history of medicine and medical discoveries in edinburgh, and it was very fascinating. the tour began at the greyfriars kirkyard, which is a ancient cemetery in the center of edinburgh. there, metal cage-like barriers would be placed over recent graves to prevent grave robbers from stealing recently deceased bodies, which they could sell as cadavers, which were in high and unregulated demand in the early days of formalized medical education.

we then proceeded to mcewan hall, the home of the medical school at the university of edinburgh. many important medical discoveries were made in edinburgh, including the etiology of scurvy by james lind, and many others.

the next stop was the meadows, a large open area of grass on the campus of the university of edinburgh. beneath the meadows are thousands of unmarked graves, as this was were bodies were buried during the bubonic plague. reportedly, occasionally students and tourists relaxing on the grass still find pieces of human bones sifting up from beneath the earth.

another stop was the surgeon hall museums, the first anatomy and pathology museum in the world. this is also where there was a riot in 1870 in support of the “edinburgh seven,” seven women who agitated for the right to study medicine at the medical school when women were not allowed to do so. unfortunately, it took an inordinate amount of time even after these riots for the medical schools to begin to allow women to matriculate.

we also went to the old surgeon’s hall at the university of edinburgh, which was a cadaver lab in the early days of formal medical education. private cadaver labs were started as educational competition/supplementation to the medical school, and to supply cadavers, they would need to be purchased, often under questionable circumstances, such as being snatched from recent graves. robert knox ran one of the most well known cadaver labs, where he would dissect the freshest cadavers for the education of medical students. at least 16 of these bodies were procured from william burke and william hare, who had murdered their victims for this purpose. we also walked by the medical lecture hall of joseph lawrence, the father of modern surgical sterilization, the inventor of listerine, and the founder of the johnson and johnson company.

the tour ended at the old college of the university of edinburgh, where there is a nondescript plaque in honor of one the british military’s most famous surgeons for decades of the 1800s, james barry, who served all over the world and tremendously improved sanitation standards. the fascinating thing about james barry was that they were actually a woman, whose real name was margaret ann bulkley, a fact not realized by anyone else until after her death. it was an era in which women were not permitted to practice medicine. the plaque and all the military records still read “james barry.”

protetcion against grave snatchers, greyfriars kirkyard, edinburgh, scotland

plaque commemorating james lind, who discovered the etiology of scurvy, mcewan hall, university of edinburgh, edinburgh, scotland

plaque commemorating the edinburgh seven, surgeons hall museums, edinburgh, scotland

medical school at the university of edinburgh, edinburgh, scotland

lima

i flew to lima, peru for 2 days! it was very quick, but i like to think i saw and did almost as much as humanly possible in that amount of time. lima has become famous as a culinary hotspot, so one of the main things to do there is eat! i had multiple meals of amazing ceviche and pisco sours (punto azul was my favorite restaurant). peruvians only eat ceviche made from fish caught that morning, usually chilean sea bass, and it is not even served after 3 pm or so because it has to be that fresh! i also discovered my new favorite fruit, lucuma, which grows in the amazon and tastes like buttery caramel. and a local favorite in lima are cow hearts grilled on skewers.

unfortunately, peru has suffered tremendously during the covid pandemic, sustaining the highest per capita covid mortality rate in the world. 99% of people were still wearing masks all the time even outside, often double masking. one must even be double masked during the flight to peru. they have had to build massive new cemeteries in the suburbs of lima to handle all the deceased people.

lima has a lot going on, and has a very bohemian vibe. in the barranco neighborhood they love street art, live music, and craft beer. there is also a large chinese influence, with over 1 million chinese-peruvians in lima alone, and a huge food scene called chifa, a fusion of peruvian and chinese cuisines. lima is a huge, multi-dimensional city where one could spend months and still be discovering new things. i hope to return sometime soon!

huaca pucllana – an adobe pyramid from the lima culture of 200-700ad, now surrounded by the city of lima, peru

the “bridge of sighs,” barranco, lima, peru

free outdoor live music, barranco, lima, peru

catacombs of san francisco monastery, lima

the monastery of san francisco in old lima has a lot of history associated with it. most interestingly, 30-40 thousand people were buried beneath it in catacombs from the 1600s to the 1800s. you need to sign up for a tour to go down into the catacombs and see the bones.

lima’s historic center

street art of barranco, lima

the neighborhood of barranco in lima has tremendous street art, much of it depicting women and children!

larco museum, lima

this private museum is devoted to the pre-columbian era. it is small, but very well curated. they had a special exhibition when i was there on pre-columbian erotic antiquities featuring very large stone phalluses, so no kids allowed. there is a very nice garden courtyard at the museum as well.

larco pre-columbian museum gardens, lima, peru

riyadh

i went to the kingdom of saudi arabia! i’ve wanted to go for as long as i can remember, mostly because it was basically forbidden until very recently. it was impossible to get a tourist visa until 2019, and then covid shut everything down again, so until now very few westerners have been there as tourists. saudi arabia is one of – if not the most – conservative and oppressive societies on earth, but is a country which is rapidly changing. since the ascension of the new crown prince mohammad bin salman, women have begun driving for the fist time, cinemas have opened around the country, justin beiber has performed for local fans, and females are technically allowed to walk around without covering their heads (though few do). all these things would have been unthinkable even 5 years ago. the regime also recently brutally dismembered journalist jamal khashoggi, disappears nationals who openly espouse dissent, treats women horribly, and has been bombing yemen mercilessly, so a case could certainly be made for not visiting, but i wanted to get a taste of the saudi arabia of today because it is changing so fast. visitors are monitored very closely – especially in the age of covid. i had to download an app which tracked me everywhere i went while in the country, and even after deleting it upon leaving my phone is still having weird glitches leading me to believe the saudi government continues to monitor me …

saudis are known for their hospitality, and even though i stuck to the big cities, most of the people i met were very friendly. i was amazed at how many of the young people spoke very good english, and were happy to chat with a foreigner!

riyadh is an ever-expanding massive city in the middle of the desert, with about 6 million official inhabitants. there are likely about 1-3 million additional undocumented inhabitants there as well. my first few experiences in riyadh were less than ideal, but par for the course. first, my baggage got lost and didn’t arrive until about 1 week later. i was going to rent a car to drive around the country, but they “didn’t have” my reservation and wanted double the price, so i deferred and decided to just take ubers and a few budget flights throughout the rest of the trip. and when i got into what i thought was my first uber ride from the riyadh airport, i soon learned the guy driving me had no connection to uber, and he ended up shaking me down for too much money with lots of yelling when we got to my hotel, but i made it!

a can’t miss thing to see in riyadh is the kingdom tower, which is the tallest building in the city, and is shaped like a bottle opener (ironic because booze is not allowed in the kindgom). there are great views from the top. i also went to see the ritz carlton hotel in the suburbs, famous for being the location where bin salman imprisoned numerous of his rich uncles shortly after coming to power. and the national museum of saudi arabia was quite interesting as well.

downtown, there is a fortress called al masmak, which is the location where the house of saud won a major battle to create the modern kingdom. nearby is the large deera square, also called “chop chop square” by expats, where each friday, the state would decapitate people for the public to watch. special drains were built in this square to drain all the blood from this. this practice has now been moved out of sight.

overall, i had a great time in riyadh, medina and jeddah, and despite the clear problems with the regime, the saudi people are wonderful. i’d highly recommend anyone who is interested in changing societies to visit the kingdom while it remains very unique, as in the coming decades it may begin to look much more like the rest of the world.