Friday:
The good news: After touring during the first half of the
day, Alex and I got delicious sandwiches for lunch. So-called baguettes are super
popular here.
The bad news: We ate them standing up. In the rain.
But after getting coronation chicken (AKA curry chicken
salad) all over myself, the day did improve!
We got a lot of shopping done; the necessities are
reasonably priced, but fresh fruits and vegetables are very expensive.
After dinner, we went over to our director Tom’s house for
drinks and dessert. Tom showed off his lovely little garden, and then his
partner Jim showed us around their beautiful home. He’s an art collector, and
even their curtains are probably worth my life! They have a prehistoric vase,
tons of portraits and sculptures, glass pieces- even their dining room
furniture is an art piece. It was amazing. They gave us advice on where to go
around the city and we all enjoyed the wine and cake until they kicked us out
at 11. We really bonded as a group, I think. It was the most fun I’ve had in a
long time.
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| Tom's garden |
The next day, we ambitiously hiked up to the top of Arthur’s
Seat again- this time as a big group. It was so windy! But the view… I’ll never
get tired of it.
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| A bunch of my new buddies, airborne |
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| A bit breezy, yeah? |
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| My friend, Slugger |
We made the long trek across the city to the Royal Botanic
Gardens and saw some beautiful suburbs along the way. I think I like the
outskirts of Edinburgh more than the deep urban parts. I’d love to spend more
time at the gardens a different day, but it was a great introduction.
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| Just for you, Mom! Kitties on the walk over |
After such a full day, and after getting I fell asleep at
7:30 pm and didn’t move an inch until 8 the next morning! And then it was go,
go, go all over again. But I’m not complaining! Seeing so many new things every
day is the best way to live life.
And finally, today we took a driving trip north. We started out
at the Firth Bridge, stopped for a scenic walk along the coast, ate at one of
the best fish and chips restaurants in Britain for lunch, and finished at St.
Andrews! Just your typical Sunday, you know. St. Andrews is actually more like
how I imagined Scotland would be-- very… British. The castle and cathedral
ruins were fun to explore, except for that 8-story walk up the stairs to the
top of a cathedral turret. We also crawled through an abandoned mine shaft! We
ended our journey with a group picture on the last hole of the famous golf
course.
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Crossing the Firth of Forth
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| A cute coastal town |
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| Trekking- look at Tom go! |
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| This country is beautiful |
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Genius gardening idea!
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| Adam and I, seaside |
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| Somebody wasn't impressed with the golf course... |
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| Delicious! |
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| A wee bit tired at St. Andrews |
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| With Tom at the top of the cathedral tower |
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| Pretending to be at the grave of our Scottish ancestor |
When we got back to Edinburgh, we had a bit of time to rest
and eat dinner before heading to Princes Street to see the fireworks set off
from the Edinburgh Castle to mark the end of the Fringe Festival. It was a
breathtaking show, an hour long masterpiece set to music from a live orchestra.
The sky (and the hillside, temporarily) was on fire. They had these sparkling,
raining fireworks that I’d never seen before that lined the whole castle way,
making the whole place glow with a very magical light. It was all indescribable.
We start our Modern Scotland class tomorrow, which honestly
we’re not too thrilled about. We’d all rather see the country than hear about it! But I’ll hold off judgment for
now.
The weather has actually been remarkably good; it was about
75 degrees and sunny today! I’ll definitely appreciate it while I can.
Did you know—Scotland is very big on fire doors? Everything
here is a fire door! Not a bad idea.
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