On one hand, meeting the people there was lovely. Connie and Katie and Tony and Niamh and Fineen and Jenny and Niall and Granny T and Agnes and Raymond and all of the others…but I feel like there was so much left unseen/undone. I guess we were kind of on the run a lot between places, and it’s hard to go off and do things when you’re staying with a family…but I just wish I had more time to really experience the culture. I didn’t even go to one pub…in IRELAND. You know? I didn’t get to walk in the ocean (just the little pools of water left up higher on the beach…I guess that’s my own fault…). I just think we could have made more out of our stay.
But ANYWAY, the whole point of this paragraph is to say that I am looooving Edinburgh! It’s such a magical city! Alex took me out today and it was an amazing day! She took me up the Hermitage, which is a nature trail that leads up to one of the 7 tops [? Peaks?] of Edinburgh.
Alex used to think this was the Eiffel Tower....close enough??
I'm not sure if you can see the detail, but all of those little greenhouse things are on a plot of land owned by the government. People who live in the city who don't have room for gardens, or who aren't in a good location for growing plants, etc, can buy a portion of that land and put a little shelter on it to grow things. Cool! :)
It was so neat – it really felt like you were in the country, and then you get to the top of this massive hill, and there’s a GLORIOUS view of the city! I can’t stress enough how much these photos don’t do it justice. Then we climbed back down, had some lunch and did a bit of housework at Alex’s place, and then headed out to the Royal Mile – a mile long stretch in Edinburgh with the castle at one end. The mile is packed full of history and interesting facts, and Alex was an AMAZING tour guide. It was incredible how she knew so much about her city – I don’t think I know that much about Kingston, to be honest! But it was so neat! We walked a lot, I took a fair number of pictures, and the weather was beautiful AGAIN! I’m going to really miss the sun when I’m back in Aberdeen…but the good news is, hopefully it’ll be encouraging for me to focus on my schoolwork.
J.K Rowling lives in Edinburgh! And this is the cafe where the Harry Potter
books were written. Jealous?
St. Gile's Cathedral
And inside the cathedral:
We saw some really adorable and beautiful things both in nature and in the city. We went to a little café called Always Sunday, or Almost Sunday or something, and got tea and shortbread; so Scottish, and so yummy!
We found a free art gallery, a free writers museum, dedicated to Robert Burns, Louis Stephenson, etc, and went into a really nice cathedral (St Gile's, pics above). We also went into the beginnings of the castle (I hope to actually be able to go INTO it while I’m here, but I don’t want to make Alex come with me because it isssss expensive, and it’s probably not exciting for her because she lives here!) But it was cool to go to that end of the mile, too!
She started telling me about Braveheart, and I wish I understood all of the facts she was telling me, but to be completely and brutally honest, I’m not particularly interested in politics or wars or any of that historical stuff. But I was SO impressed that she knew it all, like I said before, and it was really neat to be there nonetheless. To think how many famous kings and queens may have stepped in the exact stone where I was stepping – I dunno, but I think that’s pretty cool! Throughout the whole day, my camera was cooperating nicely and I think I got a few nice shots!
On the way back to catch a bus, we walked about halfway back to Morningside, and walked through the meadows, a great expanse of green fields in the middle of the city, where people were sprawled out under the sun! It was so nice to see so many people enjoying the nice weather. And it was so well-kept and green!
By the time we got back to the house, it was around 6pm. I met Brendan’s partner, Marion, who is from Yorkshire, and just lovely! Alex and I made supper for the 4 of us, a simple stir fry, and it turned out pretty well, I think. Or at least that’s what they told us…errrm. Over supper, we were chatting about our days, and Brendan mentioned that we were very lucky with our flights…apparently there was a volcanic eruption in Greenland, and so all of the UK airports have been closed due to all of the dust in the air. People are stranded without flights now…how horrible!! They don’t know how long they’re going to be closed down for, but at least a couple of days, because the dust in the air from the volcano creates a flying danger. Brendan was saying that our flight was probably one of the last 10 flights to land in Edinburgh before the airport was closed completely. GOOD THING WE MADE IT BACK!! The funny thing is, the original plan was for us to spend a few days in Edinburgh BEFORE heading over to Ireland, which would mean that we would have been flying out probably today or yesterday, and then looking to fly back in a few days’ time. And I was a bit frustrated that I’d have to fly into Edinburgh and then fly out right away the next morning to go to Ireland, without much of a breather in between. But see? It all worked out swimmingly! You never know what’s going to happen with travel, and in this case, we managed to get by!
On the bright side of the whole dust-in-the-air ordeal, the radio men have been saying all day that the sunset was scheduled to be particularly beautiful tonight because of it. So after we gulped down our meals, the 4 of us headed off to the top of the hermitage again. And let me tell you, that was another breathtaking sunset. I have resolved to go and see more sunsets when I’m back home in Canada. I don’t usually see them there at all, mostly because I’m so caught up in my own work and rehearsals and studying and who knows what else…but it was so nice just to get up there and watch the sun say goodnight.
It was a close call, actually. We almost didn’t make it in time. Alex and I were running up the hill (its really steep, and quite big, if you can see the sizes of the houses in the picture…). But the panting and sweating was worth it to see that sight. The sun was so big and orange and red and it cast the most wonderful colours into the sky. I listened to my ipod playing John Mayer’s 3x5 (pleeease look up lyrics, it’ll make more sense); thought about nothing in particular; and just watched the sun nestle into the distant mountains.
Apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea...
It was beautiful. That's the 2nd amazing sunset I've been blessed with this week!
I still find it so cool that Edinburgh is basically a hidden city, between surroundings of nature. After we made it back to the house, we were going to go to the cinema but Kick Ass, the film we wanted to see, was only playing one more time tonight, and it was 15 minutes after we found out, so there was no way we were going to make it there on time. Instead, Alex and I had tea and empire biscuits (WOOHOOOOO!) and watched some How I Met Your Mother on my laptop. Which is probably a good thing because I am so exhausted! Off to bed for now, I suppose. I’m not sure exactly what tomorrow has in store, but I’m setting my alarm to get up around 9 so that I can have a full day!
Until Next Time,
Beckers
xxx
1 comment:
Those sunsets are beautiful! :)
Crystal and I went to see Kick Ass about a month ago. Definitely not what we had expected, but either way you should see it.
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