Edinburgh Part 1

In the case of Edinburgh pictures would be a better way of described with pictures. However, blogger can only take so much and, more to the point, I can't upload my pictures until Sunday.

I arrived after an interesting overnight bus trip (during which I nearly didn't get to my second bus, having gotten off at the wrong place on the first because they don't tell you where they're dropping you off) around 8:30am, at which point there wasn't much going on. I couldn't check into my hotel place until 3pm. So I decided to wander.

Apparently I'm a pretty fortunate wanderer. After heading to Princes Street, at the center of the city, I walked up towards where the higher part of the city was, near the castle. The castle which, by the way, is on its own cliff above most of the city. The street I wandered down happened to lead straight into the Royal Mile, a mile of a bunch of shops and cafes down a cobblestone road lined with old buildings. In fact, fantastic architecture and old buildings that look really cool are everywhere. At the end of the Royal Mile is a castle and a park with cliffs to climb, so with nothing better to do, I climbed one of the cliffs overlooking the city. And what a view I had, the whole of Edinburgh and the beginnings of the ocean spread out before me. It was amazing. I sat down near the edge for awhile, ate some chocolate, and read some Fellowship of the Rings in the coolest possible reading setting I could think of.

Then I wandered back down to ground level and met with some friends. We went to lunch at the Elephant Cafe, where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. The food was good; I got a 'jacket' potato with chicken tikka. Interesting combination but a good one. We headed over to the older part of town, in a completely different area near the Botanical Gardens. The houses here were pretty as well, and I got to see what is claimed to be Edinburgh's prettiest street, Anne Street. And with wonderful houses and lined with trees and flowers, with a cobblestone road, it certainly was beautiful.

Later, we headed out to the Royal Oak, a tiny pub in which folk music entertained the guests. We stayed for a few hours, just taking in the excellent singing and guitar playing of both actual folk songs and covers of some old artists done in acoustic style. A few songs directed at the U.S. were sung as well, which was amusing and also nice.

So now I'm exhausted and ready for my next full day in Edinburgh, which will involve me carrying all my stuff around again. And to end it all: catch a bus at 10pm that will arrive in some town at 5:30am, catch another bus at 6:30am and arrive in Oxford at 8am. Not that much sleep. Not much comfort at all. But so worth it.