So I did end up getting rather sick, I lost my voice for a while there. I'm feeling a lot better now though. And I didn't let it stop me from having a lovely weekend. Friday night my friend Julia came over to the dorms and we got some Chinese food and watched TV and movies all night. It was great. I had sweet and sour chicken, and it was pretty much the same as at home. Saturday morning me, Julia and Becca went to the Farmer's Market that's right next to the castle, and I took some pictures of the castle. I'll post them at the end of this entry. Anyway, the Farmer's Market is every Saturday, and they had amazing food. We had burgers and hot chocolate. What a combo, I know, ha. The burger had cheese and onions on it and tasted wonderful. As did the hot chocolate, it was "luxury" hot chocolate, haha. It had marshmallows and whipped cream on it. Yum. There was also a jam stand, with literally every kind of jam you could think of. I tried Strawberry Jam with Vanilla. I already have some jam to make my PB and J (quick note: they really don't do peanut butter here, or at least they're not as into it as we are. Sad. They're missing out), otherwise I would have bought some. I also don't really cook for myself, seeing as I have a meal plan. Becca got some caramel shortbread while we were there too, and I tried some, it was really good. The shortbread here is so, so good. Love it.
After the Farmer's Market, we decided to climb Arthur's Seat because it was such a nice day out. It hasn't rained here for like 4 days! Trust me, that's amazing. Arthur's Seat is a dormant volcano located just behind the dorms I live in. It was quite a feat to climb up, and I think we may have taken the more intense way up. I bundled up for the climb, expecting it to be really cold at the top, but I got pretty sweaty on the climb up and had to take my coat off. We finally got to the top, and it was so, so windy. Arthur's Seat is shaped like a sitting cat, so when we got to the top we were on the hindquarters of the cat. That part was grassy. I sort of wanted to have a picnic up there. Except the wind is incredible.When we got up there I realized my Wellies had broken on the climb up. Broken in a few places actually. I was rather upset, because they were 30 pounds ($48) and I had only had them for about 2 months. They're still sort of wearable, but I went and bought some sturdier boots on Sunday, because we have our IFSA-Butler Argyll Forest trip this weekend, and it's an outdoorsy-type trip where we'll be hiking and such in the highlands.
Anyway, the head of the cat that is Arthur's Seat is more rocky, and has a marker telling you how far away things are and in which direction they are. We decided to go down a different way than which we climbed up, because the way we came up had no railing and was rather steep and slightly scary. Also my friend Becca is afraid of heights, but she wanted to prove she could climb to the top, ha. She made it and actually did really well! =] The way we took down was less intense and more of a path. Also it took us right by the ruins of a 13th century church, which was pretty cool. The view while we were climbing up and down was beautiful. You can see all of Edinburgh, and the sea. Everything is so pretty. And green. We came down right by Holyrood Palace (Arthur's Seat is in Holyrood Park), where the Queen stays when she is in Edinburgh (which is only for a few weeks in the year). We're planning on touring that when my parents come to visit in a few weeks. The palace is right by the Scottish Parliament building, a rather new and modern building that is quite controversial because of it's modern and interesting design. I think I like it though. We will probably also tour that when my family comes to visit. The Scottish got their own parliament in 2000, the first time they had had one in 300 years or something like that. Their parliament handles domestic issues such as healthcare, but the government down in London handles all foreign affairs.
We walked back home up the Royal Mile, it was a lot of walking in one day. But I think that was the night the dining hall had cheesecake with graham cracker crust. So that was our reward. We had been told before they didn't have graham crackers here, but this proves they do. Sunday we went shopping for boots, and on the way saw a lot of green on people's shirts. Apparently Scotland was playing Ireland in rugby. But there must be a lot of Irish supporters here, for some reason. This rugby tournament called 6 nations is going on right now, it's a tournament between Ireland, England, Scotland, Italy, France and Wales. I really haven't been following it, but it's always going on during the weekends and the pubs are always crawling with older men being quite drunk because of it.
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| Edinburgh Castle, which is also built on a dormant volcano |
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| Arthur's Seat! We climbed that =] |
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| View of Edinburgh and the sea |
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| That's the dorms! Taken from about halfway up Arthur's Seat. |
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| Broken Wellies =[ |
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| View from the top |
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| Ruins of the old Church |
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| Scottish Parliament building (part of it) |
That looks like a lot of fun. You already know how I feel about the amazing pictures. Especially the one with you & the clouds behind you. I want to like, frame that one. So...wow.
ReplyDelete& I remember the controversy concerning the parliament building. I for one dig it. It's unique, which cannot often be said for government buildings. Also I don't have the stick up my yow about modern art. I tend to enjoy it, actually.
I'll be there in like three weeks! Ahh!