Edinburgh

     

     So, I'm behind on blog posts. I'll try to change that this month. I've been busy with several things that I'll talk about in future entries. In any case, Katie and I were in Edinburgh over Christmas break, and it's a lovely city. It's very walkable and has distinct architecture. We got the best views from Arthur's Seat, a dormant volcano inside the city limits. It's a pretty short walk up the side of it and from the summit you can see the whole town and the Firth of Forth, which flows into the North Sea. 

View from Arthur's Seat

     We walked around quite a bit, went to coffee houses, used book shops and clothing stores, and of course museums. I tried the traditional dish haggis, which is mainly composed of sheep organs. It was tasty. We also had some excellent Indian food at the city's oldest Indian restaurant. 

The haggis is next to the tomato

     We went to the National Museum of Scotland, which among other things had some of the Lewis Chessmen, chess pieces discovered in the 1800s on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and carved out of walrus ivory. They date to the 12th century. The rest of the pieces are in the British Museum in London, which I had seen the week prior. You also get great views of the city on top of the museum. 

Inside the National Museum of Scotland

     One night we went to an historic movie theatre and saw "All is Lost," the film starring Robert Redford that came out in 2013. I enjoyed the movie and Katie did as well, though she is always weary of would-be philosophical movies—she often thinks they try to muddy the waters to make them appear deep. In any case it was a nice experience to see a movie in a city to which we hadn't been. 

     We spent three days in Edinburgh and left on New Year's Eve to head back to Jack's parents and then on to London that evening. It was definitely worth the trip up. Edinburgh is unique and has a certain charm to it. And you don't feel rushed around trying to do a million things. It's a city you can visit without much of a schedule and just see what you discover.