Edinbur-ugh Highlights

So I just got back from a surprisingly leisurely three-day stay in Edinburugh. First of all our hostel was surprisingly clean and comfortable. It was fairly new and felt much more like a motel than...well a hostel. There were no mysterious stains on the bed-sheets or pigeons in the bedrooms (unlike Ilfracombe). We spent monday touring Edinburugh Castle and miraculously had all of Tuesday to ourselves! I planned on spending part of the day at the coast but ended up missing the coach part of the group took to the beach. So I spent the day in exploring Edinburugh and probably had a better time than the group who traveled 3 hours on the bus round trip only to spend a few hours on a cold, windy beach. I can see plenty of those at home. So I ended up spending the morning shopping (mostly just browsing) at a mall-like collection of stores dominated by items that fall somewhere between dresses and shirts supplemented by a conveniently large selection of leggings. Two hours and 30-less pounds later (I found one appropriately long dress I liked) we walked to the Scottish National Gallery (which has a surprisingly extensive collection of art) and stopped for lunch at the gallery's cafe for an expensive but delicious English cheddar and tomato chutney sandwich. After lunch, we trekked the length of the very hilly city to the queen's botanical gardens and spent a few hours taking pictures and lying in the afternoon sun that finally emerged. For dinner we stopped at a surprisingly authentic thai place for pad thai. The Thai waitresses, reclining Buddhas and smell of basmati rice almost made me feel like I was back in Thailand. With no homework or wifi access to distract me, I went to bed early (one of my favorite parts of overnight trips) and hiked to Arthur's Seat, where Orson Pratt went to pray during his mission in Edinburugh, the following morning. Well, a group of us hiked most of the way and decided that was good enough. In our defense, it was raining and the basalt path was very slippery. After the "hike" we toured Scottish Parliament with an LDS MSP and SNP member. This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. I loved seeing a site that I actually studied somewhat extensively. Honestly, I could care less about castle ruins and cathedrals. Seeing one or two is nice but I kind of feel like after seeing one you've seen them all. But I suppose this is because I know relatively nothing about the history of English monarchy/Arthurian legends. Although I'm learning a bit from skimming my history readings when I find the time. However, I do feel like I've learned quite a lot about modern British politics from my poli sci class. So I appreciated the significance of the Parliament building's surprisingly modern architecture and the legislation our tour guide discussed (despite his heavy Scottish brogue). In short, Edinburgh was a nice departure from hectic life in London. But now I'm back in the Centre analyzing Macbeth on five hours of sleep. Such is life I suppose.

Pictures again are forthcoming. Perhaps even on this very blog.