Saturday, What a Day.

April 3, 2010

This morning we got up early and joined up with former SPUdent and British Isles traveler Jeremy, to tour the more "student-y" parts of Edinburgh. The first stop on the tour? The Writers' Museum, of course! There were special exhibits for Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Lewis Stevenson. The area outside the museum had quotes from famous Scottish authors inscribed into the pavement, my favorite was from Neil Munro, "And yet-and yet, this New Road will some day be the Old Road too." We walked through Prince's St. Park and ended in a big farmers' market behind the castle. After enjoying lunch in a restaurant behind a church (soup eated sitting atop gravestones), we saw a 3D preview of the popular British television show "Dr. Who," a block away.

After this, a few of us went to a 3 Wireless store where we purchased cell phones for the length of our stay, it has Skype, which makes calling the US a bargain (especially if you have Skype too)! Ali and I named the phone we are sharing Maurice, and he has been quite well behaved so far.

We considered climbing the hundreds of steps to the top of the Sir Walter Scott Memorial, but didn't want to pay £3, so ended up at the Edinburgh National Gallery, which was free! There we saw paintings by El Greco, Monet, Degas, Seurat, Cezane, and others. It was quite lovely.

Afterwards, we trudged back to the hotel for some relaxing of the feet before our next planned outting. At 4:30, we set out for a tour of Mary King's Close, which is supposedly the most haunted alley in the UK. A few hundred years ago, the government built new buildings on top of some of these closes, covering them completely, now it's like an underground city. This close lost over half its inhabitants during the Black Death and is, as a result, particularly haunted.

That evening, we enjoyed some dinner at the World's End, a pub located on the (no longer existing) wall of Edinburgh. After soaking my feet in some hot water, and making contact with America via my new phone, this weary woman was ready for bed.