Rain and Sun in Edinburgh

Forget Brittanica estate rooms and opulent crystal place settings. Forget crown jewels and royal tapestries. Instead, give me prisoner's quarters, blood letting dishes, decrepit stone churches, and graphic preservations of the human condition. Also, give me the great outdoors- because there's no better way to get to know a country's heart and soul. In Edinburgh, I got to do all these things, including high-brow gawking of things I would never have nor desire. 

Luck was on our side as we hopped on buses and traipsed along the cobblestone: it rained only about half the time. On the days that weren't dripping in grey, we were outside doing things like hiking Arthur's Table, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Princes Street Gardens,  and letting our feral children do what they do best. Otherwise, between downpours we scrambled amongst thickly fortified castles, ancient churches, and museums, ducking into pubs for gin or whisky to warm our tummies. 

Perhaps obviously, my big highlight was visiting the Surgeon's Hall Museum. My eyes grew wide with nostalgia as I explained trephination or talked about the formaldehyde filled jugs of body parts to my kids. To a decent extent, they played along, surmising theories for how people died in the first place. I told them they died because they didn't brush their teeth nor wash their hands enough. They only half believed me, but I think they took extra care of themselves thereafter. At least for a few days.

Mark's favorite activity for ALL places he visits, is walking. He likes to walk with no formulated itineraries and especially without maps. He has this bizarre internal compass that usually keeps us on the right track. I don't know how he does it. Also on this occasion, Mark had an opportunity to catch up with a couple of Scottish friends he made 16, 17 years ago. He met one in Romania, a fellow from Perth who worked for a nonprofit. Another was a Glaswegian teacher in Bratislava, and each friend picked up as if no time had ever passed. It was just... nice and dreamy. I loved getting a sneak peek of Mark's past life while they regaled tales of the day over pints of beer. It's like getting to know a different version of the person I love best.

As for the kids, they loved going to Dynamic Earth, an interactive science museum that left us all depressed about dying in a well-predicted, future volcanic explosion straight out of Yellowstone National Park. Really, the museum was quite entertaining and a great respite to dry off from the insipid drizzle. Margo and Deets played. And played. And conquered any playground (and canons) we came upon. Both of them ate dirt and tore clothes as they tripped and rolled down parts of Arthur's Seat. It was very green and they were very happy.

Aside from a stingy and dramatic AirBnB host, who failed to give us but a single sponge to clean the 3 bedroom apartment that slept 6, we quite enjoyed Edinburgh. Believe me, we left that apartment waaaaaaay cleaner than when we arrived, but there was still immature squabbling from her end about towel usage. She wanted to charge us 40 pounds to replace a single towel that wasn't left white enough in our care. Thank goodness the AirBnB dispute team manages the crazies well. Next up: Isle of Skye.

Also for anyone considering visiting Edinburgh, I loved this website: http://edinburgh.org/101/

We stayed in Leith, a port-centric neighborhood north of downtown.

Leith, Edinburgh.

Heart of Midlothian, a mosaic marking the site of an old tolbooth
 where executions used to take place. It was demolished in 1817.
People spit freely and often on it.

Cruising the Royal Mile

St. Giles Cathedral

View from western end of Princes Street Garden.

View from Arthur's Seat,
an ancient volcano

St. Anthony's Chapel
From the 11-freaking-00!

Holyrood Abbyy, 1128
That's ooooooooold.

I know you saw this on IG, but it was so awesome.
She reminds me of an old PE teacher.

Okay, okay. This was pretty cool. But I have thing about rope pictures.