Well, I'd hardly call either of them mountains, but I climbed to the top of Arthur's Seat yesterday and up to Calton Hill today, which are the two high points here aboots! And the day before that (Saturday), I visited the Castle, so I've now gone to all the high points of the city... if not the best spots! :)
Saturday saw me determined to visit Edinburgh Castle, no matter what, so I froze. I was waring every piece of warm clothing I had, but the temperature never got above 10 degrees, and an icy 25 mile per hour wind scoured the Castle Hill the entire time. I did it, but in fits and starts. Spent 20 minutes out side, then spent the next 30 in the nearest building, defrosting. I think I was there for over 4 hours, and I didn't manage to see everything. Got a few pictures though. You can see the rain - it was coming in sideways! Ah, but I did do it. And what a glorious castle it is. So totally different to Wawel. Edinburgh is brooding and scarred, and only romantic in a dangerous and edgy way. I wish I could afford to go back today, as it's much better weather, but 2 x £14 I will not pay!!
Sunday at Arthur's Seat nearly killed me. It was the first fine day I'd had here, so decided to take advantage of it... Oh boy! I found out exactly by how much the cold had reduced my lung capacity! I didn't take any photos of them, but if I get time, I'll go back and take a pic of the stone steps I climbed up. As Andrew said - coronary city! Well, not quite so bad, but I really didn't have the most ideal foot ware to climb with, so was rather nervous all the way up, afraid I'd slip, and suffering a distinct lack of oxygen. The view was spectacular though! A clear, 360 degree view of Edinburgh, all the way to the Firth of Forth and the surrounding hills. Very beautiful.
There are some pretty insane people about though! I'm not sure what it was in aid of or who for, but they were running a foot race around Edinburgh yesterday (not the one for breast cancer which was being run the other night - picture 100's of women, in pink bras and neon tracksuits, running around the streets of Edinburgh, at around midnight... yep). And the poor blokes had to run up Arthur's Seat! The ones who passed me looked utterly shattered. And covered in mud - they kept falling over. I saw one enterprising bloke who fell over, decide to stay on his butt and slide the 30 odd meters down the almost vertical grass slope to the path below - he passed a couple of the other competitors too, as it was damn steep!
I wandered past Hollyrood Palace - which was again too expensive to visit, and the new Scottish Parliament building - which is bizarre and very modern, so I didn't take any photos of it.
Today by comparison, I took a leisurely stroll up to Calton hill - and had about an hour of sun to enjoy it! Lovely place. Again, beautiful views of the city, and monuments to every one imaginable. It might well be called monument hill. There was a lovely tower to Nelson, a half-finished Pantheon type thing, which was supposed to be a monument to those who died in the Napoleonic wars, only they ran out of money, as well as an Observatory, which looked very pretty. It has now cooled down quite a bit, so I'm going to do some museum hopping. The writer's museum first, and then maybe the museum of childhood - both look fascinating.
Anyhoo, I have two interviews now this week - one tomorrow and one on Thursday - wish me luck!
1 comment:
Luck, in portions.
Post a Comment