It's Official: I Love Edinburgh

The past week has been nothing but kind to me. First of all, the weather! Wow. As I write this during my lunch break, it's a sunny 79 degrees. Yes, you read that right. It's basically 80 degrees here (which I think is about 25 Celsius..still trying to get the conversions down). The hottest it has ever been on record in Edinburgh is 88, so this bout of perfect weather is a real treat. I'm still thinking I brought the San Diego sunshine with me!

With the good weather, we decided this past weekend was the perfect time to visit Edinburgh Castle, head to the Edinburgh seaside, and climb the looming Arthur's Seat. On Saturday, we visited the castle and the views were incredible. Essentially, if you make your way around the castle parameters, you get a 360 degree view of the entire city. The seats for the Military Tattoo are set up outside the castle and got me excited for when the family comes to visit.

View from Edinburgh Castle

Our lunch consisted of Cadbury Flake McFlurries in Princes Street Gardens. Yes, we got lunch at McDonald's, but they were Cadbury chocolate flavored, which is something you surely can't find at home. Next up, a stop at Calton Hill, the location of the Scottish National Monument, and then off to Portobello Beach. Google Maps deceived us on this one. We walked and we walked and we walked, for about an hour and a half before making it to the cute seaside town. The beach was one of my favorite attractions so far. Obviously crowded due to the weather, we couldn't help but find ourselves comparing the different sights seen at American and Scottish beaches. First off, there are zero waves, not a single one rolled onto the shore. Alcohol in glass bottles and dogs without leashes seems to be commonplace, as evidenced by random dogs running up to me and a man drinking straight from his handle of Smirnoff. Easily the strangest sight though was the lack of bathing suits. Only the kids were wearing bathing suits, while almost every adult was in normal clothing. Oh and of course, where you'd find a hamburger and hot dog stand at a beach at home, we found a fish and chips restaurant. There's nothing quite like a dinner of fish and chips with some vinegar and brown sauce (instead of ketchup) on the beach to finish off a lovely Saturday.

Lunch in Princes Street Gardens

Fish and Chips Dinner (w/ Scotland's favorite soda Irn Bru)

Portobello Beach

Dreading the thought of another hour and a half walk, we hopped on the bus to get home. One of the nice things about the buses here is that almost all of them stop in the center of town, so you can usually hop on any of them and not end up lost.

Sunday morning brought more sunshine, so it was time for the climb up Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is the highest peak of a set of hills that make up an extinct volcanic site. The ascent is physically demanding, but well worth it. The views at the top made me stop and realize just how much I love Edinburgh. Edinburgh is by far one of the best European cities because it has everything a city has to offer without being overwhelmingly large. It's easy to get from one place to the next, it's beautiful, the people are nice, and the history is rich.

View from Arthur's Seat looking towards the Firth of Forth

View from Arthur's Seat looking onto the city of Edinburgh

The entrance to Arthur's Seat borders the Scottish Parliament building and Holyrood Palace, where the Queen stays when she visits Edinburgh every summer. We walked towards the Scottish Parliament building, and even though I just said Edinburgh is beautiful, the Scottish Parliament building is just about one of the ugliest buildings ever. It was built in 1999, since Scotland's own Parliament is fairly young. I don't know if the architects were trying to be different and modern, but they really should have just stuck with the traditional architecture of the city. The Scots know they have an ugly government headquarters and it's become a bit of either a joke or a sore spot, depending on who you ask.

The hideous Scottish Parliament building

Our afternoon included a walk through Greyfriars Kirkyard. This graveyard hosts the gravesite of John Grey, a man whose dog watched over his grave for fourteen years until his own death. It's also about a minute's walk from The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote much of Harry Potter. The graveyard has a tombstone labeled, "Thomas Riddell," which the locals say was inspiration for Tom Riddle/Voldemort's name in the Harry Potter series. We finished the day off with a walk through the Meadows to see all of the sunny weather BBQs and a stop at S. Luca's ice cream. It's a famous ice cream store with every local, and I can see why. It was delicious.

S. Luca's Chocolate and Nutella ice cream

Being in Europe, I clearly walk from place to place a lot more than in the States. Obviously, I don't have a car, but neither do most people who live in the city, and European cities are typically more walkable than anything back home. Out of curiosity, I google mapped everywhere we walked this weekend. Take a guess, how many miles do you think we walked?

Twenty!

Needless to say, I saw so much of what Edinburgh has to offer this past weekend, and I made use of my iPhone's panorama photo feature so that I will always remember just how beautiful this city is.