Hermits, Stargazers, and a Sylvan Hideaway

Friday Lael and I decided to visit Morningside and complete one of the walks out of my book. We didn’t really know where it started but had a vague idea of what bus we needed to take. The start of the walk though was at a bus stop on a line that does not run to Dalkeith so we had get off at Cameron Toll and walk in the direction of the other line. We ended up walking though a very nice neighborhood with roads that do not form a grid. This means that when you turn onto a road expecting it to be straight and go in the direction you think it will, you could be wrong and make a big circle. It was nice though because we were able to see more of Morningside and the streets were beautiful.

We ended up making it to our destination mostly because it was at the top of a hill so we just keep climbing. It was the Royal Observatory and the views were spectacular. 

This is not the first Observatory, was originally on Calton Hill but was moved to Blackford Hill in 1892. On your way up the hill you pass through a red sandstone arch built for Lord Provost Sir George Harrison in 1887. After the amazing views we walked through the park that surrounded the Observatory. It is built as a nature reserve and has a beautiful river that we followed until we came to an old icebox in the side of a hill.

The icebox was first brought to Scotland in with Charles II from France. Then we walked over to the Hermitage house and took a look inside at the wildlife information center. From there we walked out of the park and tried to find a bus that would take us to Leith so we could eat an early dinner. The bus took about 40 minutes to reach Leith and once there we walked around trying to find Fisher’s a restaurant that was recommended to us. After looking around a few corners we decided to just find a different restaurant that was on the water. We found Loch Fyne, a very nice restaurant that was right beside the water. From our table you could look out and see this view.

They had a wide variety of seafood on the menu and I decided to have Scottish mussels while in Scotland. They were delicious. The food was great and the service was good and the location could not have been better. All in all a great spot to eat. After eating we decided to make our way back to Dalkeith. It was a good thing we did. We went from outside of the restaurant onto bus number 11 to Ocean Terminal. From there we got on bus number 36 to Holyrood. We got off that bus on George St and walked up the street until we go to a stop with a bus to Dalkeith. It ended up taking almost two hours to get from Leith to Dalkeith that evening. Once back I made myself some tea and did my laundry so I could curl up in bed later that night with a good book.

One Week Until I Come Home

It has been a crazy three months and now there is only one week until I will be back in Madison with my friends and family. There are plans to be made about coming home and what I need to do when I get back. These things are very important, such as, when is the Farmer’s Market because I need to bike there and buy cheesy bread and cheese curds. There are also plans to be made about what I need to do in Scotland before I go home, such as visiting the National Library and the Portrait Gallery and many other things.

This week has been good so far. We all needed some time to recover after our long weekend in the Highlands and Monday was fairly low key. Had our last class for Globalization and got our final papers back. We also started to prepare for our final exams and final papers. Tuesday Lael and I went to find Birkenstocks and wander around town. We went to many different shoe stores trying to find the traditional sandals but were only able to find it in one color in one out of the dozen we tried. They were a really good deal and Lael ended up buying her mom a pair as well. While finding different shoe stores we found ourselves walking down streets that we had never been on before and also stopped in the National Gallery. There we saw Cezanne, Monet, and Van Gogh among others. Wednesday was filled with class once again but in British History we had a quiz and my team won so we got a box of chocolates to share. It was great. Thursday I worked in the kitchen and then joined Billie, Justin, Tyler, and Aarynn in going to The Meadows, a college hang out in Edinburgh. It was a beautiful day outside and The Meadows is a large park with cherry trees lining the paths through it. We played some Frisbee and then got an offer to join a game of ultimate Frisbee with some other students from Edinburgh University. We played with them for about an hour and then went to go eat supper at Blacksmith’s back in Dalkeith. It was a great day to end the last day of classes