The rest of Dillon's visit

It's now Thursday and I wish I had posted more throughout the week because now I won't remember everything we did. But I'll try.

Monday was a busy day. We started off with a bus tour of the city with a live guide who was great. We got off at the Holyroood Palace, the Queen's official residence when she's in town. There were free audio guides so we learned a lot, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I don't have any. Here are a few of the outside though, and of the abbey ruins behind the palace.

Inside the main gate at Holyrood Palace:

The abbey ruins at Holyrood:

After the palace we were going to get back on the tour bus and head back up to my flat, but we just missed the bus and didn't feel like waiting for the next one so we decided to walk back, which normally would have been fine, but it started raining so that was pleasant... We got back up the Royal Mile to a lunch place called Always Sunday. We got there about 15 minutes before they started serving lunch so we got drinks until we could get food.

After lunch we got on a different tour bus which dropped us off at the Royal Botanic Gardens. We walked around there for a while and it was pretty impressive.

The Royal Botanic Gardens

The Palm House:

Then we got back on the bus and went to Ocean Terminal in Leith, which is where the Royal Yacht Britannia is. That came with free audio guides too so we walked around that. It was really cool, I liked all the pictures of the royal family hanging out on the boat.

The royal family's sun room:

The Queen's bedroom:

The dining room:

View from the yacht:

After the yacht we went back to my flat and made cupcakes for small group that night. It was the last small group of the year so everyone brought food, we played some games, and hung out.

Tuesday morning I had class, then after I got back from that we went to Craigmillar Castle. See an earlier post or facebook for pictures of that. I love that place...

I had another class after Craigmllar. That night we had dinner and watched Trainspotting. What a weird movie... Parts of it are filmed in Edinburgh so that was cool, but what a weird movie...

Wednesday we got up early and climbed Arthur's Seat. It wasn't the best weather but it was still beautiful.

On top of Arthur's Seat:

Climbing down:

Sitting on the Crags:

Abbey ruins:

After Arthur's Seat we ate lunch then got on a bus to Cramond. Cramond is this little town just outside of Edinburgh, and at low tide you can walk out to Cramond Island. The island was awesome. Really, really beautiful and it had tons of bunkers from World War II so that was awesome. There's only a 4 hour window to get out there and get back because once the tide comes in the walkway gets covered with water and you're stuck. We made it back to the mainland with plenty of time to spare!

Submarine barriers and the walkway out to the island:

The walkway and one of many bunkers:

View from inside a bunker:

We kept finding more:

A beautiful place:

The town itself is cool too. There are the ruins of an old roman fort, the best preserved Roman bath house in Scotland, and a historic church and graveyard.

Roman bath house:

Cramond Kirk:

Cramond Kirkyard:

We had fun exploring the town then went back to my flat.

We made dinner, then went to Sandy Bells (pub with live music) with Emily, then went back to my flat to watch Paris je t'aime with some of my friends.

Today, Thursday, was my last day of classes this semester. I won 5 pounds in Society and Politics because I was runner up in a class challenge. We were supposed to email the professor and name as many of the pictures on the front of the course handbook as we could, and whoever knew the most would get a prize. I only knew 6 of the 10 (things like Robert Burns, haggis, Mary Slessor, etc), but I figured not many people would actually do it so I emailed the prof anyway, and I was runner up!

I had my Society and Politics tutorial after that and I got back my research paper, which is 50% of my grade, and I did well on it so that's good. I went back to my flat after that and ate lunch with Dillon (he went souvenir shopping that morning while I was in class), then went to my history tutorial. Dillon went to the National Museum while I was there.

After class I packed my backpack for spring break, and got a bunch of other stuff organized. Dillon just finished packing so now we're going out to dinner and he's going to try haggis.

So yeah leaving for spring break tomorrow. I'll be gone for 3 weeks but I'll try to update this as often as possible. Emails are welcome and I'll respond as soon as possible. The schedule is Ireland, Belgium, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, and Munich. I'll be back April 16!