Little things in Edinburgh

Today I did a bunch of little things in Edinburgh that I wanted to do before I left. The weather is finally warm here- warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt. I only brought long pants with me but it is really nice not to have to wear a jacket.

First I went to Gladstone's Land, which is 16th century tenement house. Most of it is original, and they have it set up with the house's original furniture and stuff, so it was pretty cool to see an original Edinburgh tenement. There were a few elderly ladies telling people about the place, and one of them gave me a full guided tour, so I learned a lot.

Next I went to the John Knox house. It's where John Knox lived, and it's set up as a museum about the Reformation. There's some really interesting history about the house's original owner, James Mossman, too. He and John Knox really did not like each other at all, but after Mossman was hanged for treason (he staunchly supported the overthrown Mary Queen of Scots), John Knox got his house...

Then I bought a few little souvenirs that I wanted, and walked around the Royal Mile.

I went back to my flat for lunch after that, then headed out again to go to the Royal College of Surgeons Museum. That was really cool. The Royal College of Surgeons is really famous for a lot of medical advances (for example, Jospeh Lister, who invented antiseptic, taught there). There are tons of displays with all kinds of medical-related stuff, including a pocketbook made from the skin of the famous murderer William Burke (which is really what I went in to the museum to see...). Upstairs there was a great exhibit on sports and medicine, so that was really interesting.

Next I went to Old College to see the Playfair Library. I've heard that it's known as the "most beautiful room in Edinburgh" so of course I had to see it. I went in to Old College and had to get a visitor badge and stuff, then I went up to the library. Wow. Stunning. What a beautiful room! It looks like a smaller version of the long library at Trinity College Dublin. I was the only person in there so it was silent, just me in this enormous, gorgeous room. Here are a few pictures:

Staircase going up to the Playfair Library:

Playfair Library:

Busts line the sides:

After that I bought some groceries, then went back to my flat and got started on packing. All my walls are bare now; my room looks very strange.

A few hours later some friends and I went up Calton Hill to see the sunset. There were like 15 of us to start with, then like 10 more people came later so we were a huge group. We sat on the parthenon on the hill for a couple hours and had a great time. I don't have any very good pictures of it but I'm sure there will be a bunch on facebook tomorrow. It really drove home the fact that we're all leaving in one week. I was way more ready to leave last week when I was sick of studying for exams, but now that exams are over, I really don't want to leave.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm so I am going to take pictures of the Meadows and Princes Street Gardens in all their spring splendour, buy some Edinburgh prints on the Royal Mile, go to the Edinburgh Farmer's Market, climb to the top of the Scott Monument, and go to the beach.

For Sunday I booked a tour that goes to Rosslyn Chapel and Melrose Abbey. I really wanted to see those before I left so that worked out. I haven't gone south much (this tour goes south) and I was disappointed about that so I figured I'd just go for it.