Playing Tourist

Arthur's Seat, the dormant volcano in my back yard, is circled by a lovely, scenic road. Since Edinburgh coughed up a gorgeous day today (after the abysmal rain yesterday, we were owed one), I got up early and decided to see how the road looked on foot. To be honest, it's beautiful - there are miniature lochs, swans, all the blackberries we couldn't find the other day, and scenic vistas of the Firth and the rest of town. By the time I'd reached the back side of the mountain, I'd been jogging for half an hour, and decided to push on. This may have been a mistake.

Even though the back side of Arthur's Seat has its pretty parts, it was a long, winding road I forced myself down, skirting bicycles and a man who unleashed six dogs from his tiny British car. Begining the ascent once more was a wonderful, albeit somewhat painful, moment, and I've never been quite so happy to see the castle again. There was just one problem: I couldn't find the way down.

Consulting my handy Edinburgh street atlas, it appears that I entered on the main road, Queen's Drive, but took a wrong turn around Holyrood onto the Radical Road, which parallels Queen's Drive some distance above. As I approached the Firth once more, I decided that I was probably going the wrong way, and bothered to look down. The height, if not the sudden stiff breeze, should have told me there was a problem. Some joggers assured me that ten minutes would take me to the main road, but I gave up and took a grassy path back down to my entrance.

That was the first hour and a half on foot today. We had girls' day in Edinburgh for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, spending much of that time in touristy shops on the Royal Mile and in department stores on Princes Street we knew we couldn't afford. I got a little furball called the "Wild Hairy Haggis," a squeaky bundle of touristy fun I acquired for £1.99. All in all, a most successful outing - not only did we get to bother the management at Sainsbury's, but peanut butter and a mess of fudge were purchased and I learned that I could have my family name on a whiskey bottle for less than £10. Unfortunately, the amazing plaid corset-fringe-shirt-thingies were £189, a bit out of range. Leigh, Cali, and Ella, I'm holding you to our agreement...

After dinner, the salsa dancing! Not really a tourist activity, but fun.