Tartan Tales: Edinburgh- round three!

Okay, I admit it. Edinburgh is gorgeous. It is a wonderful, wonderful place. That doesn't mean that Glasgow isn't, but frankly, Edinburgh is downright classy. Especially when the weather decides to pull a 180 in the 45 minute bus-ride between the two cities. Cloudy spitting rain in Glasgow, sunny blue skies in Edinburgh. Go figure.

Today was my first solo venture, and it was a fantastic day. I've been sort of obsessing about the travelling-alone idea this whole week (in terms of spring break) and trying to figure out if it would be liberating or sad. I can now definitively say that, at least for today, it was a beautiful beautiful thing. I actually really needed that time to myself. I took the bus to Edinburgh and walked to the National Museum, (rated 3 out of 3 stars by Rick Steves!). There was a free guided tour starting at 1:30, so I decided to be intellectual and do it. As it turned out, I was the only one that showed up. So instead of a one hour "highlights" tour, my kilt-wearing-but-originally-German tour guide treated me to a three hour meander throughout the exhibits. Fantastic but grueling in terms of attention span- especially running without any caffeine. But I made it! And I'll give you three of the most interesting facts from my afternoon:

1) During the height of the Roman Empire, leaders tried to make nice with Scottish chieftains by giving them valuable coins. Scots had no need for coins, so they melted them down and made absurdly heavy chain necklaces, to wear as a symbol of status.
2) Robert the Bruce, Scottish hero and featured icon from Braveheart, became de facto leader of Scotland. He didn't have any male offspring, so he selected a worthy castle Stewart to carry on the rulership. So began the "Stewart"- which later became "Stuart"- dynasty. They intermarried with the Tudors under James IV.
3) During the industrial age, iron coffins became popular in Edinburgh to prevent grave-robbings. Apparently Edinburgh is where human dissection began, under obviously surrepticious settings. Though, apparently, stealing a body wasn't actually illegal.

Yeah, we covered a lot of ground. Peter used to be a physics/math teacher, so I learned some of that, too. That kind of went in one ear and out the other, though.

Afterwards I stopped and got coffee at a local place off of the Royal Mile, then caught a bus home. I was in such a good mood on the bus that neither the smelly man directly next to me nor the crying baby directly in front of me phased me at all- that is one freaking good mood to manage that.

Pictures!

This is actually from Thursday morning while I was walking to class. Ahhhh sunnnnn.

Look at that green! I smell spring!! No reality, please. I need that one.

That's St. Giles Cathedral in the background.

Sunnnn! And a phone booth.

Victoria Street.

I don't really have a reason. I thought it was pretty.

The dog on the right is "Greyfriar's Bobby," after which the very famous pub behind him is named. He's kind of an unofficial mascot for Edinburgh.

Peter, my physics/math teacher-tour guide. Because he's of german descent, his tartan kilt is actually the "european foreigner" pattern. You can tell because it's blue, red, black, and yellow.