UK trip part 1: Edinburgh

After an overnight flight at the end of a very long day, during which neither Britt nor I slept a wink, tryfanstone collected us at the Edinburgh airport, shepherded us into the bed at her flat, gave us her spare keys, and then went off to work. A couple of hours of delicious sleep later, by afternoon we were ready to be tourists. Along with everybody else in the world; Edinburgh is a major tourist destination, and as we walked along the Royal Mile toward the castle, the crowd thickened. (And this was early-season! I'm told it's ten times worse during the festival season in August - I can't imagine!)

Edinburgh is a grey city: grey stone buildings, grey skies. Narrow streets cross even narrower alleys (closes and wynds), and even the 'new' part of town dates to the 18th century - the 'old' stuff is literally medieval - so at times I felt like the Awesome Weight of History was closing in all around me. (Not to mention the Awesome Weight of Tourists!) But the city is thickly dotted with parks and open spaces, and the deep green of trees and grass (and the ubiquitous golden gorse) stands out even more vividly against all that grey.

( The Firth of Forth and the Stone of Scone )