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Two days of outings.
The first was incredibly hot after weeks of rain and autumnly weather. It must have been over 25 degrees Celsius. Scorching, I say.
First, we went up the Royal Mile, through a number of Festival visitors that seemed to exceed the entire populatio of Scotland. It was so crowded that I didn't manage to get into Riddle's Court, which was supposed to be my first stop on a find-HP-related-places project. I think I'll have to wait with that until the Festival is over.
Anyhow. We walked along the south side of the castle, found a charming farmer's market and visited St. John's:

The castle from a new angle.

St John

and its fan-vaulted ceiling.

Again the castle. It does crop up everywhere. This is at Shandwick Place, where we bought day tickets for the bus system. Or so we thought. Turns out, you not only need to know the bus number but also the operating company. Fortunately, we found an alternative route after being told that our tickets were no good in bus no. 43. Not being able to take the bus, we decided to walk on and visited the Village of Dean:

First glimpse of Dean.

View from the Bridge of Dean.
We then took the bus to a retail park, where I wanted to pick up the last plum-coloured Olympics T-shirt in all of Edinburgh.
On the internet it said: 'This garment is a fashionable tight fit. For a regular fit, order one size up.' Hm. I ordered a size 16. Let's just say that my very slim 9-year-old daughter now has a perfectly fitting T-shirt. That's just not right. And it does nothing for my body image.
We crawled home with our purchases to rest for an hour or so and then head to Leith. I paid for those day tickets and I would get my money's worth, dammit!
Of course, after an hour at home, the weather went from scorching to cold, windy, damp and... foggy!

Waiting for the bus in front of the Scottish Parliament.

The Royal Yacht Britannia. We were late, it was foggy and we couldn't get any nearer.

But I am 97% sure it is the Royal Yacht Britannia.

I have no idea what this is, but in the fog it was a tad bit creepy.

Tania and Ida at Ocean Terminal.
Two days later, we were on the way to my bank, when we decided to use the beautiful day to climb Calton Hill. It's Edinburgh's first public park, dating back to the 1700's. It is home to a rather odd assortment of monuments, the Edinburgh Observatory and, as I understand, a former prison...

Walking up Hume's Walk, view to the Forth of Firth.

Holyrood Palace seen from Calton Hill.

What we dubbed the Lighthouse Monument. It's actually Nelson Monument.

Tania in front of the Dugald Stewart Monument. First, the guy in the back climbed up the side of the hill, over the low wall, then he refused to get out of the picture for what seemed forever. When I thought he was finally gone, he jumped back in!

View over Edinburgh. See that big building with the clocktower? What could it be? The town hall? A hospital? No. It's a hotel of all things.
The first was incredibly hot after weeks of rain and autumnly weather. It must have been over 25 degrees Celsius. Scorching, I say.
First, we went up the Royal Mile, through a number of Festival visitors that seemed to exceed the entire populatio of Scotland. It was so crowded that I didn't manage to get into Riddle's Court, which was supposed to be my first stop on a find-HP-related-places project. I think I'll have to wait with that until the Festival is over.
Anyhow. We walked along the south side of the castle, found a charming farmer's market and visited St. John's:

The castle from a new angle.

St John

and its fan-vaulted ceiling.

Again the castle. It does crop up everywhere. This is at Shandwick Place, where we bought day tickets for the bus system. Or so we thought. Turns out, you not only need to know the bus number but also the operating company. Fortunately, we found an alternative route after being told that our tickets were no good in bus no. 43. Not being able to take the bus, we decided to walk on and visited the Village of Dean:

First glimpse of Dean.

View from the Bridge of Dean.
We then took the bus to a retail park, where I wanted to pick up the last plum-coloured Olympics T-shirt in all of Edinburgh.
On the internet it said: 'This garment is a fashionable tight fit. For a regular fit, order one size up.' Hm. I ordered a size 16. Let's just say that my very slim 9-year-old daughter now has a perfectly fitting T-shirt. That's just not right. And it does nothing for my body image.
We crawled home with our purchases to rest for an hour or so and then head to Leith. I paid for those day tickets and I would get my money's worth, dammit!
Of course, after an hour at home, the weather went from scorching to cold, windy, damp and... foggy!

Waiting for the bus in front of the Scottish Parliament.

The Royal Yacht Britannia. We were late, it was foggy and we couldn't get any nearer.

But I am 97% sure it is the Royal Yacht Britannia.

I have no idea what this is, but in the fog it was a tad bit creepy.

Tania and Ida at Ocean Terminal.
Two days later, we were on the way to my bank, when we decided to use the beautiful day to climb Calton Hill. It's Edinburgh's first public park, dating back to the 1700's. It is home to a rather odd assortment of monuments, the Edinburgh Observatory and, as I understand, a former prison...

Walking up Hume's Walk, view to the Forth of Firth.

Holyrood Palace seen from Calton Hill.

What we dubbed the Lighthouse Monument. It's actually Nelson Monument.

Tania in front of the Dugald Stewart Monument. First, the guy in the back climbed up the side of the hill, over the low wall, then he refused to get out of the picture for what seemed forever. When I thought he was finally gone, he jumped back in!

View over Edinburgh. See that big building with the clocktower? What could it be? The town hall? A hospital? No. It's a hotel of all things.