A day in Edinburgh
On saturday Alyssa and I took a daytrip to Edinburgh, and it was such a memorable and perfect day. We explored the city by foot, went to a café and a restaurant, had ice cream in a park, went to a market, visited The National Gallery, listened to and watched different street performers (there was a swing dance flashmob right outside The National Gallery; so cool and unexpected), and had the best conversations about God, politics, cultural differences, plans for the future, dreams about travelling and so on. I am so greatful that I have a friend like her here.
Walking up this staircase I had a moment of I-am-so-blessed-to-be-able-to-do-this. Adding Edinburgh to the list of European cities I have fallen in love with.
We walked to the old castle, through the really touristy Royal Mile ('cause one does not simply go to a new city without at least a brief amount of touristing). We found theme park mirrors. Aren't we gorgeous?
We visited a cute little street market, and Alyssa picked out this beautiful leather notebook to give her sister as a birthday present.
On friday night I convinced her to try painting her nails black (my fav colour of nail polish, and everything else a person can wear for that matter;clothes, shoes etc.) and she said she actually quite likes it. Yes! *I have succeeded*
The streets in Edinburgh are built in different levels (because of the hills), so one street led us out to this gorgeous terrace from which there was a staircase which led down to another street just beneath it.
Edinburgh definitely feels like a city, but not a big city in the same way as Stockholm does. And it can't even be compared to London. Edinburgh is so much less busy.
We visited the Scottish National Gallery, and it was really interesting to go there with Alyssa because she has previously studied an Art and Literature course where she learned different ways to interpret paintings. So we discussed the meanings of the different pieces of art.
Emperors from the Roman Empire.
We had lunch at a restaurant called "A Room in The West End". Really cozy atmosphere with polite people working there.
The salmon dish with chickpeas and tomatoes was absolutely heavenly.
After dinner we walked back to Princess Street and got ice cream from Ben's Cookies.
If you ever go to Ben's Cookies (to be found all over britain), ask for a "Cookie Monster". It is a big cookie of choice with either chocolate or vanilla ice cream, or both if you want. The chocolate ice cream is sooo good! It even has chocolate chips in it. (A girl I studied with in London gave me the tip actually. Cred to Kristin).
We brought the ice cream to a park and sat there and talked for a long while. We talked about the places we want to visit during this year abroad. Since Alyssa is american (from La Porte, close to Chicago), this exchange year is one of few times in her life (unless she decides to move permanently to Europe) when she has got the opportunity to travel around in Europe without having to buy expensive plane tickets to cross the Atlantic. Which means her and I really should go travelling in other parts of Europe when we have the time. So stay tuned for that.
We walked from the park across this bridge, and slightly hidden on the other side was a really cool zig-zag walking trail up the mountain. We walked up and found ourselves gazing at the most amazing view of Edinburgh.
Then we walked back down the mountain and found ourselves in a park again.
After that we decided to got to this really cool but madly expensive shop that suitingly enough is called "Anthropologie". Go there if you can, just to check it out (you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to).
To finish the day off we went to Pret A Manger to get coffee and sandwiches, as an evening snack before we took the bus back to St Andrews again. And that is pretty much it from Edinburgh. At least for now. We will go back there, no doubt about it.
