Extended Stay

Scotland
My lengthy and unexpected stay in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It was the middle of March and my wife, oldest son, and myself were taking a long anticipated trip to visit our youngest son in Scotland.

David has been studying there since the start of Covid through lockdowns and such, and we were bubbling with anticipation to see him.

We landed in Edinburgh on Thursday, March 17th for a 3 hour tour… in all seriousness, for 10 days.

What a magical, historic, and vibrant city, with a blend of “middle ages” buildings peppered with new modern buildings.

Castle to the left and to the right with the city center in the middle.

Pubs, cafes, restaurants, and shops sit side by side as far as the eye can see tempting you to expand your waistline or lighten your wallet.

Cuisines from all over the Eastern Hemisphere abound, from Africa to India, Asia, Mid East, Europe and yes the occasional stray from the west… Mexico. 

Although a few restaurants claim to have Cuban dishes, they turn out to be some form of Mexican food.

Maybe I can retire here and earn spare cash making the real thing with some strong cafecito and croquetas. The Scots will never know what hit them! But I digress.

Geology

For science lovers like myself, the city has a plethora of geologic sites.

Your first Scottish greeting comes from a beautiful feature the locals refer to as a hill, but is more widely known as Arthur’s Seat.

Legendary "Arthur's Seat"

It’s a magnificent display of what once was the inside of an extinct volcano. It gets its name from Camelot and the fabled King Arthur who allegedly won some battles here.

I must have taken dozens and dozens of pics and not one did it justice.

I had shots from the base and some near the top and while the eyes and the soul were tickled in real life, it didn’t come across on my iPhone

The Seat from the ground where it was nice & quiet

Mid way up the hill enjoying the beautiful wild flowers

It got very windy and somewhat rainy near the top, so decided to head back down.

After a quick exploration of the old volcano, it was off to see the school.

University of Edinburgh

We eventually made our way to the University and took in the sights. Here too the college blends the past with the present. The city is adorned with castles and utilitarian buildings that make the college a true international campus with a flair for history.

One of the many libraries for the school

More modern teaching buildings

School Emblem

Arthur's Seat to the left / School building on right

This castle next to the “Seat”, is an administrative building for the school!

Harry Potter?

It is widely believed this city is the birthplace of the young wizard boy.

Wide View of a local cemetery 

Gates of the cemetery 

Tom Who?

While it’s unclear if J.K. Rowling really penned the sorcery novels here, (she’s changed her story a few times) there are plenty of references found in the books. Inside the gates of a local cemetery, there are several names on gravestones that appear in her writings.

If you look closely on the marker to the left, you will find a very important one.

Allergies

We explored the city over the next few days. Warmer temps and sunny skies cued Mother Nature it was time for flowers, buds, and…

...Pollen! Lots of it.

My allergies perked up and I developed my usual runny nose, but it didn't hold me back from enjoying the offerings. I checked out the local museum which features the first cloned sheep "Dolly". She hasn't looked better.

The museum of Natural History - NO Charge

And from the huge...

To the not so big... "Dolly"

The annoying runny nose stopped after a couple of days and we trained out to Glasgow, a mere 45 minutes away.

I can't rave enough about this form of transportation. Beautiful clean trains are everywhere with wide, comfy seats. Best of all you arrive 15 minutes early, board and go.

Glasgow

Our trip here was not part of our itinerary, but it was a great adventure nonetheless. A roommate of my son happens to be an admirer of our "Weather or Not" podcast. Jack, sporting a nice red jacket in the picture, became an even bigger fan when we dedicated a whole issue to the COP26 conference held last year in Scotland. This is a global climate change get-together aimed at curbing the world's Co2 emissions.

Jack gave us a nice tour of his hometown, a gorgeous city dripping with history, culture, and modernism...

Our host, Jack, in the red

... he also invited us to dinner with his family. And then it was time to head back to Edinburgh.

Oh No!

After days of fun, food, and Ferro time, we now had to test for our return trip home. On March 26th, everyone tested negative for Covid, except me. This explains the two days of runny nose, but outside of that, I had no other symptoms. No cough, no fever, no body aches. Thank goodness for the shots!

My family came back on March 27th and I stayed behind in quarantine. My youngest checked up on me daily while I tried to make the best of it. After all, I did not feel sick in any way.

I had a nice room with a view, and even a friend of my son lent me a guitar to pass time. It was great!

My nice downtown hotel

Released

After what seemed like an eternity, my third follow up test on April 3rd, finally cleared me to fly. Now I just had to book a flight back. The soonest was on April 6th. This meant some one-one-one time with David.

Rosslyn Chapel

We decided to go see the chapel made famous by Dan Brown in his novel the "DaVinci Code". It's featured near the conclusion of the film. What a beautiful site.

But the best discovery was the Rosslyn Castle next door, or what's left of it. It's free to see, magnificent, surrounded by nature, and did I mention it's FREE?

Everything Comes to an End

We spent our last night walking and talking about things. That was the real treasure. These are all night shots of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

So this explains why a short vacation turned into an extended layover. Thank you for your concern, questions, and patience and above all the great 7Weather team that always pinches in at the drop of a hat.

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