Edinburgh Festival

As I am not a great descriptive writer, I will let the pictures tell the story.  We had a lot of fun going  into the center of Edinburgh two nights in a row to the Royal Mile to witness the mayhem and fun of the performers.  On our last night in Edinburgh, we came back to Leith and ate at the Grainary.  It was a good way to end our time in Edinburgh.

No these are not performers, just spectators trying to get a better view.

Did we do enough?

With the approaching of our departure from Scotland, Bobby and I both kept asking each other, “Is there anything else you wanted to do?”  We like to do and see as much as possible, but there is no way we will be able to see and do all that a city has to offer.  In these last two days the Edinburgh Festival was in full swing.  I am going to do another post of pictures of the performers filling the Royal Mile with their acts.  There was so much variety, it has to be seen to be believed.

On my plane rides back and forth to the States, I read the first Harry Potter book.  (Yes, I know I am a bit late on that craze.)  So, I wanted to see the birth place of the Harry Potter books.  We even saw the actual school, George Heriot, for which she based her description of Hogwarts. 

We made it through Greyfriars Kirkyard to see the statue of the most faithful dog in the world.  This dog became known as Greyfriars Bobby because he supposedly spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself in 1872.  Now that is loyalty!

We enjoyed our time in Scotland.  We had amazing weather during the majority of our stay.  It was cold, but for more days than are typical it was sunny.  Although our apartment was small, I will miss it and the area.  I have found that moving on to another city is fun and hard at the same time.   I enjoy having familiarity with my surroundings and having a semblance of a routine, but I look forward to learning new routines too.  I loved Scotland and the beauty of this city.  Bobby was getting antsy because he was especially ready for a new challenge.  However hard it is to say goodbye, we all are ready for new adventures that await us in a new country not yet explored by us. 

Here are some fun shots of the outside of our building and the street that we lived:

This is the back of our building.  We lived on the 5th floor.    Too many times, one of us would forget the keys and the other would throw them down from the window. :)

Walking back home towards the front of the apartment. 

The entrance to our apartment.  

I loved this building.  It was across the street from the local grocery store. I loved the detail.  Built in 1864! 

Liam jumping off on his own. 

Amelie waiting while dad had to run up to the apartment to get something.  We do a lot of waiting. :)

Old MacDonald in Perspective

Visiting a farm within the city is a must-do with small children.  Gorgie's Farm is located in the heart of Edinburgh.  It helps put Old MacDonald into perspective for the kids as we saw a chick here, a chick there, here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick, chick.  

It also helps them understand the noises animals make.  Comedian Louis C.K. says it best and I wish I could include his 30 second stand up piece here, but I can't find it right now.  He has a bit that I find hilarious talking about how sheep don't sweetly say baaaa, but instead it sounds loud and scary BAAAA!   He also talks about how their fur is not soft and white and fluffy, but matted brown and super dirty.  It really is true!  The farm animals stink and are dirty and were constantly scaring Liam with their loud noises. 

Although that introduction is true, we actually had a really fun time walking around the farm.  We even helped the farmers by seeing then reporting that 2 goats had escaped from their fence.  We then watched while they had to chase them around and get them back into their fence (twice).  The workers forgot to fix the fence first so as soon as they put them back in, they immediately ran and jumped out again.  They were not laughing, but Bobby and I thought is was humorous.

The goats escaped to eat the nearby apples.

After we finished touring the farm, we made it to the playground just in time for the rain to start.  Everyone was okay with the change in weather as it was lunch time and we now had to take shelter in the Farm Café.  We enjoyed eating delicious sandwiches and homemade soup while listening to the rain. The kids were also given small plastic farm animals to play with as a treat with their meal.

After we finished up, the downpour had ceased and we could easily walk to the bus stop in the light drizzle.  We all were dragging our feet a bit because with the approaching next morning meant I was leaving for a week.  I really dreaded being away from my family for an entire week.  Thankfully, I am writing this after returning so all was well and everyone survived.

Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat beside Duddingston Loch

Arthur's Seat is a notable landmark of Edinburgh as it is a mountain that serves as the backdrop of the city.  I have read that climbing to the top provides excellent panoramic views of the city and surrounding Scotland on a clear day.  However, there is not much literature on exactly how to climb to the top.  There are many different trails and ways to climb to the top, but no ONE this is the path you take with small children in tow.  Since it seemed that there were easy and difficult routes to take, but lots of chances to blaze your own trail as well; we did as much research as we could and then decided to just go for it.  We determined to hike up the west side from Holyrood Palace and down the east side to Duddingston Village.

I have been wanting to hike Arthur's Seat since we arrived, and was very excited when we decided to set off to take on the challenge of hiking Arthur's Seat.  The other problem with reading reviews on TripAdvisor and other travel sites is that everyone has different tolerance levels and athletic abilities.  When I read that it was very challenging and rock-climbing skills could be needed, I was very nervous about going with a 22-month-old and 4-year-old.  However, the route we took was not challenging at all and was a lot of fun!

Amelie wasn't too keen on the uphill portion of the hike, but with ice-cream as a reward for completing this quest she gladly took on the challenge without much fuss.  Liam was very patient to sit in the pack while we hiked up the mountain and provided us with some laughs as we allowed him to hike down the mountain.  With it being a Saturday and nice weather, we were not alone on our quest to hike to the top.  It was fun to see other families out doing the same thing as we were...bribing our children to continue to push through and get to the top! ;)

St. Anthony's Chapel ruins on the mountain.  Not much is known about this chapel, but it is thought to have been built in the 1100's.  It seems very likely that St Anthony's Chapel was closely associated with Holyrood Abbey.  The two were linked by a well-made stone track (now heavily worn) with prominent kerbstones that can in places still be seen.

Only climbing a couple of feet provided us great views of the city.

Bobby carried Liam up the mountain while I carried Liam down the mountain (a little that is).  Amelie walked on her own.  She and I enjoyed looking for yellow and purple flowers on our journey.

We loved the views of the Forth too.  You can see Inchcolm Island in the background.

A nice flat spot near the top to have our picnic lunch of PB & honey while looking to where we needed to head next.

After eating lunch, Amelie decided to relax.  You can see Holyrood Palace and Abbey in the background.

Liam is the collector and collected a couple of rocks to carry with him.   

Right near the top, there was a little more climbing...nothing too crazy though.
  Amelie did a great job picking the way for us to climb.  At this point there was no one path to follow.

Did I mention that this is an extinct volcano, which erupted around 340 million years ago?

At the pinnacle of Arthur's Seat.

As we were walking around on top, Amelie was stung by a bee on her pointer finger.  She cried for a couple of minutes and we watched it swell.  She recovered fairly quickly, but I think a bee-phobia has now begun.
This picture was taken right after she was stung.

Since I am a science teacher this was also particularly interesting to me as this mountain holds a special place in the history of science, for it was here in the late 18th century that James Hutton found evidence to support his theories about the workings of the Earth. He observed igneous and sedimentary rocks and understood that they had been formed at different times by different processes. He suggested that the Earth was very old, and continually changing; a startling new idea that changed forever the way people thought about our planet, and influenced other scientists such as Charles Darwin. James Hutton is now recognised as the 'father of modern geology'.  

It was smart to take different paths going and coming as we were able to see other Lochs and other great views.
 Also, since the east trail is more like rolling grasslands, Liam was able to walk down
(and I got to carry an empty pack!).

He would get running so fast that his legs could not keep up with the momentum of his body.  At one point, he lunged for some soft grass and rolled to a stop.  We all laughed so hard that he continued to throw himself down in the grass as he went down the mountain.  

After we descended the mountain, we arrived at Duddingston Loch.  Duddingston Loch has been used for ice-skating and curling for several centuries.  In an earlier blog post, I showcased a famous Scottish painting of the Reverend Robert Walker ice-skating on Duddingston Loch.  We made our way through the cemetery surrounding the Duddingston Kirk.  We walked through the small village to the Sheep's Heid Pub for treats for the whole family.  Sheep's Heid is said to be Scotland's oldest pub, dating from 1360.

The Loch is now a bird sanctuary.

The swan family behind us was fun to watch.

Bobby reenacting the painting...

Amelie's promised ice-cream.  She generously shared with all of us.  It went above her expectations as it came with a chocolate chip cookie, mint leaves, and a strawberry.  We also ate "chips".