Scotland Part II: A Sunny Disposition

On Friday morning, I went downstairs to get breakfast and I found Keith and Rebecca, a lady from California that was staying in Edinburgh for a day.  She had arrived on a sleeper train from London.  After a lovely breakfast, I headed out to catch the bus to Portobello, a beach in Edinburgh.   I had heard about this beach on a Rick Steves Podcast and Keith had also informed me that he was born there.  With his recommendation, I was ready to go!   I arrived at the beach at around 9:30.  It turned out to be the perfect spot full only of locals and their dogs.  It was like an amazing oasis from the tourists!  The weather was perfect, with just a few scattered clouds on a blue sky... something incredibly rare around that part of the world!

After a lovely walk around the coast, I took a bus to town.  I will say this.... buses here are VErY slow and stop at EVERY corner!  It is almost faster to walk!  As far as efficiency rating on its transportation system... Berlin has Edinburgh beat!  There was a lady on my bus sitting quietly... after 30 minutes I thought I heard her hit herself... I thought I must have imagined it, but then it happened again! She kept slapping herself and hitting the bag next to her.  Then the cursing began and soon... the hole second story of the bus was terrified.   While the situation was escalating, we reached my final destination, Princess Street, and I got off.  The views were incredible! Blue skies make the grass greener and the flowers even more beautiful!  On Princess Street, there is a huge garden/park (whatever you choose to call it).


In the middle one finds the Scottish National Gallery, where one can find Rodin's Kiss, many works by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, and many Scottish artists.  It was beautifully laid out and the lobby even had WIFI!!!!!! Oh Berlin, you have a ways to go!! Downstairs one finds the Scottish section of the museum. I also found a group of 3rd graders (or 4th or so) that were thrilled to be visiting the museum on a field trip.  Side note: the uniforms here are adorable!!! While browsing through the Scottish art, the Scottish pride that is seen throughout Edinburgh became even more obvious.

After my visit, I headed across the street to H&M, where I bought some shoes to wear to Ghost the Musical on Saturday night.  After a quick purchase, I headed to a deli and bought a chorirzo and pear panini! Instead of sitting down at the restaurant, I opted for having a quiet picnic and a nap on the lawn (Princes Garden).   It was gorgeous and soo warm!! I laid on the grass listening to the Diary of Anne Frank for over and hour! 

 Refreshed, I headed to Starbucks for some iced coffee and a regrouping/planning session.  There, I concluded that I would head to the National Museum of Scotland.  I dreaded being inside (due to the amazing weather), so I planned to make the trip short and sweet!  Again, the Scottish pride was clear.  The building is HUGE and is designed to maximize the space throughout its 6 stories so that thousands of Scottish artifacts can be displayed.  It is incredibly impressive! I took a quick look around and then headed to the 7th floor terrace to look around.  The view was amazing, but I knew that I could do better once Chase joined me!  Once Chase arrived, we were planning on climbing Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh's highest volcanic mountain!

View from the terrace!

 From the museum, I headed to the Meadows Park, which was full of people laying around, playing soccer, grilling out, and enjoying the sun.

The Meadows

Walking past the crowds, a guy caught my attention.  He was walking in front of me with a huge head of curls... kicking a soccer ball... next thing I know, he passes the ball to a 5 or 6 year old kid who was walking by.  The kids eyes lit up! He got so excited and kicked the ball back to the 20(ish) year old guy, who continued on his walk as if nothing had happened.  But man... that little boy was so excited!!! After walking pass the lawns, the playgrounds, the tennis courts, and the cricket fields I realized that i was very close to Pollack Halls.  What are these halls?  Well they are the University dorms for the University of Edinburgh that hosted our theater group in 2009. I was so excited and I knew I had to stop by!! After 30 minutes of walking, I faced some amazing memories.... Snapping as many pictures as possible, I walked by our old practice rooms, our grassy knoll, our dorms, the cafeteria, and the steps that heard many of our secrets throughout our days in Edinburgh... My first stop was our little shop that provided us with sandwiches and snacks in 2009. I was determined to find a sandwich like the amazing goat cheese sandwich that Norma shared with me on top on Arthur's seat in 2009, but instead... I had to settle for a Brie and grape sandwich.  Sitting on the steps of campus, I got a bright idea!

The Grassy Knoll

The View of Arthur's Seat from Pollack Halls

Thanks to eduroam, an internet agreement between European Universities that provides all students enrolled in a European University with access to internet on campuses, I was able to Skype Maia!!! I was so happy to get to tour her around the campus a bit and reminisce on the wonderful experience that we had... After a few minutes Maia asked excitedly, "have you gone up yet?  To Arthur's Seat?"  Um... No... I was tempted to go that morning, but with my fear of heights I had decided it was smart to wait on chase!  She laughed and insisted that I couldn't NOT do it!  After talking to Maia, I checked my facebook and saw a message from Chase.... "Hope you brought your rain gear, 90% chance of rain tomorrow!" Bad news.... the weather for Saturday... (the day we had to climb Arthur's seat) was RAIN.  He wasn't surprised, because he has been living in the UK this whole semester... but the sun had spoiled me!!!! What now??? Maia would kill me if I didn't climb!!! But how could I do it alone!?!?! And it was already 6 pm!!!!  I had just eaten a sandwich... what???? Could I make it up before it got dark?

Clearly hiking the wrong path!

I had to try... so I hurriedly walked to the mountain and started climbing/hiking up.   Quickly I started getting out of breath.  Gosh.... I knew that would happen.  The last time I had climbed it... I legitimately had to be bribed into no quitting after the first 20 minutes. I HATE HEIGHTS!!! Out of breath and frustrated, I quickly realized I had chosen the wrong path... but hey! the view was awesome!! OK... so maybe it only circled the mountain and then went back down... I was tired... it was still really high... I HATE HEIGHTS!!!!!

View from the hike up the wrong path...

When the path got back to the bottom it was already 7:00.  But where this path ended... another one began.... and I knew that even though it wasn't the one we took in 2009, it was one that would take me to the very top!!! But I was soo tired... but Maia would kill me... so up I went! People were still climbing.... there was still light!!!! One fourth of the way up things got ugly.  Everyone climbing sounded like sick, overweight cows, gasping for air while drowning in a pool.  My legs hurt, my panic (remember my fear of heights) set in, but I couldn't stop!!! No!!! Last time I had Jordan to keep me going, but this time I had Maia's words ("you have to!!!!").  I kept going and when I was trying to climb (no longer hike) the last, steepest, and highest part, I hear a lovely Scottish lady yelling after me,  "miss, didn't you have a scarf?"  Crap!!! Why yes, I did have a scarf... but I guess somewhere between fearing for my life, trying not to fall, pulling myself up, and struggling to get enough air... I must have lost it.   "It's fine!" I yelled trying to hide the fact that I was out of breath, "I will get it on the walk down!"  "If it's still there," I thought to myself... I was sooo aware that it probably wouldn't be there, but if I went down.... I would never make it to the top.

About the location where the lady called after me

So I kept going and sacrifices my scarf!!! A few minutes later I made it to the top!!! The view was amazing and my plan was to wait up there for the sun set.  I started quickly to snap as many "selfies" (pictures of me taken by me!) as possible, because I knew no one would believe me that I made it up! These are just some of the last ones!

Clearly just had a bit to go...the color of my face says it all!

Made it!!!!!!

The amazing view from the top!

More amazing views from the top!

But once up there.... I couldn't get down fast enough.. you see.... when you are at the top... there's nothing to block the wind... and for one afraid of heights... it feels like you are about to be blown off.  No matter how ridiculous that sounds when you compare me to the tiny little teenage couple that was in front of me... No one was flying away!  I also needed to make sure I could climb the steepest, hardest part with some light, because I was down on 4 legs trying to make it down!! Once I got past this little stretch, I knew I could make it all the way down even without much light!  So I found a nice cliff  and settled in to wait for the sun to set! Oh! I almost forgot! On the way down, I found my scarf nicely placed between some rocks!! I love Scotts! At around this point I made this video to record the monumental moment and the view... it's incredibly embarrassing but I wanted to share it all with you!

The excitement was too much!!!

Me and my cliff!

From my cliff, I enjoyed the amazingness and pondered.  The last time I climbed this... I was with an incredible group of people that changed my life forever.  Our group headed up the mountain with Jack jumping from rock to rock without a care in the world... I was panicked enough for both of us I think... Now... just 4 years later I sat on this cliff thinking about Jack... about how we lost him too soon... and appreciating all of the memories we all have of him... Arthur's seat is a magical place.... a peaceful place.




As the sun went down, I continued to take a million pictures that would later serve as proof of my incredible day. 

Sun set!

I wanted to capture how wonderful it felt sitting on that rock... but at around 8:45, my phone suddenly died. WHAT??? The sun was still setting!! It still had 18%!!!! I had my map, my bus plan, my compass, my everything on that phone!!! I didn't even know what time it was without it!!!! Ugh!!! I couldn't wait for the sun to set now!!! I had to find my way home before it got dark!!!I hurried down the mountain and headed in the direction I felt was right.... At 9:30 I arrived back to Pollack Halls! I couldn't believe I made it!!! Oh wait... where would I go from there!?!?!   I got on a random bus, prayed a lot, and hoped it would take me to the Royal mile, where I had gotten off tha bus that morning.  And it did!!! But then.... I remembered that I had taken the bus from the beach that morning!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!! Disconcerted again I was ready to sit down on the street and pout.  I had left home 12 hours ago!!! And taking out my time in the park and the bus rides, I had been walking/hiking/climbing for 10 hours!!!!  I finally found the way home and after a 40 minute walk (and some runs through terrifying dark parts) I made it home at 10:20 pm.  My legs wanted to kill me, but I was thrilled and exhausted!!!!

Fun fact---- when I came down the mountain I was only a 15 minute walk away from home... not 2 hours plus!!! Not forgetting my map again!!!