Edinburgh Adventure

Last week, we finally made it to Edinburgh to have a look around, experience some Christmas magic, and hear a talk on Deleuze by D.N. Rodowick. I took the day off of work, and we got up early to catch the bus. Most people take the train (like we did when we arrived) because it's faster and "more comfortable" but we decided the price break would be worth trying out the bus. Smart move! The buses here are incredibly cushy, and our bus to Edinburgh even had wi-fi!

As soon as we got into the city, we noticed that there were statues and monuments everywhere. Since our bus stopped right by St. Andrews square, we assumed we would find a St. Andrew statue somewhere nearby. This one was really tall, but not St. Andrew.



This one was pretty cool, but also not St. Andrew. Do you see a trend? We have a lot of statue pictures from our game of "Is that St. Andrew?" but we never ended up finding him. Maybe next time.



After a lovely lunch in a pub on Rose Street, complete with rarebit, fish and chips, and pints of draft and cider (perfection), we headed to the Christmas extravaganza down in the Princes Street Gardens. Here's a map if you want a sense of the city. Of course, we found a free art museum right behind the market, and since we were feeling a little full from lunch for the mulled wine and Highland market wares, we headed inside to look at some paintings depicting Scottish history.



But the Christmas wheel wouldn't wait for long, and since it was a gorgeous day, we headed back outside fairly soon. I was really excited to go up in the wheel! Matt was also really thrilled about the Christmas activities...I think that's what is going on in this picture, anyway.



There was also an ice skating rink, which we fully intended to take advantage of but of course ran out of time before we had to head to University of Edinburgh for our talk.



But we did get to go up in the wheel, and it afforded us quite the view of the city! Matt has a video of the ride, but you'll have to wait until he gets around to formatting it to experience the magic.



Then we were off to find the University, which turned out to be a short 20 minute walk from downtown. We ended up being misdirected a few times, so we got to see the Old College as well, but eventually we found the room we needed. Rodowick's talk was great, but I'll keep Deleuze off this blog for the sake of retaining our readership :)



The campus was absolutely gorgeous, and we had an amazing dinner at the "Library Bar." Yes, a library that is also a bar/restaurant for students! It had books everywhere (duh), Christmas lights, delicious food and cheap drinks, and we may or may not have spent a little too much extra time there and missed the last bus back to St. Andrews.



Whoops! I did come across an example of urban knitting on the way to the bus station, which was exciting, but our general enthusiasm was slightly dampened when we learned that there were no more buses for the night. There was a period of slight panic, some great help from people on the street/bartenders/a member of Matt's cohort, and we finally ended up finding a pretty cheap room for the night. At this point we were completely exhausted, our camera lens had fogged up after being out in the cold streets of Edinburgh for hours (which sounds a bit more dramatic then it actually was)...and all I can offer as a conclusion is this picture:



Despite the unintentional overnight stay, we absolutely loved Edinburgh and can't wait to go back and explore the city some more.