After our marathon Saturday in Glasgow, Garett and I took a short break on Sunday and just went to the Edinburgh Mela in the park across from us. The Mela is a general celebration of diversity and seems to focus particularly on the Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities. Here’s a picture of the circus there. The man was about to swallow a sword. There was a huge crowd.

Monday was a day that one Scottish man told us was “dreich”–this is pronounced like a portmanteau of dreary and bleak–meaning horrendously cold, wet, and icky. For this reason, we chose an indoor activity and stopped by the Georgian house. Here are a couple pictures. In each room there were experts who were so eager to tell you everything they knew. It ended up being much nicer than a true guided tour because you could ask as many questions as you liked. Scottish people are so chatty and friendly.

On Tuesday we went to Holyrood Park and climbed Arthur’s Seat, a mountain in the middle of the city. It’s on an extinct volcano. Here you can see it through the ruins of a chapel on one of the lower slopes. The mountain is a contender for the site of Camelot.

And here are Garett and I on two of its peaks. It had rained the day before, so it was a bit slippery, but the climb otherwise wasn’t too bad.

A couple views of Edinburgh from the top.

On Wednesday, we went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the Queen’s Scottish residence. “Holyrood” is a reference to the True Cross; the abbey next door had once contained actual relics of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. So cool.

There were no photographs inside the palace itself, but we’ve got a few good ones of the exterior. It was all very grand.

As you can see from the seal above the door, the official animal of Scotland is the Unicorn. The Unicorn is the only animal reputedly able to kill the lion, which just so happens to be the official animal of England. The Scots are clever.

The abbey outside of the palace is wonderful. I love it when things are only partially destroyed so that I can imagine what’s missing. This building is particularly evocative.

Just outside the abbey you can see Arthur’s Seat in the distance.

And another picture of Pip! She’s a sleepy little dog, so it’s hard to get a photo of her when she isn’t in her wee bed. These are our last few days here with her and Sue. We have had such a lovely time with them.