In Edinburgh with Riikka

So my friend Riikka came today, hooray :) I slept too late, as usual, but still managed to get to Edinburgh just in time: at the very moment I stepped off the train in Waverley Station, Riikka called me that she's in the centre now. So, we spent our first day in Edinburgh, because that's where Riikka's plane landed. Here's a picture-focused post about our gorgeous day.


First, we headed to a nice wine bar to fill our bellies with some risotto. Mmmm!


Then off to the Castle. My third time. But still worth the 11 quid, because the Castle is so huge that you'll always spot something new. Here's Riikka and Mons Meg.


A cemetery for soldiers' dogs. Aaaawwww! :D Never seen that before!

Besides the usual Scottish Honours (crown jewels), the Stone of Scone and all, we also checked out some cool prisons from the 1700s and 1800s, some of which reminded me of Bad Girls TV series. There was also an amazing exhibition about prison life in the 1700s. All worth checking out if you, my beloved readers, happen to go to Edinburgh some day.

After the Castle we headed for Greyfriars Graveyard, where the grave of a famous skye terrier, Bobby, was to be found:


Me and Greyfriars Bobby. After his master's death this little terrier guarded his grave for 14 years until the very day he died. No matter what the weather! If you don't know the story, do go and read it, you cannot help falling in love with this little creature...


Bobby was buried near his master on the same graveyard. The stone says: 'Let his loyalty be a lesson to us all'.


After saying hello to Bobby we continued walking all the way to Holyrood Park. The goal was to tackle Arthur's Seat (tuttavallisesti, Artturin Palli), the greatest hilltop in the picture below (the pic is a view from the Castle):




On our way to Holyrood Park we came across this curious, futuristic building that later turned out to be the Parliament Halls. I'm sure this divided opinions when it was built.

As we stepped inside the Holyrood Park the sun began to shine. It was supposed to rain today so I was more than happy. Before tackling the Real Thing we had to do some warm-up excercises. Here are views on the way up another hilltop:




Puffing, puffing! 'Is it really this steep all the way up?!' Riikka wondered. She had just had the flu so she wasn't in the best condition for tackling hilltops. By the way, the bushes with yellow flowers smelled of Piz Buin sun lotion! Wonder why! Suddenly images of lying on a beach in Spain flashed in our minds :D




Arthur's Seat looming invitingly behind me. When Riikka saw it she asked dubiously, 'You mean it's THAT hilltop we're going to climb?!' Yep! :D Stories tell that people often climb up that hill after a night out, which sometimes ends quite miserably...


Short of breath. Taking a break before continuing the rather strenous climb.


Finally! Having a well-deserved break on the top.


Views from the top. The light was amazing.

We took another way down (which I wasn't aware of until today), a lot easier, just some light descent and then walking on a street back to our starting point. On our way there we saw nice little ponds and a gorgeous swan lake.


Arthur's Seat on the background.


The ruined wall adds the final touch to this pic, doesn't it?

After Holyrood Park, walking/crawling back to the centre to find a decent restaurant. I remembered that there's Garfunkel's somewhere which could cater for my craving for Asian stuff and Riikka's craving for salad. It took several phone calls to my parents (Edinburgh experts) and an hour to find that Garfunkel's though, but it was well worth the effort, I got tasty Thai Green Curry and Riikka filled her belly with unlimited salad bar. Mmmm!


Night was already falling when we hopped on the train to Glasgow. Three more days ahead, let's see what we figure out :) I don't know if I have time to keep you updated or not, but trying to ;)