Muddy

This is the result of a 2 1/2 hour walk around and up the Braid Hills, second highest of the Seven Hills of Edinburgh. Five hills down; two more to go.

Happy Birthday to Me*! How old am I again?

Yes, today is my birthday! I turned 38 37. Definitely 37. If my older sister is turning 40 this year, and I am almost three years younger, then I can't be turning 38 right?

At some point in the past year or so, I seemed to have aged myself a year in my head. I'm fairly sure that I've thought of myself as being 37 all this past year, and so until I did the math about a month ago, I was sure that I was turning 38.

I'm still having a hard time remembering that I'm only 37 now. The notion was that firmly entrenched. Maybe by next year, it will have sunk in.

In other news, my little sister is visiting, and she arrived today! I can't remember the last time I spent my actual birthday with friends (come July, most leave on holiday), not to mention family.

We walked around the city a bit, and climbed up all 387 steps of the Scott Monument for fabulous views of the city, as well as some disturbing gothic architecture.

The Scott Monument. We climbed to the very top! All 287 steps!

Little Sis and me* on the Scott Monument.

In some spots on the climb up the spiral stair (which is twisting the WRONG way), it gets to be a bit of a squeeze.

View of Edinburgh Castle from the Scott Monument.

Arthur's Seat view from the top of the Scott Monument

Ok, dog faces aren't too bad.

But then there's also lots of gargoyles.

And these creepy faces stuck all over the place!

In the evening we went for a run around the neighborhood. We ran a literary version of the Horrible Hill Route, running by the homes of Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, and J.K. Rowlings. Running Partner E. was the tour guide.

Aside: My younger sister totally mocked the difficulty of the Horrible Hill. Some day, Horrible Hill, I will no longer be lame and I will be able to run up and conquer you!

To end the day, we enjoyed a pint of Caledonian 80 at the Morning Glory pub down the road. (Sorry, CMS, we didn't ask around for Billy and Alex.)

On tap for tomorrow: A bit of work during the day and then hopefully a Literary Pub Crawl in the evening.

4 of 7 Hills

Edinburgh like most of Scotland is not flat. I know, shocking. In fact, there are seven hills in Edinburgh. The most well known are Castle Rock (on which Edinburgh Castle is perched), Calton Hill, and Arthur's Seat. There's also Blackford Hill (home of the Royal Observatory), Braid Hills, Craiglockhart Hill, and Corstorphine Hill.

If you're crazy and so inclined, there's even the 7 Hills of Edinburgh race every year. There were 330 finishers this year, with the winner finnishing in 01:43:06.

Today I went on a walk of four of the seven hills with 5 other walkers. It took us 4 hours, 5 hours if you count the walk down the last hill to the pub at the end. Of course we stopped to admire the view at the top of each hill, so maybe it was only about 4 hours or so of walking and climbing.

Whatever. It works out to be over 8 1/2 miles of walking.

If you're interested, here is the map.



The 8.69 miles were on top of a 4.71 mile run this morning. I'm not sure why I thought this was a good idea. The question now is whether I'm going to be able to walk to work tomorrow.

Even though it was feeling like my legs were going to fall off towards the end, it was a great day out! Pleasant walking company. A beautiful day after a brief but heavy downpour at the start. And a pint of cider at the end.

Here are some pictures of some of the views.

Castle Rock - This is a picture taken from the Esplanade. The blue stadium seating is for the Tatoo.

Scott Monument and the Princes Street Gardens, walking from Edinburgh Castle to Calton Hill

Looking back toward Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill

Top of Calton Hill

Walking toward Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill

Looking back toward Calton Hill from Arthur's Seat

Top of Arthur's Seat

View from Arthur's Seat

View from from Arthur's Seat

Looking back toward Arthur's Seat from Blackford Hill

Toward the top of Blackford Hill

Braid Hills from the top of Blackford Hill. Farther away in the distance are the Pentand Hills.

Craiglockhart Hill from the top of Blackford Hill

Corstorphine Hill from the top of Blackford Hill

Great Edinburgh Run, with Daleks and Stormtroopers!

So I ran in the Great Edinburgh Run today. And walked in it quite a bit as well. This was my second 10k race, but I was just not in the mood. My stomach was aching (thanks to what I took for the headache I woke up with), and my legs were tired for no reason I could figure. And there were hills. And I forgot tissues, so by about kilometer 6 in desperation I turned to wiping my nose on my sleeve, yuck. Given that I'm not one to really push myself on a good running day, I whimped out rather early. Whine, whine, whine.

But, it was a terrific day to be out and about Edinburgh! And I took my camera, because I was already planning to have fun with the race, even before I decided to whimp out.

The race started on the George IV Bridge, right in the middle of Old Town.


We started the race by crossing the Royal Mile and heading down the Mound for views of Edinburgh Castle and the National Gallery.



After a short jaunt through one of the Princes Street Gardens, we headed back up toward the Royal Mile.



Then it was down the Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament and and past Holyrood Palace. Most of the rest of the first half of the race was spent running below Arthur's Seat.



The middle bits of the race were less interesting, running through parts of the city that are certainly historical, but not really worth stopping to take a picture. One cool thing about Edinburgh is that the city is 3 dimensional. A bit more than half-way, we actually ran under the George IV Bridge where the race started.


The race ended with a run around the Meadows and back to George IV Bridge for the finish.


In all honesty, Edinburgh doesn't get much prettier than this. If you were ever thinking of visiting, now is the right time of year!



As in many races, there are the folks who like to take it to the extreme with their race kit. Or lack there of. Sorry ladies, I wasn't quite brave enough to snap a pic of the nearly naked guy, who was only wearing shoes and what looked like an adult version of underoos. There was also a guy running in a kilt. But the best costumes by far were the dalek and the storm trooper with cross-dressing Leia.




I just checked my official time, and I finished in 1:19:43. What?! I have how idea how this is possible given how much I walked. That's under a 13 min/mile average pace. Bah!

Mom and Dad Visit Scotland: Days 1 & 2

Yay, my parents have come to Edinburgh to visit!

Day 1: Mom and Dad arrived on Wednesday afternoon, about 6 hours late due to weather delays out of Pittsburgh. These delays also caused them to miss their connecting flight in Newark, so they ended up taking a later flight, which first took them through London, Gatwick. And of course with all the rearranging of travel, their bags couldn't keep up. Argh.

Because of the late arrival, we didn't do much other than exchanging money at the post office and then grocery shopping. Dinner was Black Bean Polenta Pie. Yummmmm! This is the first time I've had the chance to make this for anyone.

We were all exhausted, so it was a fairly early night.

Day 2: We got off to a slow start, but it was a nice day for Edinburgh -- cloudy with the occasional break in the clounds letting the sun shine through, and not too windy. Just a few sprinkles later in the afternoon.

We walked across the Bruntsfield Links and through the Meadows to my place of work. Along the way, we stopped to admire these beautiful spring flowers.



After showing off my fairly unremarkable office and extremely cluttered desk, we walked into Old Town, stopping to have lunch at The Elephant House. The Elephant House bills itself as the birthplace of Harry Potter. It is one of the coffee shops where J.K. Rowlings would go to write.



After lunch, we wound our way down Candlemaker Row, then up Victoria Street and George IV Bridge to the Royal Mile. We crossed High Street and leisurely strolled down the Mound. From here, the Castle is clearly visible, rising above the Princes Street Gardens on the left. Here are a couple of pictures of my parents in front of the Gardens.



We ended our day at the tourist infomation center, where we bought tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Tour, a two-day pass with entrance to the Castle, the Palace, and the Royal Yacht Britannia. That's for Saturday.

We took the bus back to my flat, and I made Chicken Parmesan for dinner, with a Tivali escalope for me. Mom and Dad said it was yummy, and I was pleased. I think this is only the second time I've cooked chicken in my life. In the evening, we watched an episode of the Vicar of Dibley. (Thanks, Scope, for giving me the idea!) Just as we were starting to watch, my parents luggage was delivered! There was definitely much rejoycing.

Tomorrow we're planning to hit a couple museums. The weather is supposed to be pure Scotland: very windy and rainy, and not much fun to be out there.

The Union Canal

A couple weekends ago, I took myself for a walk along the Union Canal. I'd been told the canal was a nice place to walk, and it's only a short 5 minute walk away from my flat. Once I got there, I realized that I am a complete idiot. I could have been going for walks along here since I moved here, almost a year ago.





It was a beautiful day. Fall, my favorite time of year, was in full swing. Folks were out walking their dogs, running, and riding bikes. People smiled when you passed them. I passed a grandpa and grandkid feeding bread to some of the local wildlife. There are lots of ducks. I like ducks.

This morning I went for a run/walk down by the canal. Even though two weeks have passed, it's still beautiful with fall. After about 10 minutes, it started to feel like my soul had just released a long sigh and eased down into a comfy, soft sofa. That's really the only way I can think to describe it. I must, must, must make this part of my routine.

Below are a few more pictures that I particularly liked from my walk a couple weeks ago. The sweet kitty is one that I passed on the way home who let me pet her for a few minutes. Getting to scratch a cat behind his or her ears always makes my day.