Present Joys

I haven’t blogged in ages. In the intervening time, I got married, bought a house, and quit my day job. More on all that later. For now, I’m jumping back in to recount my adventures during a 12-day trip to Scotland and Ireland. I’ll be posting daily updates about my trip time-shifted 2 weeks.

So, friday. After almost a day of flying and layovers (and the time zone change), we finally arrived in Edinburgh at about 9 am friday morning. And after a bus ride and a few miles of schlepping bags through downtown, we arrived at our Airbnb at 10 am. Our host, Gill, was still getting the place ready for us, but she kindly let us drop off our bags and gave us a little map rundown. We had brunch at a cute little shop called Art and Vintage just around the corner. There was no sleeping on the plane, so at this point we’d been awake for almost 20 hours. We figured the best course of action would be to power through. That’s the way to combat jet lag, right?

After brunch, we took a short walk toward Holyrood Palace, the monarch’s official Scottish residence. This palace is still used by the Queen when she visits Scotland. It was a lovely building on lovely ground. The only lame part of that tour was the lack of any human tour guides! We paid for a “tour” (which we had to do to see inside), but the “tour” consisted of being handed a little pocket audio player with headphones. I’d choose an inarticulate, real tour guide over a prerecorded thing any day. Too bad about that.

We also popped into the Parliament building, which is just next door to the palace. It’s got a much warmer on the interior than I expected from the outside. It felt very pleasant in there—especially the debating chamber with its many windows and bright wood.

Continuing up the royal mile, we turned off at Dunbar’s Close, which a sort of hole-in-the-wall 17th century-style garden just off the main drag. We listened to a bit of an organ concert in the next-door Canongate Kirk, and visited Adam Smith’s grave, which is in the churchyard. Just up the street from that, the “Edinburgh Museum” has the original parchment copy of the National Covenant, which I didn’t even know when I wandered in. Very moving. We also visited the John Knox house, which was an odd little museum. It’s unclear whether Knox lived exactly there or not, but it was neat to see an old residence with its many stories, windy stairs, and drafty windows looking out onto the medieval street below. After the Knox house, Karen and I finally admitted to ourselves that we were too tired to really appreciate what we were looking at. Instead of continuing on up the Royal Mile and seeing things that cost money, we decided to try out the Royal Gallery, which is free and seemed like a good place to chill. The Gallery was wonderful—lusciously decorated (so much chroma on the walls!) and a very manageable size—but my favorite part of the museum was its layout. Each room led into the next very clearly, and I never felt like I was accidentally missing something. Karen dozed on a soft gallery bench while I wandered.

After the gallery, we walked the mile and a half back to our Airbnb and then a little farther, in order to pick up some groceries at a Sainsbury’s. We had a dinner of crackers and cheese and spent an hour completely zonked on the couch before rallying. We only have three days in this city. No time for jet lag. So we climbed Calton Hill as the sun set. Basically, it’s this majestic hill full of otherworldly monuments and buildings. The monuments are all way bigger and cooler than what I’d expect to find in the states. Our only other goal for the evening was finding a not-super-touristy pub with a trad music session going. Everything on the Royal Mile is so commercialized, but without any cell service, it was difficult to figure out where else to walk. In desperation, we ended up at a place back on the Royal Mile that was a lot like a TGI Friday’s. No music. Very cheesy. Better luck tomorrow night. I’d say we did pretty good for day one.

• British money is gorgeous. I remember people griping online about these new bills with transparent plastic bits, and I guess they are a little cheesy. But being used to American money, I think I’m color-starved.
• What is the thing with red poppies? I know it’s some sort of military veteran thing. But why are red poppies on people’s lapels everywhere? It’s kinda fun to stay in the dark about this. I’m going to just keep wondering.
• I’ve already heard so many languages spoken here, especially French. Is this the way Europe is in general? Or just because we are in a prime tourist zone on the weekend? I suspect a little of both. Amazing.
• We opted not to pay the ridiculous upcharge to use our cell phone internationally, which means we have no service except for the occasional wifi. I think the hardest thing about it is trying to navigate in a strange place.

Scenes from my final day at Jeni’s. It was a great run.

Do you guys remember that time I carried Karen across a giant mud pit while we were both dressed for a funeral? and then I dropped her?

Though great distress my soul befell,
The Lord, my God, did all things well

kelseymcclellan:

Michelle Maguire and I shot some White Castle for a quick lighting practice but also because this cutie pie slider was begging for some spotlight.

In my co-worker Nigel’s words:

White Castle is the truest and purest form of American Fast Food. It is peerless because it is eminently self aware. It is not trying to be something it is not, making it a universally appealing experience because you know what you are getting. It is celebrated and accepted by its fans for what it is: classic and simple.

(he really loves white castle, and we’re really sad the high street location in columbus is getting demolished soon for more dang condos)

Kelsey is amazing.