Edinburgh, Scotland. Here I come!!

7th January 2015

Today was one of the greatest days of my life!! Not because I had many 'cuppa teas', but because I could walk, walk and walk. Yay!! What I love <3

The previous day we left Helsinki, Finland in the early hours of the morning. We then arrived in Edinburgh in the aftrenoon. It was lovely getting to our apartment, and we went to bed early after a lovely walk peaking in at shops. Oh, New Years sales!!

I found it quite wierd waking up in a double bed, in my own room. Two things I have not had for a very long time, well, never a double bed. After having my regular poached egg breakfast, I began googling and reseaching where to go today. From this research I drew a track to follow, which would give us a great lay of the land. Dad was still quite tired, so he said that whatever I came up with we would do. Hence, the long walk. hehe:)

My pencil-drawn trail. The trail continues to the left off the picture for a while.

Our apartment is located in the New Town of Edinburgh on Queen Street. To begin our treck we headed north along lanes and lanes lined with typical UK-looking apartments.

Our apartment in the New Town

Walking along the lanes with typical UK apartments.

As we neared to Stockmarket we headed over the bridge. But, before we could Dad stopped and told us to come on a walk below the bridge.

The rapids under a bridge.

Dad is so cute like that :) He loves to take pictures of the rapids in Finland, and he now has found his favourite place to take pictures here in Edinburgh ... the rapids :D

Anyway, we then headed down the river on the other side of the creek. As we headed left onto Ann Street we saw some magnificent gardens, where the homes seem to be quite the expensive type. I could tell this by two things: the cars were all rare, costly brands, ie. a jaguar, and I happened to glimpse a maid dressed in a black and white apron uniform in a window staring back at me. It was like stepping back in time.

I loved the draping Ivy over the walls. Actually, I discovered a notice stating that there is an Ivy problem in this area :)

Walking through the Edinburgh cemetery on the trail. We actually got to glimpse the sun here :)

We were all hungry and needing the bathroom, so we stopped off at the Dean Gallery of Modern Art. There is a lovely view from there, however unfortunately there was a disturbing sign in the way, so I didn't take a picture. Some things are best untaken :D

My lunch at the Dean Gallery was a turkey and leek pie with dry kale. Very rich sauce, and the turkey was gorgeous. The kale, which tasted like a combination of lettuce and spinach, was great to the finish off the meal on a high note.

After our lunch we were all set to begin our walk again. We walked to the entrance, put our jackets on, and realised that it was bucketing outside!! One thing that we have realised about the weather in Edinburgh is that it is very unpredictable. One minute it can be sunny, and then the next it can be raining. In addition, the rain doesn't usually last a long period of time. Hence why we could wait for not too long at the gallery for the rain to stop, which it did in less than 2 minutes.

After heading over a bridge near to Dean Village we walked towards West End. It was really raining this time, so we just walked through West End. There are many lovely looking shops there, so I woud love to go back sometime.

Heading from West End we headed North to Charlotte Square, which is really just a square of a private yard. I thought there may be some shops or something around the square, but no. Just apartments. Abit of a let down.

Charlotte Square, a bit of a let down. Especially in the weather.

On a bright side of things, it was blissful to get back to the main shopping street in Edinburgh. It showed us that there were actually other people out in this weather :D

The bustling Princes Street. The street has views of Edinburgh Castle on top of the rock, which is very magestic to look at.

It was at this time that I began to feel abit 'teaish' (meaning pekkish for tea). We were all deciding where to have some tea, and decided to start walking up to the Royal Mile. This is the Old Town, which is the main tourist street and is lined with old buildings housing touristy shops, cafes and red phone boxes. Not just London.

Unfortunately, It was raining again. And despite our theory that the rain doesn't last long, this time it didn't stop. My jacket that I thought was water-proof turned out to actually only be wind-proof, not water-proof :(

Heading down an alleyway from the Royal Mile. That guy behind us was a bit dingy, so we were glad to get to the bottom of the alley way.


This was the end of our walking trip, and we were all very tired because of it. Despite that though, we were all very happy with our little tour. I have now a way better understanding of the coordinates of Edinburgh city. Much needed noe that I will be staying here for a coupe f months :D

Right now I am sitting at the dining table in our apartment. My legs are very exausted, so I can't wait to get to sleep. Hence, I will be signing off from Edinburgh.

Now you are uptodate,

Laura

xoxo