13. Climbing, Learning, Climbing, Falling, Walking, Eating, Zzzzzing!

I don't think that my legs have ever been as angry as they are right now. 

You guys, I did a lot of things that I usually wouldn't do today, mainly, try to climb a whole mountain. More on that later. 

First, I went to Calton Hill. As I walked up the steps to get going on the adventure, I was winded. Just on the stairs. Not a good sign. I kept going anyway, and realized that "Shut it, keep walking..." was the best motto to adopt for the day. I had a great time taking pictures, learning a bit, walking more, climbing a tower and then watching news crews talk about a big election that's coming up. 

Below Is the sequence of events as the morning went on.

The mountain with the two humps in the background there is the one that we will be talking about a bit later. Keep how far away it is in mind...

I met a lovely couple from East Scotland while I sat on a bench looking at the above shot. They're named Tony and Mel, and we chatted politics, real estate, hometowns, etc. for about an hour. They made my day.

This is the thing that I climbed up, using the stairs inside of course, which felt like it lasted forever, and it was super tight in the stairwell. Following that are some pictures from way up there.

(I appear to have gotten over my discomfort with heights!)

This is a sign for a café that was on Calton Hill, and I was confused as to why "Milk" was so specifically called out. Turns out the café is actually called "Milk". Anyway, not a great story!

At the end of all that fun, I walked back down, took a couple pictures, including one looking back up from the building I'd climbed up. Pretty cool! Also, that isn't a cross at the top, it's a tool that was used to tell the ships whether a cannon had been shot from Edinburgh Castle, and the top point would lower to show when one was. I learned that from a nice tour guide dude at Edinburgh Castle yesterday while he pointed it out in the skyline. Seems weird, but that's what he said.

Then I started my walk to The Palace of Hollyroodhouse (you read that right, even though autocorrect tried to change it), which is the house of the Queen of Scotland. The walk was quite nice, because my legs had not yet been enraged by personal choices.

"Where do I end and you begin." is what the sign says. Seems very out of place, but sweet.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but I did get some great shots from the front, as well as some from the back. Tucked in there is this device that you were able to take in with you and would tour you around by room. 

(I'm in love with this shot!)

(... and this one!)

I walked for a bit more, and got to the bottom of Arthur's Seat. This is the beginning of where I learned my limits, mentally and physically.

Looking back from one point of where I was walking up.

So I didn't make it to the top, though I did make it a bit further than this, but don't have a picture. To me, it turned out to essentially be Arthur's Seat Leg. The pictures don't do the steepness justice, but it was very steep! Also, without knowing it until it was too late, I had taken the most direct and therefor most treacherous route.

Here is what I learned from Arthur's Seat:

1. A professional mountain climber I am not.

2. An amateur mountain climber I am not.

3. I am not brave. At least not, "Hey, let's climb the side of some earth that drops off immediately if you step three feet from the path..." kind of brave.

4. I pushed my limits, as shallow as this thing looks (someone who's climbed it before, back me up!), and am happy with how far I made it... alone... on a mountain side... in Scotland!

I started walking back down, and realized that in the picture below, that skinny post in the far background is Calton Hill, and the pillars can be seen just to the right! I walked up there, and to the top of that tower, as you saw in earlier pictures, and then from there, across the whole damn town, to the point in this shot.

You guys, that's insane!!! Remember that picture from earlier that I said to keep in mind? That was the view of this location from Calton's Hill. 

This is St. Anthony's Chapel, and it was very, very beautiful to me. The story is below as well. This was a second peak that I walked to after getting slightly down the mountain.

This is the sky from my happy, happy, happy view of laying on the grass for a few minutes. This was about 1/3 of the way back down from the height that I got. 

As I started my descent (how dramatic I am!), as hard as I tried not to, I had a tiny spill. The good news is that it was just my left foot just not being able to catch its footing on some small rocks, I fell back, caught myself, all was good, though I tweaked my left wrist a bit, but it has since recovered. Then it happened again two seconds later, but all good on that one. And finally, like a winner, I made it down the hill. The shots below are of when I finally got off that damn mountain. I was relieved. I know I'm making this all sound very dramatic, but to someone who's never been up a friggin huge mountain, it was!

This is a shot at the bottom, of St. Anthony's Chapel. It's pretty far up, guys, and that only 2/3 of the way to where I ended up!

And because I refuse to relax, it appears, I decided to walk to the water front. You'll have noticed from the landscape shots from the top, that was not close either. It took me about an hour to walk to.

Anyhow, I walked a lot more, and took some really great shots of rural Edinburgh in the process.

Round hanging plants!

This is very Bermuda! I giggled like a kid.

I finally made it to the water. My feet-were-not-amused.

I finally decided to slow my roll, and took the bus back to town. I didn't know how it all worked, but managed to deduce how to get back to Princes St., near the centre of town.

Look at this bus sign. It looks more like a bowling score card that a sign to tell me how to find my way somewhere. Man alive.

Anyhow, £1.5 and a half hour later, I got to eat dinner! After the day I'd presented myself with, I was going to eat-the-hell out of food!

The steak was alright, though not as I'm used to them back home. When the young man serving the table said, "Oh yes, it's a nice thin cut on the rib eye.", I knew it would be different. Still quite good with the meal as a whole. And that desert? Well shit. It a tart with pistachio cake in it, covered in peaches and raspberries, as well as a cream of some sort between the cake and fruit, with delicious raspberry sorbet. It was all that needed to happen tonight for my day to be worth it.

And now I sit watching amazingly bad UK television, including Big Brother and Hollywood Squares. Amazing!

Tomorrow will be more relaxing, that is absolutely the plan. Some new streets to shop/window shop along some new restaurants to try out, and then my last night in Edinburgh. 

And yes, I would like for someone to play me the world tiniest violin! 

Night folks, more adventures tomorrow.