pictures from Edinburgh 14-15/09

Photos, from the top:
1 - Edinburgh Castle from Princes St.
2 - St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile (the street leading from Edinburgh Castle at the top to Holyrood Palace at the bottom)
3 - Eglinton Crescent (the street where my youth hostel was located, about a mile from Princes St)
4 - The FilmHouse in Edinburgh, right next to Festival Square
5 - Edinburgh Castle from around the back

Before I made the trek to St. Andrews, I spent two half days in Edinburgh. The first day was clear as a bell and very warm. The second day, it nearly rained. Most of these pictures are from the second day.

Edinburgh Castle is super awesome because it sits on top of a volcano rock in the middle of the city. You walk down Princes Street (or are chased if you're from "Trainspotting") and, off to the side, there is a huge ugly rock with a castle on top, completely out of the blue! It really is quite amazing to behold.

I like St. Giles Cathedral because the steeple is shaped like a crown. I'm not sure whose idea that was, but if he had been able to foresee the tension between the religious and the royal, he might have chosen differently. If you come here (Ah, the first of many "Come Visit Me!" references), you will certainly hear the story of the peasant woman who threw a bible at Charles I and caused a riot in 1637 over his revised Prayer Book. (It's all much more complicated than just the book, but if I tried to explain it, my version would not be very interesting or facutal, no doubt.)

Eglinton Crescent is the street the youth hostel was on, a very nice, quiet street with a private park in the middle. There are two Scottish flags in the picture, the farther one is where the hostel is. I met a girl there who was from Hong Kong.

The FilmHouse is a beautiful theater, it looks brand new inside. I think this is where they have the screenings for the Edinburgh film festival in August. I saw the Black Dahlia here, it was completely awful, but the theater was fantastic.

Here's the castle from the back, I had thought I was taking a shortcut up to the Royal Mile, but I ended up walking around the backside of the castle, which took a bit longer and included at least 100 stairs at the end. I do really like this picture though, so of course it was worth it.