A Walk About to Get Our Bearings

Having settled in, we took ourselves for a bit of a walk before supper. 

Stepping out the door to the hotel, we turned left to see if we could find that castle like building we'd seen.  After a walk across the North Bridge, we turned right on Princes Street and wandered along until we readed the Old Calton Cemetery. It looked intriguing, so we climbed the stairs and took a look around.

Clearly, we were closer to that castle-like building.  But we were also in the presence of some interesting resting places.  Among those buried here are David Hume. Hume believed that desire, and not reason, guided human behavior.  As he said, "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions."  This clearly holds true for knitters.  If reason guided our behavior, we'd never buy yarn for which we did not have an immediate use.  Hume explains our S.E.X.** Drive.

Also buried here were various actors, booksellers, tradesmen and other interesting people.  Some of the gravestones are marvelous resources for genealogy buffs, as they include informaiton about a number of people in a given family.  Take this one:

After meandering about for a bit, we went back out to the street, discovered that the castle is currently the governor's house (and does not at all appear to be open to the public).  We then crossed the road to wander about on Calton Hill, from which there are splendid views of the city.  From here, one can see the Firth of Forth... it's that hazy gray blue bit in the middle.

Here we can see down onto more of Old Calton Burial Ground

And one can see Arthur's Seat

and Holyrood Palace

Of course this isn't the best view of the Palace.  For that one needs to go down a different street.... but you do ge a nice peek at Holyrood Abbey

Of course the Hill itself has lots of monuments to see.  There is, of course, the Nelson Monument

And the National Monument (which was to have been a replica of the Parthenon, but the money ran out).  I still think it's impressive ..

When you walk back down the hill, the view is still interesting,

and at the bottom you wind up in front of the Scottish Government Building

It takes on a very different flavor when you look up...

And those folks up top look awfully stern to me...

After that, we headed "home" to get ready for dinner.  The concierge had recommended what sounded like a truly lovely spot, and we didn't think that jeans and t-shirts were appropriate attire. .....

**Stash Acquisition Expeditions.

Comments

[kmkat]

Wow, what great views you found!

[Alyse Middleton]

Did you post that picture just for Me and E? I am SO jealous of everything you are seeing on your trip. I hope you are having as amazing fun as the amazing pics!