I love Edinburgh

 

The Ames room, Camera Obscura

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’ve been out and about doing the tourist thing in Edinburgh.  My Australian relatives loved the city and Camera Obscura was really popular with the children.

After they left town, I welcomed some New Yorkers and took them around the best places in town to take photos (Blackford Hill etc).

I’ve never known two people to love Edinburgh (and Scotland) so much and devour a plate of haggis, neeps and tatties so quickly at the Sheep Heid Inn.

I’ve managed to have a few lunches in Princes Street Gardens thanks to the great weather and have been out walking every day and soaking up the ‘green’ of the city.

One of the walks I did was up Arthur’s Seat where I discovered this year’s stone artwork. The Evening News picked up on it and I was interviewed for the paper and my photo used (but sadly not credited for).  The same day, I went to Edinburgh Castle to see the pomp and ceremony of the Queen’s birthday honours.

Good Friday saw me have some rare time off with my boyfriend and we headed over to Culross for the day.  I say ‘time off’, but I never really take a break and decided to write about Culross to put in our daytrip section.  On the way back, we also stopped off at Malleny Garden where we sat in the sun for over an hour.  I can hardly believe it’s April!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week has seen me test out the Edinburgh Pass to its absolute limit.  I scheduled lots of tourist attractions for the 3 days, to make sure I got good value.  Although primarily aimed at tourists, it’s also suitable for residents who want to do the tourist thing and save some money.

One thing I learnt was how exhausting it is being a tourist in Edinburgh.  Everywhere I walked seemed to be uphill and trying to soak in all the information being fed to me was hard going.  I was blessed with good weather, especially when I went up Nelson Monument.

Other day trips included visiting North Berwick in the good weather and being blessed with spectacular views from the top of Berwick Law .  I also paid a visit to the Zoo and headed. down to Hopetoun House at South Queensferry.

This long weekend sees me head off again, this time up to Durness.  It’s my second favourite place in Scotland (with Edinburgh being at number one) and the forecast is for good weather so I’ll be in my element.  As much as I love visiting new places, there’s nothing like coming back home, especially when Edinburgh is so green with the hope of a good summer ahead.  I love Edinburgh.