Today was another one of those late start/don’t do much in the touristy way. But I’m starting to be ok with that. It’s a paradigm shift between doing absolutely everything there is to do, versus doing the big things I want to do and balancing that with the mundane and unexciting things I also want to do. So. Today.
If you read yesterday’s blog you know that I was outside walking and hiking for 6 plus hours. What you didn’t know is that I wasn’t wearing sunscreen. I discovered in London when I was having major allergy issues that my sunscreen was burning my eyelids when I put it on. So I did the very smart thing and stopped putting it on. I did the very unsmart thing by forgetting to get a different kind. So when I was getting ready for bed late last night I looked in the mirror under fluorescent lighting. There is a trick to sunburns – they can be difficult to spot on skin that is burned/exposed a lot (like your face) in incandescent lighting. Look at it under fluorescents, however, and boy does it show up. So I had walked forever, been dehydrated, and was now sunburned. Any one of these would have ensured a sound sleep, but imagine my surprise when I slept through almost the whole night including the 7 other girls in the room getting up and leaving (and they’re loud). So I got up late.
In addition to getting up late I took a long shower, attempting to help my poor, weather abused hair. By the time I got downstairs they had closed the kitchen to clean it. Deprived of my coffee, I sat down and read a tabloidy paper and started uploading my website to my domain (elizabethswenson.com, for anyone who’s curious). I also gathered up all my dirty clothes and dropped them at the front desk. This may seem strange, but here and apparently at other hostels around here, they don’t have machines available to the public but they will take your clothes and wash them for you for a fee of 2 pound 50. This is quite reasonable as they not only washed and dried my clothes, they did not dry the mesh bag I asked not to be dried, they folded my dry clothes, and then they delivered them to my room. Once I got over the whole ‘other people touching my underwear’ thing, I realized what a fantastic deal it was. I could get used to this. It was like being 15 and having mom do my laundry again. Sweet!
Eventually I decided to get going and hit the post office. I got a bag and a box to ship things to people and packed them up at the hostel. I was told to go to a different post office than the one I planned on because the one I had purchased the packaging from was a family run business that packages sometimes disappeared from. So I trekked across the bridge and successfully sent off postcards and packages. I realized coming back two things. The first of which was that I had not explored very much of Edinburgh at all, but that I was alright with that because the trade off was the knowledge and familiarity I felt with the streets close to where I am staying. The second thing I realized was that I was going to miss being able to tour Holyrood House if I didn’t hurry.
I made it just in time and took a quick tour of the palace and gardens. No photography was allowed inside and I think the part we saw was used more often for tour/museum purposes than functional purposes although several rooms were certainly still used when the Queen visits. I think I was very surprised by some of the ‘wornness’ of the rooms. They had kept some of the tapestries and furniture (and possibly rugs) from the 16-19th centuries and you could see where people walking or prolonged exposure to sun had damaged or worn down the textiles. I was very surprised to see how prolonged exposure to sun had wrecked the damask in the King’s bedchamber. It had in spots faded from a beautiful fuchsia/crimson color to a sickly orange-yellow. The paintings were still in marvelous condition (despite some of them being slashed a couple hundred years ago) and when I went up to Mary Queen of Scots chambers her things and others collected from the Stewart family had been excellently preserved.
I ended my tour with a walk through the ruins of Holyrood Abbey (a very important historical spot in Scotland’s history but when the entire roof collapsed in the 1800s, they decided to let it be) and a walk through the gardens at Holyrood. These were lovely and I’m sure the annual garden party (8,000 guests!) must be spectacular.
I finished my tour at 6 and realized that I did not, unfortunately, have time to make it to the Royal Botanical Gardens. I might try and see them when I get back to Edinburgh after my trip to Skye. I came back to the hostel for dinner and ran into Rudy again who has informed me that in a few weeks he will be gathering up some elderberries, honey, raisins, and yeast and making his own wine. They get some survival training in the Army over here! Apparently last week his friend brought him a rabbit and he skinned and cooked it in the kitchen. Half the hostel was grossed out (they changed their mind after a taste) and half were intrigued. Ah, Scotland. Back to the wine. So Rudy is making wine in a few weeks and needs bottles with the screw on tops. I still have to plan my exit from Edinburgh to Ireland but later I might run over to the supermarket and pick up a bottle of the cheap stuff to share with everyone. Maybe he’ll send me a bottle when it’s finished!
That’s about it for today. Some more planning, some packing, maybe some wine and then bed. Tomorrow I leave for the Isle of Skye tour and won’t get back until Sunday evening. Then on Monday I head to Ireland. I think I’m going to fly into Dublin and then take the late train and push on through to Killarney. I’ll spend the night at a hostel before checking into a hotel on Tuesday. It’ll be nice to have a room to myself again! But for now, packing! Much love!
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