Edinburgh Castle

Neal has orientation for school next week, where he will enroll for classes, find out his schedule, get a student ID, all that good stuff.  We can't get a bank account here until he has a student ID...and we can't sign up for cell service until we have a bank account. We brought enough cash, we can skype and make phone calls if we are connected to wifi, and we can text as usual. So it's not a huge deal.  But I still feel like we're on vacation, because everything is kind of on hold until school starts. Neal doesn't know his class schedule yet, which makes it hard to apply for a job (his visa allows him to work part-time) without knowing his availability. I, on the other hand, should be searching for a job (I'm permitted to work full-time, and am looking for something I can do from home, part-time, so I won't have to arrange child care for Eleanor (dream on right?)), but it's hard to do when Neal has this free time now and there's so much to see in the city that we're trying to do as much as we can before school starts, while the weather is still nice, and...you get the idea.

Anyway, today we went to the #1 tourist attraction in Edinburgh...the castle. It is HUGE! It sits on top of an extinct volcano and is just magnificent to look up at. Like the museum, it's way too big to experience in one afternoon, but we spent a few hours there today and had a blast. We purchased a family membership to Historic Scotland, which gives us unlimited access to various castles and exhibits around the country, so we didn't feel rushed to see it all as we will no doubt return several times.  Even though Eleanor is free, we bought a pass that includes 2 adults + up to 6 children, just in case we have any visitors with kids (hint hint!)...we would happily loan it to you! We can't wait to come back--we mostly walked around outside so will have to save some of the inside exhibits for a rainy day.

  

This is an alter in the oldest building in Edinburgh--a small chapel built in 1100AD!

One of the chambers of the Castle Prison--which at one time held more than 1,000 POWs.

This is the face of a baby who was rescued from her stroller after hours on cobblestone walkways.

 Passed these in a shop window and nudged Neal. He gave me a knowing look and said, "go get some". I happily obliged.

National Museum of Scotland

Today we decided to hike over to the National Museum of Scotland. We knew we wouldn't be able to see everything in one day, but admission is free, so we plan to return for subsequent visits.  It's in a huge, magnificent building with five different levels full of artifacts and history.  I felt a little sad that Eleanor isn't old enough to learn anything from our visit--the museum had such a great, interactive way to teach kids about the world. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon. And of course I have more pictures of our walk to the museum than the place itself :)

 

Fell asleep in my arms as we stopped for a break--that face!

We were tempted by this gourmet ice cream on the walk back to Downfield Place-- Crusty Bread & Nutella?? Yes please! But we decided to skip out and came home to our less luxurious store brand Neapolitan. :(

No. 3 Caledonian Crescent

One of the reasons we chose Scotland for grad school is that both Neal and I have ancestry throughout the country, and we wanted to research and explore our roots. Neal's grandmother, Mary Ferguson Harris, was born here in Edinburgh--just a few blocks away from where we live now!--and immigrated to the US with her parents when she was three years old.  She was born in a flat on a street named Caledonian Crescent in 1903. She died at age 54 of cancer, when Neal's mom was only 19, and he never had the chance to meet her.

So it's pretty crazy that Gregor, our letting agent, happened to find us a flat around the corner from the very building where she was born! It's on the way to both our bank and doctor's office. It's soo close, we are ridiculing ourselves for visiting today for the first time.

This gorgeous church is right next to the flat where Mary was born. We plan to return and check into it a little further; we have no records thus far on her christening. Maybe it was done here!

We have big plans to invite ourselves in someday soon--and  take a little tour of No. 3!

small town girl

I'm from Newton, Kansas. The largest city I've lived in is Wichita, and really, does that count as a city? Not when we're talking about city living. Using public transit, buying groceries daily, a small apartment with a large price tag, etc. Edinburgh is actually just a bit larger than Wichita, it's just much more compact.  At this point, I've had as much culture shock living in a city as I have living on a different continent.  But I'm slowly learning. We have had so much fun just walking around. The buildings are so old and beautiful and rich with history. We haven't had a chance to visit any museums or castles yet, but we have an entire year for that. I'm content just walking around with Elle in the Bjorn, soaking it all in. We had to take two buses home from church the other day, when we should have walked, because my feet couldn't take it in the heels (the shoes I convinced my husband that I needed and insisted I would be fine to walk across town in them),but I didn't mind because we drove through gorgeous neighborhoods we hadn't seen yet. I can't wait to get to know this place. We love it already.

Ordering our first Scottish meal (fish and chips. so good!)

hard to find, but it's here.

Watching the end-of-festival-season fireworks downtown.

Eleanor loved them.

daytrip to england

On our last day with the rental car, we took a road trip to Preston, England to attend the temple.We still hadn't unpacked at this point, but that's okay. The countryside was gorgeous. The fields were endlessly green and full of sheep.  It reminded me of the cinematography in Pride and Prejudice.  When we arrived at the temple, it was almost empty (Wednesday afternoon isn't a very busy time) and we left feeling even more uplifted than when we arrived.  Such a pretty day.

a quick jaunt to Falkirk

The day after our arrival, we decided to leave our still-packed suitcases behind and take a little drive out of the city. We had only booked our rental car for three days and wanted to make the most of it. A friend of mine from Wichita, Marisa, attended University several years ago in Stirling, where she met the Scottish gent who is now her husband.  She moved back to Scotland shortly after they married. Awesome, right?  She has been a wonderful resource to use as we have muddled through visa applications, choosing a school, getting around the city, and cultural adjustments. We asked her advice on where to take our drive and she recommended for us to visit a park called the Helix in the town of Falkirk, about 20 minutes from Edinburgh.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the playground at this park, because it was the coolest one I've ever seen! There was this huge wooden log hanging from a bar that at least 10 people could stand on to swing back and forth. We saw a little girl hopping on a piano "keyboard" that played a note with each key she hit. There were netted saucers and a jungle gym I wanted to climb myself. Sadly, I only took a picture of this very very tall slide. Neal wanted to take Eleanor down...I'm a little relieved he didn't.

We followed the path at the Helix all the way to the Kelpies, these massive sculptures of two horse heads.  When Marisa suggested it, I pictured some statues maybe my height, but these were HUGE! We were in complete awe.

Obligatory family photo. Get used to these.

It was so sunny outside, it was just the perfect place to go. We met up with Marisa for dinner in Falkirk, and I'm disappointed we didn't think to take a picture, especially after all of her help and advice. Next time!