Dean Village, the Pentlands, and More

This Wednesday was Guy Fawkes Day. I remember learning about it when I took AP European History, but it's not really a big deal in the US. Here it is a great excuse to shoot off fireworks, burn effigies, and generally be rowdy. I spent most of the evening doing work, but I went out for about an hour to watch fireworks. I decided to go to the field behind Holyrood Palace, which turned out to be the perfect place because there was no one there and I could see the fireworks put on at Meadowbank and the ones people were shooting off the Crags. I wish I had seen more, but it was so cold that day. It hasn't really gotten close to freezing temperatures yet, but that night it did, of course. It turned out to be a nice break from my studies.

In front of the Scottish Parliament, people had Scottish flags and were pretty excited.

On Thursday I went to a LangSoc social. We played the UK edition of Cards Against Humanity, but with some cards from Linguists Against Humanity mixed in. It was pretty hilarious to have a bunch of linguistics terms thrown in. After playing for a couple of hours, we went to hang out in the bar downstairs, and as usual I had a lovely time talking to LangSoc people.

Saturday I decided to get up and go to Dean Village, because Nikki recommended that I see it. It's just this little community on the West End. It was so quiet there, which is weird because it's not that far from the hustle and bustle of Princes Street. I thought it was quite charming, but it doesn't really feel like Edinburgh.

After exploring the area, I realized I was close to Stockbridge, which is an area I enjoyed walking around the last time I was there, so I followed the river and just wandered around. Luckily I didn't get too turned around and I made it home in time to go to the Language Cafe.

Today I decided to go to the Pentlands before the weather got truly terrible. After last week's failure with the bus, I was extremely cautious about getting on the right bus and everything, so right before I got on the bus I asked this couple if they were going to the Pentlands, because they had on hiking boots, too. They said they were and were also new to the buses in Edinburgh. I asked them where they were from and it turns out they were Spanish and the husband works at the University of Edinburgh. As soon as they said they were from Spain, I asked them if they spoke Spanish, and of course they did, so I got in a little Spanish today!

I got to the park at 11 and walked around. At first the weather was okay. It wasn't too cold, but it was somewhat overcast. About the time I decided to wander off the trail and start climbing a mountain, the sun came out and I had the most spectacular view. By the time I was halfway up the mountain, I was only wearing a t-shirt because the weather was so nice (also I was climbing up a hill on a 45-degree incline and trekking through knee-high grass and weeds). It was amazing. And it turns out most of this park is privately owned farms. You can just walk on the paved road or dirt (mud) paths, but you could also just walk into sheep pastures, which is what I did when I climbed the mountain. It was really bizarre to be just a short bus ride from Edinburgh and to be walking with sheep.

It was such a lovely day; I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

My view from the mountain I climbed

As if the weather hadn't already been perfect the whole day, when I was walking home from the bus station, I saw the most gorgeous sunset over the castle and Old Town.