“Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life.”-Anthony Bourdain

 Today I finally did it. I made the long hike up to Arthur's Seat among tornado-like gusts of wind and slick slopes, but it was totally worth every minute. The gusts of wind were somewhat frightening as they pushed me over and into the rocks or helped me slide down a particularly slick spot. There are really no words to describe what it was like looking over the city. It was better than I ever even dreamed in all the years I have spent thinking about being here. For this reason, I am going to abide by the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Admittedly, I don't think the pictures even do it justice, but here are a few:

After climbing Arthur's Seat our group headed towards Duddingston, which is a really old town hidden in Edinburgh itself. We went to a garden there that reminded me somewhat of home. It did not look like home (not at all actually) but it was comforting and soothing. The greenery and benches gave it a calming atmosphere that made me wish I could just sit there all day and simply watch the birds and water. It was absolutely gorgeous and looked out onto a small loch. There was also an old church from the twelfth century as well, though it had been rebuilt several times. I would like to make my mother and father proud now and mention that I got two history/random fact  questions right. There was a small staircase right outside the gate to the church that didn't lead to anything, admittedly it took me a minute, but I realized it was an old mounting block. The second question was why there was a need for a watchtower- it was a place to catch grave robbers. Oh the perks of having teachers as parents. In the town was also a pub that claimed to be one of the oldest if not the oldest in Scotland called the Sheep Heid Inn. I didn't really care about the claim to fame, but the hot port with honey and lemon was very welcome after the blistering wind outside. Oddly enough, the pub had an old bowling alley in the back. 

With the heady rush that climbing Arthur's Seat gave us, my friend Leesha and I decided to make our way to The Mermaid, a chip shop in Leith. The Mermaid was shown on the London/Edinburgh episode of Anthony Bourdain-No reservations, so of course I had to go. The directions looked simple enough, but it was rather a long way away (5 miles round trip). We were very close to it when we got lost. I had written take a left instead of a right, but we still managed to find our way. In our struggles to find our way we came across a British woman who was a big fan of his as well. She said she would definitely try it out if Bourdain recommended the place. It was somewhat frightening when we got there because it looked closed and we thought we had walked all of that way for nothing, but thankfully it opened in 10 minutes. I wasn't as adventurous as Bourdain and instead got a meat pie and fish-no chips. The food was incredibly heavy on the stomach, but I am glad I got past my distaste for fried food to follow in my hero's footsteps. They do this thing to their fried food where they put on brown sauce and salt which is probably meant to assist in clogging arteries. One of the guys working there was also quite friendly and asked what we were doing in Edinburgh etc and waved us on our way. I suppose Americans aren't as common in Leith as it is further away from all of the touristy stuff. Needless to say, neither Leesha nor I finished the food. We had a long trip back in the dark and being sick would go somewhat against our purpose of making it back alive. 

I feel as if I have written some sort of travelogue going "I did this, and this, then this, and this..."and I hate that, but I am still processing it all. I will add more as it comes to me, but for now all I can say is ...

-Peace