In Edinburgh, Scotland

I've been in Edinburgh, Scotland for a few days now. I don't usually get jet lag, but this time I have and for the first few days I just slept a lot, had a really hard time getting out of bed, even though I'm in a new country!

When I left the northwest of the USA, we had been having beautiful, sunny warm weather. I knew Scotland was going to be colder and rainy, so I cleaned and waterproofed my winter and rainwear. Burr, have I needed it! It hasn't rained while I've been out and about, but it sure has gotten very chilly.

I've been so amazed at how old building and streets are here. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, there weren't very many older buildings, and since most of the buildings are made of wood, old ones have burned down or rotted over the years. Here, old buildings were made out of solid rock, often over a foot thick, and so there are a lot of really really old buildings here. Many from the 1800s (these are newer), and a few churches from the 1600s and even a few buildings that are even older. Its so amazing to walk along the streets and imagine how people have been walking the same way, going about their life in the exact same spot for centuries!

There is so much to see here, but so far some of my favorite places have been the old cemeteries, because they have trees! Another great place in Princes Street Garden, which also has trees. I haven't made it over to the Botanical Garden yet, which will have more trees too. Planting trees along buildings and roads was something that didn't happen in medieval Edinburgh, it doesn't happen now, at least not in the city center.

We were in an old hall today for a fair and afterwards, I was looking at a ballroom in the building that had these amazing chandeliers. A workman came in and I asked him when the building was build, 1887 he said, and the decorations along the trim and the chandeliers were all original, made from crystal. So amazing. He turned them on for us and pointed to a smaller one in the window that reflected colors, saying it was from a different kind of crystal.

Edinburgh is a very easy city to be in, the city center is compact, great for walking around, the bus system is great, and it's pretty safe. The people are pretty friendly, although some of my smiles are met with blank looks. Jared, who is Scottish tells me if I smile AND say hi, people will then smile back.

This is my first time to the UK or Europe and its very interesting all the similarities to South Africa (former British colony). The supermarkets are set up similar and the road signs are very similar. Kind of weird.

I'm working on my Scottish accent, there are many different kinds, perhaps by the time I get back to the States, I'll sound Scottish!