Landscapes and Costumes

So I woke myself up early this morning to go out in to a new day in Edinburgh! I had a hard time getting out of bed, but I was still able to make it out by 9:45. First stop: fooooood. I stopped by a coffee shop recomended to me by Elaine. I ordered a Cafe Latte, 2 meat rolls (in my defense- they were cheap and I knew I needed a big breakfast since I wasn't planning on getting lunch), and took out my Woolf novel. A group of Englishmen came in and sat down next to me and were kinda loud, so I wasn't really able to get much reading done. But I got my nutrition, and was off for the day!

First stop: Arthur's Seat. Something I've kinda learned about myself from the past year. I actually enjoy hiking. This may be strange remembering the 'Milkshake Incident' when I was younger, but I do enjoy it. Not a huge fan of walking through parks, but hiking, I do kinda like. So I was really excited when I first got there. It was probably about a 2 mile walk already down there, and on top of it I accidentally left my water bottle back at the flat, so I decided not too push myself too hard. Plus, it's such a massive Park that I would have to spend an entire day just trying to hike it! Which of course I would love to do sometime. Next trip to Scotland... Once I got to the top it was absolutely gorgeous! You could see the entire city. I decided to sit down on the cliffs and sit down and read some more Woolf. I sat there for about half an hour just enjoying the view and the weather. Surprisingly enough, the weather has been amazing here this past weekend, so it was quite nice to sit there for a bit.

I then walked the Royal Mile back up to where all the action from the Fringe was taking place. There were a lot of street performances going on to promote all of the different shows going on these weeks. They were only about 20 minutes long, but they were for free, so it was a really nice deal! And there was a lot of costumes too. People were there passing out flyers in their clothes from their performances or just wild and crazy costumes to get people's attention. There were many interesting ways of passing out flyers too, including laying down on the ground and others.

But the best things were the street performances, which I saw a lot of too. Once again, free! A lot of them were your typical street performances- comedy, fire, painful things. What I wasn't expecting though, was being part of it myself. It just so happened that I was right at the edge for one of the performances, and the guy asked me to inspect the glass bottle he was going to break and to join the rest of the glass that he was going to lay on. Well, he then pulled me out of the crowd and told me that I was going to be helping him for the rest of the show along with another man from Liverpool. And of course I got teased, many times. Such as with this...
(He had asked me my name once and forgotten it, so I reminded him again)
SP (Street Performer): Or do you want Kissindra to do the trick?
Me: Kendra, it's Kendra!
SP: Oh of course, but what difference does it really make! Or do you want Kendra from- now, where are you from?
Me: Texas
SP: Oh an American, that explains a lot!

And then of course I was pointed out for being a tourist and much more. The crowd ended up wanting to watch the other guy stand on his chest while he laid on the glass, but I still ended up helping by keeping the guy steady. I really wish that I could've had photos of it. But since I was alone, I had nobody to take photos for me. But, I can offically say that I've traveled to another country and had a lot of strangers who I'll never see again take photos of me to show everybody they know! I spent about 3.5 hours walking around the Royal Mile area, and never got bored. There was always something to watch. I also did some shopping for treats, got something for myself and mom and dad- so start looking forward to me coming home!

On my way back home, I stopped by this art exhibit I saw a sign for. It was art done by Scottish prison inmates. It was actually really powerful to see some of the stuff there. I was able to sneak some photos of it, so I'll be able to show y'all. The art also included poetry, which was really cool to read. I'm glad that I stumbled across the sign and decided to walk in.

After 7 hours out for the day (and lots accomplished) I headed back to the apartment. I went down to the little corner restaurant and got dinner, nothing really special, and I'm on my way back to Oxford tomorrow. I'll probably go ahead and leave fairly early in the day tomorrow so I can make dinner at school.

So I'm not sure if I'll really do anything in Edinburgh tomorrow, since it'll be a Sunday and most likely nothing will be open. But if not, I had an amazing time. Out of all the countries that I've visited this trip (which is 4: Scotland, England, Ireland, and France), Scotland is probably the country I would want to come back and visit the most. I would love to come back and actually see the Tattoo or some performances from the Fringe. But, mostly, just to visit more places. I would love to do more of Edinburgh, and then also visit the Highlands and Loch Ness. Although I would love to go back to England- but just do something other than the London thing; maybe Liverpool or Manchester or Nottingham.

Oh well, I really can just say that I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity. I wish all of y'all could've been here with me to enjoy it. 1 week and I'll be home, so sad.

I'll try to post one later with a bunch of photos, once I'm on my own computer.

Will blog later!