arrivals

we've arrived in scotland!  i woke up very early (4:15am) on tuesday to get on the first flight of the day from london heathrow to edinburgh, and met mom/dad/becky very easily in baggage claim in the edinburgh airport.  they were much more tired than i was, seeing as they'd taken an overnight flight from new york and apparently didn't sleep very much at all.  a little nap was had in the afternoon, which improved things greatly.  since we've arrived the following things have occurred:

a bird pooped on becky's face.  she freaked out.  my antibacterial wipes came to the rescue.  i am the best sister ever.

i got to share the glory of marks & spencer's food hall with the rest of my family.  i think they were duly impressed.  i had my favorite sandwich - a falafel and hummus wrap - and was very happy.

we went on a tour of holyroodhouse abbey and palace - the abbey dates back to the 1100s and the woman who gave us a little tour was full of cool information.  the palace is the official residence of the queen of england when she visits scotland.  it was pretty cool, too.  this is the palace with the abbey attached on the right hand side (photo credit: someone in my family who isn't me).  the photo was taken from the top of arthur's seat...

we hiked from holyroodhouse to the top of arthur's seat (my lonely planet guidebook said it was a 45 minute hike.  45 minutes my ass.) - beautiful, with great views of the surrounding area.  this is arthur's seat from calton hill, another high point in the city.  holyroodhouse is the furthest building on the left that you can see.

we went to sandy bell's, a pub that has traditional scottish music every night, for some pints of beer and some GREAT music.  the musicians (a harmonica player, guitar player, fiddle player, and mandolin player) sat around a table right next to us and played for several hours.  no photos of that, as we were trying hard not to look like tourists, and taking photos in a pub is a surefire way to look like a tourist.  we were perhaps not succeeding in our efforts, but definitely trying.

so far, scotland is not disappointing us.