I went to Edinburgh with Caroline for a week to see the Fringe. It was much fun. Having not been to Scotland before, it was a most interesting experience. Coming from Cambridge, Edinburgh is incredibly vertical. Perhaps it's not much compared to some other bits of Scotland, but still... wow. Literal high points were the Castle itself, Carlton Hill and Arthur's Seat. Interestingly, Arthur's Seat had some very steep edges, but not a single safety barrier in sight. Similarly, you could climb all over the pseudo-classical ruins on Carlton Hill. It's almost like people have to take responsibility for their own safety. Quite different from most English tourist sites.
It's not only the landscape that's vertical. There are some very tall buildings. Some are 8 or 9 storeys tall while carrying it off as if they were only 3 floors high. The architecture is generally wonderful, making it a very pleasant place to walk around. On the other hand, there was a surprisingly large amount of obesity. Or perhaps not so surprising, given the legend of the deep-fried Mars bar. Perhaps it's defence against the cold weather. Oddly, while we were there, the weather remained quite dry, and even reasonably sunny. Excellent.
Some time later I'll review the shows we went to see....
Posted 2004-08-28.