Wednesday, August 8, 2018

August 3: Castle and Concert

We planned our trip around the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, which begins the first week of August every year. We knew that in addition to the famous show at the castle, Edinburgh attracted crowds for the Fringe Festival and Art Festival, so we knew it would be crowded. But our tour guide on the first day told us that Edinburgh doesn't just get crowded every August, it doubles its population. He told us a lot of locals go on vacation for the month, and sure enough, our apartment building emptied out on the second day we were there. After six weeks of travel full of castles, museums, and bustling capital cities, we were growing weary. I was amazed at the kids' ability to push themselves through with cheerful attitudes - sometimes we would all be so tired that we felt like we couldn't move, but when it was time to go they would haul themselves off the couch and put on their shoes without complaint. We slowed down the pace and only did a couple of things per day, allowing more rests in between, so we were able to take in the beauty of the things we were seeing.

Oh! And Erik talked me into coming to CrossFit with him. He said the coach and the people there were really warm and welcoming and that they had asked about me and told him to bring me. :) So I relented and ran with him to CrossFit. And it was the same story as it always is doing physical challenges: I had so much anxiety I almost left, I felt reserved and didn't want to talk to anyone at first because I didn't want to look foolish in front of people or let anyone down if I was placed on their team, I felt waves of elementary school-era panic memories flow through me.... but I stuck it out and coached myself to just do my best at the one task that was in front of me. Some of the exercises were comfortable, and some were hard, and when they were hard I just told the coach, "This is new for me. Can you tell me if I'm doing it right?" And he was happy to help, and I gave it my all without analyzing whether or not I was doing it "right." By the end I was chatting and laughing with people and I had done the whole workout, and I was so proud of myself!! On the run home I was telling Erik about that mental experience and he just marveled at how different we are. For one thing, he doesn't have the same reinforced, entrenched negative thinking around sports and physical activities; if he were going to a solo singing camp in the mornings with me it might be slightly different. Erik feels at home in CrossFits throughout the world - he's gone to so many and has had so many good experiences that he approaches each one with positive associations. But even if it were a less comfortable environment, Erik just approaches things with less fear. He doesn't feel failure - he knows he isn't going to be good at things at the beginning and he expects to work and work and work at something until he gets it right. He also doesn't fear other people's judgment the way I do. I notice that when we go into CrossFit together he is super chatty and open and unreserved. This is kind of weird, considering that I am naturally much more trusting of strangers and my baseline feeling toward humanity is one of such love that it makes me cry, while he is very tribal and views people he doesn't know with distrust. So it's weird to see what looks like a role reversal when we're at a new gym - we're both warm, but he is waaaay more talkative than I am - I keep to myself and stay in the corner. But it's not that I don't like the people, it's that I don't want to fail in front of people or be judged or let people down. And those thoughts don't even enter his mind. Not one bit. And that's one of the many reasons I am SO grateful to be married to him - his confidence and independence and growth mindset inspires me to push myself and care less what people think.


On Friday morning we woke up and walked around the corner to Edinburgh Castle - literally a 2 minute walk from our front door. Even as we arrived first thing in the morning, the line for the audio guide and the crown jewels were so long, the kids said "let's skip it and look up photos online," so we did. We just wandered through the whole gigantic fortress, exploring any building that didn't have a giant line coming out of it. Once again we were sobered to see that one of the main chapels had been dedicated to the soldiers and civilian casualties and specifically the women affected by World War I.

As usual

We are so happy it has been cold in Scotland. It seems more Scottish and makes the crowds and walking bearable.

I remember the first time I went to Scotland with my high school choir, everywhere we went we heard about Robert the Bruce. This time we barely saw or heard about him. I snapped this photo of his statue as we left the castle.


After the castle, the three girls were so kind to come with me on a special errand to find a hand-fasting ribbon for my sister Courtney's wedding. Hand-fasting is an ancient Celtic tradition where the hands are wrapped together with a ribbon or cord - Whitney and Tristan did it at their wedding and so did Prince William and Princess Kate. :) We wanted to find something with thistles so it would look especially Scottish, but none of the touristy shops near us had anything so we walked to another part of town to a fabric store. Thankfully we found a beautiful, simple lace with thistles! And I was so grateful to the girls for going with me when they were already so tired. 

These little alleyways with stairs are so interesting - Edinburgh is a very hilly city so there's a lot of climbing.

After the fabric store errand we rested for a bit and then went to our first Fringe Festival event, the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa! Lindsay had seen a poster advertising it as we drove into the city and was so excited - her choir went to South Africa last year and sang a lot of South African music, and the Soweto Gospel Choir is world famous. Erik had to keep working, so I took the kids and we were all absolutely blown away by the intense, saturated, exuberant music and the soulful dancing. I was so enthralled and caught up in the moment that I forgot to take any pictures at all!







Tuesday, August 7, 2018

August 2: To the top of Arthur's Seat

I knew the whole family needed to see Arthur's Seat, so on Thursday morning we woke up and set out for a hike to the top! We signed up via Air BnB Experiences for a guided walk, which was awesome because our tour guide David knew all the best routs and had studied the geology. This area was an ancient volcano, and some rocks still have the markings of water and sea life from millions of years ago.

Highland beauty

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Our guide told us lots of interesting facts - the gouges out of the mountain to the right of us in this photo were from mining - many 19th Century London streets are made out of the stone that was quarried there

And lots of amazing legends, like the story that King Arthur and Merlin lived nearby. That lake is presumably the home of the "Lady of the lake," and he threw Excalibur back into the lake when he converted to Christianity. Indeed, that lake was explored recently and many many weapons (including lots of ancient swords) were found at the bottom.

Stone was pretty acrophobic at the top - I've never seen him scared of heights like that.

More stories on the way back down - this time about Edinburgh mass murderers and tiny little coffins with dolls found in a nearby cave representing each of their victims. :/

All the way to the top of that outcropping in the distance, and all the way back down.

The ruins of an old old Catholic church, destroyed by (guess who!) Protestants 

After the hike Lindsay and Lucy were too tired to move


After recovering our strength we went out for dinner and tried haggis at the mash bar. It was actually really good! It just tasted like meatloaf. And it was meatloaf. A loaf of lamb's heart, lung, and stomach meat. But we didn't think about that when we ate it.


Our silent Disco Tour of Edinburgh was a no-show (partially to some children's relief), so we walked around watching street performers 
And went on the ferris wheel

And then we went back home to bed. (Lucy looks sad because I wouldn't let her have ice cream.)


August 1: Edinburgh

After a late-night move-in the night before, I slept in a bit after Erik left for CrossFit and went out for a run by myself. I mapped my way to the nearest large park, right next to Holyrood House (the royal residence in Edinburgh), taking in the sites of the city by myself.
This is our apartment building! Luckily we are on the first floor (the first window above the door)

And there are a lot of steps just to get up to the door from street level. The kids brought their own suitcases all that way! 

And this is the view just steps from the apartment in one direction (in the other direction is the Royal Mile and castle)

I had heard of this mashed potato bar - it's supposedly delicious and a good place to try haggis

I love this good-natured, funny and fun campaign to clean up the streets!


Once I got to Holyrood House park (just a flat patch of green grass), I saw somewhere much more exciting to run!!

I sent this selfie to Erik, saying "I think we need to move to Edinburgh.")

I had accidentally found Arthur's Seat!

It was such a gorgeous morning!! I headed back to the apartment and got dressed, then worked on the blog for a bit while the kids got ready to go. Then we met our tour guide, Chris, who took us on a walking tour of the amazing city.




The grave of Tom Ridell, which supposedly inspired J.K. Rowling while she was writing the Harry Potter series right here in Edinburgh.

Erik has to stop and work wherever we are - it happens in the most interesting locations! Those cages over the graves were put there to deter grave robbers in the 19th Century

Stone has grown up and changed in so much in so many ways. And in other ways he is the same as he was in Spain

This is the cafe where J.K. Rowling sat and worked on her first Harry Potter book!

Our tour guide was very patient and amused with Stone's silliness

A statue of Abraham Lincoln and a person being emancipated from slavery. We had no idea that Scottish people had gone to the U.S. to fight against slavery in the Civil War!

Finishing the walking tour on a hill looking over the city


Walking to an Indian restaurant for dinner in a sudden rainstorm!

And home in a downpour!




After we got home from dinner, Sophie and I put on better raincoats and walked to a nearby grocery store for breakfast foods and hot chocolate. When we got home we granted Stone's wish of having a family game of Hide-and-Seek

Really, Erik?

Stone's best hiding spot!

Sophie's been doing tons of sketching lately

And she can maintain focus even amidst the strangest of distractions

A quiet evening at home while it rained and bagpiped and drummed outside