Edinburgh in 3 days: Mariel Visits

This past weekend, my friend Mariel from AU came to visit. She is studying this semester at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen and is currently on her spring break. She got here at a great time- the weather was between 65-70F with sun all weekend. I may have even gotten some semblance of a tan! (I call it a Scottish tan). She arrived Friday around noon, which left most of the day for us to walk around the city. We started with campus, and made our way around a lot of Old Town.

The park in George Square, outside the library

Mariel outside of the student union

The grave of Greyfriar's Bobby. He stood by his master's grave for 14 years

 Mariel and I walked around the Royal Mile, up to the castle. It costs £14 or so, and I had already been with John, so Mariel decided it wasn't worth it. We hung out around the castle for a good amount of time, though. There was an ice cream vendor, and the weather was so nice, that we couldn't refuse. We both got cones with Flakes, which are basically sticks of flakey chocolate. So essentially, delicious.

In front of the castle is good enough

Everyone has to try on the highland cow hat

Our next stop was St Giles Cathedral, which is also on the Royal Mile. It was originally built in the 1100s, but has been restored many times since then. It was a gorgeous cathedral with all sorts of different styles of architecture.

 

 We continued all the way down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace, which is where the royalty stays whenever they're in Edinburgh.

Holyrood Palace

Saturday Mariel and I went out to brunch at a cute little place called Always Sunday. She tasted the lovely wonders of a Scottish breakfast, complete with bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, and mushrooms. I just had prosciutto, brie, and fruit salad with 2 slices of home made bread. It was all quite delicious. From there, we met up with Alex and Becca at the Farmer's Market, which has become one of my favorite things about Saturdays in Edinburgh. There were so many people there because of the gorgeous weather. I also felt that there were more vendors than there have been before. The Edinburgh Farmer's Market is mostly a meat and cheese sort of place, with some veg, bread, and sweets vendors. There is not nearly as much produce as I'm used to, but at the same time, it doesn't really surprise me in this country. After the market, Alex, Becca, Mariel and I all climbed up Arthur's Seat. It was a lot greener than the last time I went up, and also a lot warmer.

Becca and Alex!

Mariel, wearing her I Bike Copenhagen shirt

You can totally see my flat from here

I'm not sure why this guy decided to unicycle on Arthur's Seat, but whatever

Edinburgh skyline

 Sunday, we woke up quite late and made lovely french toast (or as they call it in the UK, eggy bread) for brunch. We spent most of the afternoon lounging on the Meadows, which is a large grassy park by my flat. It made it up to 67 yesterday, so we just had shorts and sweaters on. It was absolutely lovely. We had both bought a book on Friday, so we brought those out and read/took a lot of random pictures of people on the Meadows.

 Around 5, we got some fish n chips- Mariel's first time- before the Kate Nash concert. Doors opened at 7, so we got there about 7:15. The venue was called Cabaret Voltaire, and was a cute little cavern sort of thing. Quite small and underground. Apparently there are a ton of places like that in Edinburgh, which I think is really cool. The first act was a girl called Brigitte Aphrodite, but she was only on for maybe 45 min or so. Not long at all. I really liked her though- she seemed really fun.

She really liked the mic wire

Kate Nash!

It was a great concert, even though there were a lot of 14-17 year old girls. It was also nice that it ended around 1030, so that Mariel could get some sleep, since her flight was at 6:10 this morning. Ok well the next post probably won't be until I get back from some of my European travels. I'm going to Florence the 16th-20th, Munich the 20th-22nd, and then Amsterdam the 24th-27th. Basically a lot of travelling, and I have an exam on the 28th. Maybe not the best timing, but I can study on the plane? Wish me luck guys!