My morning destination was the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens are a few miles away from the city center, so I figured it would be a good way to get out and see a bit of the rest of the city along the way. I took my time getting there, checking out various markets and paths along the way.
No, that's not part of the garden. That's part of my walk to the garden.
Obviously it's a bit early in the year for most of the flowers, but flowers aren't the big draw for me anyway. A few of the big sections of the park were all dug up, probably in preparation for planting annuals. The best looking part of the garden for me was the rock garden, but the most interesting by far was the Scottish Heath garden. In addition to giving the names of the plants, the heath garden also included all the details on what the plant was used for, from eating to making clothes or fences or brooms, etc. The most amusing part is that the end of the list for basically every single tree/bush/grass/other sort of plant was "flavouring for beer/wine" - even the toxic ones. Oh those Scotts.
I wandered back to my home base and after a quick lunch went to the Edinburgh Castle in the afternoon. The weather has been pretty chilly and windy my entire time here so far, and I was wearing shorts, so the castle wasn't the most comfortable. In general, I found it much more impressive from the outside - looking up the sheer cliff faces to the walls - than it was on the inside. The Great Hall was nice, and they had some cheesy but still interesting depictions of the cellars history for holding prisoners. They also had a room with the crown jewels of Scotland and the Corronation Stone/Stone of Scone.
As I was leaving it started to rain pretty hard. I wasn't ready to head back to the hostel, so I worked my way to a cinema I encountered earlier in the day and watched Hunger Games. Not very exotic, I know. At least I got to see English commercials at the start.
3 comments:
Loved the heath garden! I wasn't sure of the difference between heath and heather, but a google search has informed me that heath (Erica) is one of three plants generally referred to as heather, and the one I've seen blooming in Toronto last week. I almost bought a plant that day, and now I think I definitely will need some in my garden.
Don't knock the need to go do non-touristy things. You'll burn out if you don't!
Picturesque streams, magnificent castle, and ornate jewels. It may seem strange but the shot I like best is that one with the little pink shrub. It's so unusual and really stands out against all the green.
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