Karin Came A-Callin’

I’m posting on Monday this week for a very good reason. I had a visitor all weekend. My dear friend Karin came to visit. She spent the first leg of her trip in London and then hopped a plane up to Scotland for a few days. It was a whirlwind weekend covering Edinburgh and Glasgow. I took tons of photos, so instead of boring you with words I’ll share with you our beautiful and busy weekend. Enjoy!

Saturday: Edinburgh

Princes Street Gardens and the Scott Monument named after Sir Walter Scott’s novel Waverly. This dark spire covers a statue of the writer. Admission can be purchased and a spiral staircase leads visitors to the peak observation deck 200 feet up.

St. Giles’ Cathedral is the High Kirk (Church) of Edinburgh. This breathtaking structure has welcomed worshippers since 854 AD. The building has been through a lot over the years and the architecture seen today is primarily 15^th century.

Salisbury Crags sits in the backyard of the Queen’s Holyrood Palace. And yes, it is open to the public and yes, we went up there. It was a workout but totally worth it!

The view from atop Salisbury Crags.

Holyrood Palace former home of Mary Queen of Scots. Edinburgh seat of the current Queen Elizabeth.

The ruins of Holyrood Abbey adjacent to the Palace.

Me at the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the most faithful dog that ever lived (see last week’s blog for details).

The famous Edinburgh Castle.

Sunday: Glasgow

The Glasgow Cathedral. A tomb in the lower part of the cathedral is dated 603; just to give you an idea of the history found here.

The Glasgow Necropolis is located behind the cathedral and is an old and spectacular graveyard on a hill overlooking parts of the city.

I snapped a photo of Karin as we took a stroll through the necropolis.

On our way from the east side to the west side we stopped in City Centre to watch one of my favorite street performance groups ‘Clanadonia’. It doesn’t get much more Scottish than this!

In Glasgow’s West End we took a walk through tranquil Kelvingrove Park.

The Botanic Gardens were blossoming this past weekend.

The Botanic Gardens’ greenhouses were every bit as lovely as the outdoor grounds.

Karin is on her way back to New York as I write this. I hope she enjoyed the weekend as much as I did. Many of the sights were ones I had yet to see myself!

This week at school we continue to rehearse King Lear and Julius Caesar and we have term papers due on Friday! Arggh! I better get busy since this past weekend was all about frolicking and fun and I didn’t get a thing done on my assignments! Off to work!

Take care!

-m