Scottish Parliament Building

Here I am outside the Scottish Parliament Building. It's opposite the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Salisbury Crags. It was designed by Enric Miralles from Spain. It uses granite from China, I'm sure there is granite in Scotland. It is described as innovative, drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape, paintings of flowers and upturned boats. I don't see that at all. It was completed three years late and cost ten times more than it was supposed to.

I don't like it. It looks a mess. It's not as nice as the Welsh Senedd. It needs a few dragons outside, big ones so you can't see the building.

Arthur's Seat

At the bottom of the Royal Mile is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queens official residence in Scotland. Alongside the palace is Holyrood Park, a huge park with hills and lochs. The highest of the hills is Arthur's Seat at 823 feet. There are a number of different routes you can walk to get to the top, or fly if you are a dragon. I went along the route that takes you past Salisbury Crags. These are 150 foot tall cliffs of basalt. This photograph was taken after I passed most of the crags. The walk gives great views over Edinburgh. It's a very popular park so you aren't likely to be by yourself at any point. It was a nice sunny day, but a bit cold, which meant the views were clear. It can be a bit cloudy round here so the view can be of clouds.

Robert Fergusson in Edinburgh

Not far from David Hume, just outside the Canongate Kirkyard, I came across Robert Fergusson the poet. He isn't as famous as Robert Burns, but didn't seem bothered by this. His poems are in English and Scot's dialect, like Burns. As Burns is thought to have used at least one of Fergusson's poems as inspiration I suggested he return the compliment. Instead of a 'Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie' he write a poem about a 'Wee brave goch dragon'. Not sure he is going to do it though. He didn't like using Scots and Welsh in the first line, I thought he was being picky. I then suggested he tried a poem with the line 'Great chieftain of the Dragon Race'. He didn't like that either for some reason.

David Hume in Edinburgh

Outside Edinburgh High Court on the High Street I met David Hume the philosopher. He must spend a lot of time there as he had his own chair. We had an interesting chat, as a philosopher, rationalist and a leading light in the enlightenment that's to be expected. He wasn't too bad either. I'm not sure how his rationalism coped with chatting with a red dragon, I suspect he isn't going to mention it to many people. He might prefer it to the fact that people rub his big toe for luck.

Edinburgh

I'm in Edinburgh. It's early morning and cold. Dropped the luggage off at the hotel, way too early for check-in, hotel isn't far from station. Having a wander round while it's quiet out. Walked along Princes Street, shops closed so no crowds. Found somewhere to have a coffee and croissant to warm up before continuing walk. Found this view of Edinburgh Castle, thought it was a good place to have my photograph taken. Now going to walk round to the castle entrance.

Night Train to Edinburgh

I'm on my way to Edinburgh for the weekend. Taking the night train to Edinburgh (no not a lesser known Madness follow up). It's a rather nice way to travel. I've ordered breakfast. I've been in the bar carriage and had something to eat and drink. Now it's bed time. I've got the bottom bunk. time for a nice sleep as the train makes it's way north. The guard will wake me up with a tea and a bite to eat as we sit outside Edinburgh. Then it's a full day in town on the first day all refreshed after a sleep, rather than only having a few hours and somewhat tired if I travelled up later, it's quite a long way between London and Edinburgh.