Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to trek across the city and climb up Arthur's seat, the highest nearby crag? Yes, a little crazy, but it was worth it. We started out in grey light, passing pasty-faced, slightly intoxicated folks on their way back home from a long night at the pub. We weren't quite awake ourselves. A good forty-five minute walk down sidewalks and under a few sketchy bridges, we were at HolyRood Palace where the Queen stays when she makes a rare appearance. Right beside the palace is a ruined abbey, but we couldn't get too close; nobody was their to open the gate at quarter to six. At the foot of green slopes that roll up to the seat is a dark loch with swans. Even this early a man feeds them pinches of bread.
With me on this adventure was Bethany, Rachel, Michelle, Jesse and Tyler. We didn't know Tyler was coming until we stumbled out of our rooms to find him still up on the computer. He was a little out of it. Anyway, we started up the climb, seeing noone on our path, but a few people far away on the top of some hill and evidence of some recent visitors to the ruins of St. Andrews chapel in the way of beer cans. It took us a while to get to the top (a little out of shape despite the miles of walking). The last 100 yards or so is up a path of inlaid stone that walks the spine of a crag. 
We had hoped to see the sunrise, but the mists obscured most of the light. Just as we got to the top, though, the sun slit the clouds and slanted in. The wind swept across the top from which we could see all of Edinburgh, the surrounding hills and fields, the bay, the islands and the fog resting on the surface of the ocean. To a graffitied post someone had tethered Tibetan peace flags that pulled into the wind.
At the top we gloated, stared in amazement at the view and took an obscene amount of pictures. After awhile fooling around, we gathered together and Michelle began to read the Bible aloud, praising the Lord for his creation. It all was so near. Finally, the wind reached a howl and we retreated back down the path, passing a few early morning hikers and pausing to lay down in the grass which is even softer and thicker than it looks.
Needless to say, we were all feeling a little tired - nobody talked very much - until we stopped at an "authentic Italian coffee" place to imbibe some caffeine. (We had since dispatched Tyler, who had not slept at all, back to the hotel). Then it was off to farmer's market! There is a row of orderly tents with matching signs and a whole variety of foods and crafts. Cheeses, breads, vegetables, berries, meat (venison?), sweets, jams plus other cool stuff like homemade soap and knitwear and pies. It was pretty fun. After meandering back to the hotel to change, the others napped while I went off with my farmer's market lunch to the graveyard at the base of the castle and read and ate and took a lot of pictures of mossy trees and tombstones (it was a camera happy day).
At night, we had a performance by Turkish sufi dancers and singers called the Whirling Dervishes. Wearing white, wide-skirted robes and stiff brown turbans they spun around for 5-10 minutes at a time, never losing their balance. It was so interesting; these men began to look like flowers or dandelion threads spinning down out of the air.
It was our last night in Edinburgh and Carrie's birthday so we got ice cream at the only place still serving it at 10:30 - McDonalds - and ate it and played around in a park until we all were tired. Going home was a little bittersweet; we were saying goodbye to a city we'd barely known and some of us were never returning to.
And, yes, Mom, I know that there are no people in some of these pictures (I really did try) but everything is so beautiful! I really like taking pictures of flowers right now, so here you go. I think this is the heather that makes the hills so purple!
