Crazy weather and good times in Scotland

July 3: I know I've written this before, but now I'll finally do it. This post will indeed have fewer words and more pictures. Rather than writing during the week, I spent Jonah's naps exploring our neighborhood and reading.

The past week in Scotland has been wonderful. The transition to our new place was quite smooth, in part because this is probably the nicest place we've stayed in many ways, not including the views from our windows. We do have a great view of the cemetery containing Adam Smith's remains from the late 18th century. And you know how I love those old cemeteries. But it doesn't quite compare to the amazing ocean views we had in Istanbul and Cape Town.

Although still in the UK, Scotland certainly brings a different culture than that found in England. And the difference in accents is remarkable. I suppose you get drastic accent differences in the U.S. over a similar geographic distance. Still the same are the beautiful green hills and the tons and tons of sheep everywhere. Two new visible features I'll call out: fabulous brick bridges and men walking on the streets in kilts.

In any event, it's official that our sabbatical is coming to an end soon. We booked tickets home for Wednesday, July 16. It's going to be a bit of a hellish flight (flights, actually) because the only tickets we could get for our class of seats have us leaving on Wednesday afternoon, flying through Washington, D.C., taking off for LAX just after ten at night, and arriving on Thursday morning just after midnight. Jonah won't sleep on the first flight (given past experience, and we have plenty), but he should eventually crash on the second. Fingers crossed. I hope the entire plane (crew aside) sleeps on that flight to keep noise to a minimum, not just for Jonah but for Jeremy and me who also will be unbelievably exhausted.

So, a short recap of our past week. We did indeed visit Wordsworth's home in Rydal on our way out of the Lake District last Saturday. It's lovely with an amazing sitting room and surrounded by beautiful gardens. It was a pretty easy drive to Edinburgh, although finding our way to the apartment rental company's office and on to our flat took us all over the place given the extensive construction going on in the city (mostly for a new tram it appears).

Edinburgh is a beautiful and charming city with stone architecture and cobbled streets in much of the Old Town. We're staying just off the Royal Mile (Canongate), the stretch of the main street in Old Town that runs from the Palace of Holyroodhouse (the Queen's Scottish palace) to the Edinburgh Castle, the latter of which we visited, the former being closed due to the fact that the Queen is currently in Edinburgh. Our particular street (Old Tolbooth Wynd) is quiet and once had a toll booth at the top by the Royal Mile, where people entering the burgh had to pay a toll. We're within walking distance or a short bus ride away from pretty much everything a short-term visitor would want to see and do here.

Over the course of the week, our weather has been mixed, to say the least. It started off on the rainy side but has since oscillated back and forth between hot/sunny and cloudy/drizzly. And you can experience many different weather fronts in a single day. So one morning we left our apartment in shorts, and as we hiked down Arthur's Seat, found ourselves in the midst of drizzly conditions with no umbrellas. Not having learned a lesson, I proceeded to get rained on quite a bit while out that afternoon taking pictures, not just once but twice, first up toward the castle and then in the neighboring cemetery.

Edinburgh has plenty of indoor and outdoor options, so even on wet days, we've kept quite busy. We spent a morning visiting Brittania, the decommissioned (c. 1997) Royal yacht over in Leith at the port (where we also found a GREAT Marks and Spencer Simply Food to do our grocery shopping and buy up loads of organic food items).

We walked along the Royal Mile from the palace to the castle. Along the way we visited St. Giles Cathedral and looked down closes off Canongate. We visited the castle, which was mostly interesting for its views of the city below.

We hiked up Arthur's Seat, one of seven hills in Edinburgh, this one located right by the Queen's palace. It's a lovely spot in Edinburgh, where you find yourself surrounded by nature, despite your location in the middle of a major city. From Arthur's Seat, we watched the Queen's motorcade take her across the street to the Edinburgh Parliament for her to participate in the Parliament's 10th anniversary. News reports suggest that many members of parliament snubbed her by not showing up to her address, although many members said they'd already booked holiday plans well before they were informed of the Queen's appearance. From Arthur's Seat, we hiked down to the Dynamic Earth, a science museum that teaches people about earth from the time of its formation to present day, enjoying, among other things, a great half an hour show on space (watched in a dome theater on the ceiling). Jonah was quite captivated by the show, turning his head like everyone else when the images moved across the dome.

Today, we visited the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, which are just beautiful. The massive greenhouses include flora from many different regions. We strolled through the rock garden, watched the ducks in the pond, and kicked Jonah's ball around. It started out as a beautiful day. Now it's raining.

While Jonah napped on two different days, Jeremy and I visited tourist sites in the city. I went to Mary King's Close, a sort of slum of hidden streets where people lived starting in the 17th century. Walking through old town houses and rooms, a guide told us the history of the close and the many different people who lived and died there. Jeremy is on an outing now to the dungeons of Edinburgh, more of an amusement park attraction. Neither permitted (nor are suited to) kids, so we made good use of Jonah's nap time.

Together, we've taken nice post-nap walks around the Old Town, checking out the nearby cemetery and 17th century garden, strolling through the grounds outside of the Queen's palace, and along the Royal Mile. One afternoon, we found our way over to Meadow Park and the fabulous playground Dom said we should visit (Dom, Rob, and Charlotte lived in Edinburgh before moving to Cape Town last year).

We also took two day trips outside of Edinburgh this week. One day we drove a loop northwest from Edinburgh to Stirling (where we visited a castle), through Kilmahog, climbing into the Western Highlands via Tyndrum, moving farther west to Loch Awe and Kilchurn Castle (which we didn't visit), and stopping at a picturesque fishing town of Oban. From Oban we visited Dunstaffnage Castle, headed southeast toward Loch Lomond, took a northern bypass above Glasgow, and finished east into Edinburgh.















































On another day, we drove north to St. Andrews to visit the cathedral and castle and then west to a spot just north of Perth to Scone Palace, home of the Earls of Mansfield and once the crowning place of the Kings of Scots, before heading back to Edinburgh. Jonah particularly liked the palace's playground and hedge maze, which he led us through for the most part.





















Tomorrow we leave for North Wales, where we'll be staying in a cottage on a traditional Welsh-speaking, family-run (since 1889), beef and sheep farm just outside of the town of Conwy in Snowdonia National Park. We'll be well situated by castles, lovely coastal towns, mountains, and a steam train. Should be a great week. We have a five plus hour drive ahead of us though.

Since we left the Lake District, Jonah has returned to a more normal sleep schedule, thanks to the extra towels in our flat. I was able to use tacks to cover Jonah's window with two towels. They don't completely rid the room of light, but they darken it such that you can't read a book or assume anything other than that it is nighttime. As a result of Jonah's getting more sleep, he has gone back to the easy-going, reasonable little guy (with some typical two-year-old exceptions). Hallelujah!

He also has become quite the storyteller. I suppose he has been for a while. But, he had a funny exchange with the woman working at the gift store at Scone Palace yesterday. For some reason, he started to tell her about his little car from Granny Doris. He explained to her that he had a car at home that didn't have a steering wheel. It broke, he informed her, and mommy threw the steering wheel away because it couldn't be fixed. The woman assured him that he would get a new steering wheel, but he let her know that that couldn't happen. I had to do some interpretation for the woman, but Jeremy and I just stood there smiling at each other. He also sat for a while in the backseat on one of our day trips, "reading" his book, more looking at the pictures and telling the story to himself (or perhaps to Meow Kitty Cat, who was with us on that day's outing).

He is very into his picture book with various types of motor vehicles, including construction and farm equipment, boats, motorcycles, cars, rescue vehicles, and various types of aircraft. As we drive in the car, he now points out the different motor vehicles on the road or side of the road when he sees them.

He's had some great things to say this week as well . . .

"These are not sidewalks. They're drivewalks for me to drive over them."

While in the car one day, he said, "I want my light on for kitty to see outside."

After I'd stuck my head out the window to ask someone for directions, Jonah hollered out, "We need help!"

"I don't eat cars. I do eat toast and cream cheese though."

"I'm all gone with my milk, daddy." We now hear some version of this "I'm all gone" phrase every day. He used to say that he was all done, and I guess we'd respond with, "Is it all gone?" or some such phrase. So now he thinks the word to use is "gone" rather than "done".

After explaining to Jonah that the Queen was in town and that we couldn't visit her palace as a result, he said, "The Queen is here. The Queen is coming to our house. I'm calling the Queen." He pretended to dial the Queen and said, "Hello Queen? Possible to clean our house?" We laughed out loud at this one. This is the question I would ask almost every morning our first couple of weeks at Kabira in Uganda. Of course, I wasn't calling the Queen. I was calling the front desk. But, hey.

"We need umbrellas, especially at the playground."

While looking at a picture of an ambulance in his book, he said, "This guy's the driver. This guy's going to get in the passenger seat. They're going to get in to go help the people and save the day."

Okay, I'm not sure I'll be able to post from Wales because our place doesn't have internet access, so you'll hear from me when you hear from me!

Picture descriptions: The guys standing along the wall across from our flat; cemetery next to our flat, with our building (the cream/yellow one) in the background; Jonah runs in the park behind the Palace of Holyroodhouse (after having visited the tractor in the distance), the path to Arthur's Seat in the distance; Wordsworth's Rydal Mount; Royal Mile in Edinburgh; same; the Royal Brittania; Jonah spinning around the pole at the Edinburgh Castle; the chapel for the Order of the Thistle at St. Giles Cathedral (the Queen sits in the middle seat); enjoying the plants and walking around the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens; same; Greyfriars cemetery in Edinburgh; daddy and Jonah go for a ride in Meadow Park playground; Stirling Castle; view as we headed into the Highlands; the waterfront by Dunstaffnage Castle; Jonah loving his cannon ride in front of the castle; St. Andrews Cathedral and cemetery; ruins of St. Andrews Castle; Scone Palace, where Jonah said he wanted to live; checking out the maze at Scone Palace before making our way through it; walking around Dunstaffnage Castle; resting outside of the Queen's palace (perhaps hoping she'd take pity on him and invite him in?); along the water by Dunstaffnage Castle; walking through a garden in our neighborhood in Edinburgh; and checking out the fern glasshouse at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardnes.