Royal Botanic Garden and catching up

I don't know how I missed it, but I completely forgot to write about the Royal Botanic Garden, which I went to last Friday, Oct 5. It's on the north side of Edinburgh, not too bad by bus although there isn't a stop right next to it. I had to walk several blocks, but it was worth it, especially since it's free. And the place is absolutely huge, I was there over two hours and I'm sure I saw at least half of it, but not nearly all. It has a lot of paths and walkways, and sections. I say sections instead of exhibitions, because they kind of flow into each other. I started out walking through a dense tree and bush area that felt like walking through the woods, and came out on a landscaped rocky area. There was another area that was devoted to American plantlife especially of the southwest and mountains, followed by an area with a lot of unusually shaped trees. There is a very large China exhibit too, with a waterfall flowing past four vertically arranged small foot bridges, emptying into a small pond next to a little red pagoda. Then there was a huge open area that reminded me of what I think Central Park in New York probably looks like. I know that I didn't see some special Queen's garden, and a few other places, but I did see a large pond with ducks (and a duckling) and next to it, some plants with leaves almost as large as an adult.

There is a separate charge for the greenhouses, which I imagine probably have some amazing sights in, but I passed on it, as I was tired and hungry. There is a little cafe on the grounds, where I had sausages and potatoes with gravy, and a side of "veg", which I think was cabbage and peas. Not a fan of cabbage, but I paid for it, so I ate it.

I had a conference call for work at 7:30 pm, so I made sure not to stay out too long. I timed it just right, I got on a bus to come home just before rush hour, stopped at Sainsbury's and picked up a pre-made sandwich and some chips, and got to the hotel with plenty of time to spare. I wrote previously about my adventure to Newhaven on Saturday. On Sunday, I visited a Church of Christ to the south of me. The nearest bus stop was a few blocks away, but I was able to use the Maps app on my iPhone to find my way there. I was about 15 minutes late, but I didn't miss much. It's a small church with about 50 people, but only about 20 were there this week. I chatted with several nice people there: Bill, Pam, Robert...and...other names. I thought it was interesting that after the service they all had coffee or tea and little cakes and cookies. I enjoyed the service itself, the sermon was about ethics, and I had missed the four part singing. My first Sunday on this trip, I felt ill and stayed in. The second and third Sundays I went to churches with everyone singing in unison along with a small group of instruments and I didn't know most of the songs. So it felt good to be able to jump in on some traditional hymns on the bass line. Pam was kind enough to drive me right to my hotel, and we had a nice little chat along the way.

I'm coming down with a cold. I felt it coming on Sunday, so I stayed in and worked on videos and pictures. On Monday (it's just after midnight Tuesday now), I went to Elaine's for a late lunch and then back to the hotel to get a little work done. I took a break and went all the way up to Princes Street, and took photos of the National Archives of Scotland building, which is at the intersection of Princes Street and A701 (which itself changes names several times, and not even bus drivers can tell me if there is a single name for the street). The Archives has a statue of Wellington on horseback right at the street. Also, I had noticed a statue of Sherlock Holmes while going to Newhaven, so I walked around until I found it, on Picardy Place. There was nothing explaining its presence, but I think I read that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was Scottish, so he probably lived there at some point. I also got some pictures of St. Mary's Cathedral and a couple of odd statues out front (one is a huge four-toed foot), the Playhouse where Phantom of the Opera is currently playing, and the OMNi (entertainment and dining complex) which has a couple of metal giraffe sculptures out front. All of this is in what seems to be called the St. James Quarter. Anyway, after all that, I hopped on a bus, got another Sainsbury's cold sandwich (I wanted fish and chips but don't want to be in discomfort on my train ride tomorrow), and returned to the hotel...where I posted a bunch of videos! I hope you saw the videos and were entertained.

I am officially coming home. I'm catching the train to London King's Cross station tomorrow about 11:30 am (I have a reserved seat and it faces FORWARDS), staying in London til Thursday morning, and taking a 2:30 pm flight back to Atlanta. I'm dead set on going to Buckingham Palace and using the ticket I paid good money for, and getting Wayne his barber souvenir. Not sure that I'll even have time to do anything else, which is fine with me.

I believe the train between Edinburgh and London has electrical outlets, which will be nice for those four hours. They charge about £10 for Internet, so I'll just stay offline and work on photos. I don't know how many I'll get posted before I head home, but I do intend to get a reasonable amount posted before I quit this blog.

Oh, and I surprised my parents with a phone call using Skype, which cost me about 2 cents per minute. I love technology sometimes. :)