So this is a few days late, but I'm keeping up, I think....
Edinburgh was gorgeous. Absolutely so. I'm not sure exactly what my experience was influenced by, but my guess is my privation from warmth for 3 months had something to do with my ecstatic and immediate love of the city. I spent 3 days in a tank top, admiring leaves, flowers, and blue skies. Not that copenhagen isn't beginning to bloom, but the temperature is prohibiting me from my annual shedding of layers. I should be in shorts by now...I didn't realize just how much latitude effects my mood. The days are getting longer and longer and longer here...noticeably so. After biking home at about 4:00 from a buzzed friday night, the birds began singing and the sky lightening. I've heard that by mid-summer, people go out "at night" with sunglasses on.
....right, back to Scotland.
It was lovely. Of all the places I've visited while in Europe, I would go back to Scotland. Hiking the highlands seems like it would be an amazing trip. Taking a month or two to go Monroeing sounds fantastic. Scotland is small enough to comprehend (unlike the US), but big enough to be scary with a full pack on.
I spent 4 days there, three in Edinburgh, and one in Glasgow. The short list of things includes: Edinburgh Castle (yes, I payed for that), Arthur's seat, Hill walking for a day in the Pentlands, Ferrying out to the Island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth, the Scottish Parliament, Calton Hill, Prince's Street Gardens, Leith (I stayed in the area), Quite a few old cemeteries, The Glasgow School of Art, The Willow tea rooms (i had coffee in one, and the irony hasn't stopped making me giggle a bit.), St. Mungo's Cathedral, The Glasgow Necropolis, The Glasgow Green, Sauchiehall St, and quite a few other things that were probably passed by way too quickly. To get home, I took an overnight bus to Manchester (stupid, stupid, stupid idea) for a cheaper flight and came home drained, but barely tanned with an afterglow from reuniting with my chacos for 3 days.
I booked my plane tickets to Scotland on an impulse that occurred in a circadian low, while watching the snow fall on a frigid March evening in Copenhagen. I was craving topography, and I got it, along with a much needed dose of spring and temperatures above 55 degrees. Good weekend, I must say!
So Stockholm...It's amazing how a place can be impacted by the experience, the people, the weather, the smells, and the sounds. What is a place, but for the sensuality of it? One person may hate a city while another loves it.
Well, I loved Stockholm. The weather was perfect, the people were brilliant, and I ate like a madwoman. I spent my easter on a high foggy rock at midnight, drinking wine, and looking over the city with people from all over the world.
The topography makes the city. It's a collection of rocks, emerging from the Baltic, and topped with high trees and old buildings. Actually, it's one of the few cities that is built on an Archipelago, and once outside the city, there are hundreds of small islands dotted with vacation homes. I could imagine a life here, swimming in the ocean during the summer, sunning on a
granite rock, on an island only accessible by
boat. Apparently, one in 6 people who live in Stockholm (or Sweden) own a boat. I could see why. If only the city had eternal summer, and not the 8 month winter. There was still snow on the ground when we were there in April. Maybe I'll have to find another archipelago.
We took a ferry out to an island...got our nature on and such...it's quite beautiful out there. If anyone actually reads this, and chooses to visit, the archipelago is a must. Also, the little brass man near the Finnish church will give you good luck if you leave him something and rub his head.
Good trip...Edinburgh in 2 days. I'm very excited.
