Colours

Most of the houses here are a shade of brown, but so many have front colorful doors. I'm loving all of the colours! Here are a few photos of front doors I took while on a walk in Dalkeith a few days ago.

Arthur's Seat

Sunday afternoon we headed into Edinburgh with the Mod 3 students and faculty to climb Arthur's Seat. The weather was quite nice most of the way with the exception of being very windy once we reached the top and a little rainy on the way down. I carried Oli in the Bjorn the whole way and he was great! We stopped several times to catch our breath and take in the scenery. There were amazing views of the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh not only from the top but along the way. Definitely one of my favorite things I've done here so far and a fun group bonding experience!

our group (minus Chris) at the bottom of Arthur's Seat

stopping along the way to catch our breath

the views were incredible

made it to the top!

Chris at the top of Arthur's Seat

360 degree view from the top

Leith, museums and some blue sky

The weather called for mostly cloudy, but no rain, so we took the bus into Edinburgh again on Thursday. We went to Leith first for fish & chips and mushy peas at The Tailend. It was quite good!

Then on to the Royal Mile again. We visited two small museums, the People's Story and The Museum of Childhood, and then stopped in to warm up with tea and scones at a cafe.

Chris & Oli on the Royal Mile outside the
Museum of Childhood

tea time at cafe larder

Oli tries a scone

The weather was beautiful. The evening brought blue sky and a little sun! We were tired when we got back, but we had to go out to enjoy the weather and take a few photos.

view from the front door

some blue sky above Dalkeith House

The last few days have been uneventful as I've been very busy preparing for my class, which begins on Monday. We did get out to the pub with friends for the Cider Festival last night and tonight had dinner with all of the students. I have six students in my class, 4 who have been here since May and 2 who just  arrived today. For most of them, flying here was the first time they had ever been on a plane! 

Oliver has been doing well. He's continuing to crawl and pull himself up and spends a lot of time exploring our bedroom or the faculty lounge. He has already made friends with the other faculty and was a hit at dinner tonight with all of the students too.

Dalkeith Tea Room and Stableyard

Wednesday was another rainy day so we decided to do a little local exploring. We put on our raincoats, got our umbrellas, and walked to the tea room and stableyard that is on the estate. We had some sandwiches, soup, shortbread, and tea, and then looked at the animals. We spent most of the rest of the day indoors.

tea's on

chickens and a child's tricycle in the yard

First trip to Edinburgh

We went to Edinburgh for the first time yesterday. We took a bus (a double decker!) which took about 45 minutes each way. Oliver did great on the way, just taking in all of the new sights, and fell asleep on the bus ride back. We decided that our first day of exploring Edinburgh we'd see Edinburgh Castle, Princes Street Gardens, wander along the Royal Mile, and get dinner. We only explored the castle a bit. We decided not to pay to go in, but we may go back and do that another time. There were bleachers set up outside the castle for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo which is happening soon. The Royal Mile was cobblestone, had lots of really cool old buildings, but was also pretty touristy.

riding our first double decker bus to Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Chris & Oli at Princes Street Gardens

flower clock in Princes Street Gardens

coffee and a scone at Cafe Musa 

Oli playing at Cafe Musa

goofy phone booth pic

the organ at St Giles Cathedral

For dinner we went to Henderson's, a vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh. Our favorites were a butternut squash salad and dessert, a slice of cherry pie. We had a good time in the city, but there is certainly much more exploring still to do!

cherry pie with creme fraiche at Henderson's

sleeping on the bus
on the way back to Dalkeith