I’d never been to Edinburgh.
So far my university course has been pretty intense. Getting used to the workload has been quite a challenge but one I have taken head on! The past couple of weeks in particular have been rather stressful with deadlines for all four modules rushing up on me. Face-time with my parents is a great release for my emotions and a chance to relax, and through numerous ‘get me out of here’ calls my parents picked up on my stress and booked us a short holiday to Edinburgh.
At first I was rather reluctant to go as I was worried I then wouldn’t have enough time to finish all my work for the course. I didn’t want to ruin the break by being holed up in my room working all the time rather than spending time out exploring with my parents. It is a truism that ‘Mum knows best’ and after being reminded by my parents that breaks are a good thing and that I will have time to get the work done, not so much persuasion was needed to get me to agree to go.
My parents picked a lovely week to go, the sun was out and shinning for almost every day but in typical British fashion we have to complain about at least one aspect of the weather don’t we? The wind was cold; the sun was lovely but balanced out with a cold breeze. I don’t do cold!
The trip was absolutely great. We didn’t let the weather drag us down and spent every day out exploring and visiting many different places. One of the first places we visited was the Royal Yacht Britannia. The yacht is docked not far from the flat in which we were staying in Leith and her positioning coincided with a redevelopment of the harbour area, and the advent of Scottish devolution.
We spent the second day at Scotland’s oldest inhabited house, Traquair House, much to Dad’s delight as it has a functioning brewery - the world famous Traquair House Brewery. While there, we also found a very flamboyant male peacock who was most definitely posing for photos (and the ladies!).
And of course, we had to visit the landmark Edinburgh Castle, spending the majority of the day there and hearing the 1 o’clock gun (how loud!). We also visited what is said to be Edinburgh’s oldest visitor attraction, Camera Obscura and World of Illusions. And of course you can’t go to Edinburgh and not explore the Royal Mile! We spent a fair bit of time exploring the various shops and alleyways before I dragged my parents of to Edinburgh’s very own Diagon Alley (Victoria St) and spent much of my time ‘fan-girling’ in the various Harry Potter merchandise shops.
It was a very enjoyable break, providing me with the very much-needed chance to relax and enjoy family time. For a change I wasn’t shooting images for my course and found that liberating as it allowed me to play about with the camera and take photos for the sake of taking them, rather than for a course deadline.
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