Edinburgh, Scotland

Time for pictures!

I'm in Edinburgh now, in the middle of the festival period, which means that the city is packed! But it also means that there's lots of shows to see.

So far I've seen a show about a couple of florists who don't have any flowers; a comedy reenactment of the first 6 Harry Potter books in one hour; and a strange performance-art meditation on the strange origins of Christianity by the guy who did MacHomer. They've all been entertaining, although the HP show was clearly the best so far.

Anyway, as I said, pictures! There are tons of castles sprinkled across Scotland, and I've had a lot of fun exploring them. Here's a few:

Doune Castle, the main castle used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail:


Castle Stalker, another castle featured in the movie:


Dunollie Castle, a decaying castle perched on a hill overlooking Oban:


Here's the view that I had from Gartmore House, the first place that I stayed in Scotland. There were tons of sheep grazing in the fields below, and I could hear them bleating every once in a while from my room:


Here's another awesome place that I stayed, right next to Smoo Cave. The cave is a sea cave that has a river running out of it now; there's a sinkhole off to the left where the river drops down into the cave, forming a dramatic waterfall that generates tons of spray. Unfortunately, that makes the waterfall hard to photograph, but it was really cool. The hostel that I stayed in is in those brown and green buildings in the background.


This is a pedestrian bridge in Glasgow, near the convention centre. When it was built, it was probably nice, but the windows are made of plexiglass, so they've become scratched and cloudy with time. Still makes for a cool picture, though.


And finally, a great view of Edinburgh from the top of Arthur's Seat, the 800-foot hill that rises up over the city, right behind the Scottish Parliament building.