Royal Botanical Gardens and Blackford Hill

In the past weeks the weather has been pretty bad. It has been raining quite a lot lately and we have been getting some snow. Even though it hasn't been the best conditions for outside activities we have managed to see acouple things around town. The other week Jess, Kasia and I walked up to Blackford hill which is located near the south of Edinburgh (opposite of the coast). Edinburgh is full of hills which makes it a great way to see the entire city. THey include Holyrood park (Arthur's seat), the Castle which is located on a hill, Calton hill (near Prince's Street), and Craighouse (one of Napier's campuses) is located on a hill. It was typical Edinburgh weather when we went to Blackford, misty and overcast, but we were still able to see the Castle,  Arthur's seat, and the royal observatory which was located on Blackford hill. Also there was a path that went around the whole hill and went a long a small creek which made the walk very enjoyable. Walking around in the cold conditions made me realize why hardy dishes such as mince and tatties and haggis were typical Scottish meals. To bad I went back and at pasta....

Andrew and I also went to the Royal Botanical Gardens which is located in north Edinburgh. The gardens were free and and nice way to get away from the busy city life. They had many types of different plants and trees which was a nice change from the basically treeless hills and town. They also had a pond in the middle of the park with lots of ducks and weird looking birds swimming around. My favorite part of the gardens was the Chinese Garden. It was located on a hill and you started at the bottom and winded up on a small path to the top of the hill going through bamboo, small ponds, and a creek running down the center of the hill. At the top was once a again a view of the entire city, but from the north. So far I have seen the city from the east (Arthur's seat), the south (Blackford hill) and now the North. If I go on the top floor of my campus Sighthill in the east I can get a view from the West...but it doesn't really compare to the other spots.