Vacation pictures!

[icepixie]

(Future reference: Narrative for these can be found here.)

Edinburgh Castle
The castle is on a big hill.
A very big hill.
A very rocky big hill.
Don't those look sharp?
Granny's Green Steps, looking particularly gray.
Looking out over Edinburgh with some random mountain in the background.
Yet more misty mountains.
Church tower. On a hill.
Just now making it into the castle. Here's the entrance.
Ellen doing what she does best.
Wacky-looking building outside the castle.
Looking out at Arthur's Seat.
The Hogmanay carnival next to the oh-so-Neo Gothic Walter Scott monument.
Edinburgh, with the Firth of Forth in the distance.
Church tower (St. Giles's?), Arthur's Seat, and clouds.
Chandra and Whitney with a cannon.
The outside of the war memorial.
Wouldn't like to walk across that bridge-like structure.
The place where the Scottish crown jewels are housed.
A very smug-looking stone horse. "My shield is pretty. Fwah."
Lots of sharp pokey things.
A very red old room.
The not-so-misty mountains.
The Georgian "New Town" seen from above.
Old Town. Same vantage.
The castle all lit up at night.

Around Town
You know, red might not have been the best color choice with which to light up a church at night...
A street in Edinburgh all lit up for the holidays. Actually, I think this is the cool double-decker street...the road of the street higher up the ridge runs along the tops of the buildings on one side of this one. Very neat.
I don't think I've ever seen blue outdoor lights on public trees before. Very pretty. And my camera pre-blurred them! Thanks, camera.
Princes Street Gardens
City Hall? Something Gothic and official-looking, anyway.
I love those porthole windows. And the sandstone.
So much so that I took another picture.
And here's another cool building in the same style.

Museum of Scotland and Arthur's Seat
The atrium between the Museum of Scotland and the Royal Museum. Isn't it cool?
Arthur's Seat, looking foreboding.
It's quite a ways up there.
And has very sharp drop-offs.
With few people around.
Except us. And me, lagging behind as usual.
Swans on a pond.
The castle, over a mile away.
The firth at night.

St. Andrews
Going over the Forth bridge as the sun rises.
In Fife, still on the bridge.
A building at St. Andrews.
Quad at St. A's.
The former castle, looking out on the lovely beach.
Fun light tricks with the castle.
The ruined cathedral, with accompanying graveyard.
Grotto'd!
More of the cathedral.
A carving on a skeleton lying in a hammock. Supposedly about some saint's relics or whatever, but still very amusing.
Looking up St. Rule's tower.
You can see where the stone is actually broken off in this part.

I did ask edithmatilda to take a picture of spockette and me together, and though it didn't come out well, it still exists. See, we aren't actually the same person, we're just odd! ;) Kim, do you mind if I put it up? (Locked, open, whatever...)

Extra bits and pieces from around Edinburgh on Thursday, including the carnival at night
Castle's still there.
Again, no idea what function this building serves, but it's pretty.
"The Last Drop" pub. Nick, you will like this.
The carnival at night.
The Ferris wheel at night.
Ferris wheel and Scott monument at night.
Ferris wheel at cool angle.
The carousel.

On the way to London
Sleepy Pez.
The beginnings of sunset from the train. Let me remind you that we pulled into London at 3 PM.

Big Ben at Night, the V&A, and the Natural History Museum
Big Ben and Parliament at night.
Same shot with the flash on.
The V&A.
Victorian & Albert again.
Me in an eighteenth-century hoop skirt underpinnings. Not a great picture 'cause I was taking it in the mirror.
The pink Christmas tree in the front hall of the V&A.
Sparkly decorations on the tree.
The Natural History Museum from the side.
Tower on the museum.
Gryffinous gargoyles!
The cool roof of the museum.
It's like a cathedral of science.
A very tall one.
The entrace hall, with a bit of dinosaur bone poking in.
Dino bones.
Awww, baby dino eggs!
The extinct dodo.
Beautiful stained glass windows with roses in them.
More gorgeous stained glass.
Close up of that one.
Looking down at the entrance.
The pretty ceiling.
The gem room, looking cathedralic.
Same shot from further away.
The front door from on high, replete with dino skeleton.
More arched window-like things.
Staircase of the museum, M. C. Escher style. (IMNSHO, this picture is way cool.)