Sisterly Love

Catherine and I spent more time exploring the city together on Monday. We decided to walk down my road and go in all the charity shops there. We ended up in the Grassmarket where we went in a vintage clothing shop and saw The Last Drop, a pub in the location of the last hanging and a tea shop. We ended up stopping at Hula, a vegetarian, vegan and gluten free friendly cafe to escape the rain. I ordered the Sunshine in a Cup smoothie - fitting for the day's weather. We took the time there to plan the rest of our day and to write postcards to our family and some friends. We were quite tempted by the menu and decided to have lunch there as well.

After recuperating a bit we headed to the Royal Mile. We went inside St. Giles' Cathedral and up to the castle. We discovered the Tartan Weaving Mill Exhibition where they had weaving going on downstairs and more tartan things than all of the many tartan shops put together. We went to Greyfriar's Kirkyard and saw Greyfriar Bobby's grave with sticks left there for him - so cute! When it was time for another hot drink we went to The Elephant House - one of the cafes where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. It was quite nice in there, all wooden tables and chairs and lots of elephant memorabilia.

Tuesday was much of the same - shopping and stopping for a cup of tea. This time we went to Kilimanjaro on Nicholson which I'd heard a lot about but never been in before. It had a nice atmosphere and a delicious chocolate milkshake. In the morning we also walked up Arthur's Seat, going a different way from the times I've been up before which offered different views.

Yesterday Catherine and I went to Glasgow to stay in a hostel overnight since her flight home left early this morning from the airport there. Check in was at 3 pm and since she had her big suitcase we didn't go til then. We spent the afternoon/early evening walking around, searching for a tea strainer in the shopping centre and exploring Buchanan Street. We had dinner in a pub next to the hostel which was 15% off with a night's stay. This morning she left in a cab for the airport at around 5 am and I stayed in the room until about 8:30 am when I took the train home to Edinburgh.

It was really nice to have Catherine stay with me in Edinburgh. There were so many things I wanted to show her and now she will be able to picture me here. She was a great visitor, we did some tourist-y things but mostly just enjoyed spending time together doing normal life things.

I'm on my own now for a couple of days until everyone comes back for school on Monday. It will be a good opportunity to get some things done - my paper, writing letters to friends, laundry etc.