Why that's brilliant! Lovely!

I'll have a wee nip from that bottle o whiskey then.  

Cheers! Oh yes that's quite lovely. Quite lovely indeed. Rather peaty, wouldn't you say then?

That's nice o you then. Why yes, certainly, I wouldn't mind if I had another.  That would be brilliant.  Why I say, that's quite lovely.  Quite lively indeed.

The Scots might be the most polite folk on Earth.  I have heard Thank you and Sorry more times in the past week than cumulatively over my lifetime.  They are outgoing and happy. The common vernacular is brimming with superlatives: everything is lovely, brilliant, perfect.

Edinburgh, a town of half a million sprawling across several hills, is pretty, with mostly old brownish or grey stone tall buildings...and artsy.  Descriptions of fair trade, organic, handmade, locally grown...are everywhere.

On Friday, the population will quadruple with the opening of the Fringe Festival, a cutting edge performing arts and music festival that will run over three weeks with over 3,000 shows in over 250 venues. It will overlapwith the International Festival (more music, dance, arts) for at last two of those weeks. Even without these festivals, there is no dearth of fun things to do. I have found three different sections of town with street performers at any time of day. There is a lot of green space and it's okay to drink and barbecue in the parks, which usually have a playground as well, so they are quite well used. Tomorrow afternoon I hope to see a performance of Dylan Thomas and check out the Botanical Gardens. I might even try some haggis.

                                   

                                   

                         




                                   

                                  

On Sunday, we hiked the hills above Edinburgh, just below Arthur's Seat, which is on a volcano.  The hill and valley formations are from volcanoes and glaciers.  


                                   

                                    

                                    

                                      


We stopped in at the Sheep Heid Inn for ale and fish and chips.  It has been open continuously since 1360.  


                              

Then we took the bonny low road home.


                             

                 



                                 

                                 
       
  

It stays light very late and brightens again quite early in the summertime. The weather is volatile, changing from sunny to stormy, blazing hot to bone chilling many times throughout a day. 

They say that if you don't like the weather in Edinburgh, wait twenty minutes.