But I Would Walk 1 Royal Mile*

Earlier this week I set off to walk the historic Royal Mile, a stretch of road that runs from the Castle to Holyrood Abbey, and the main thoroughfare of the Old Town. I started at the castle, which was very impressive even with its parking lot under construction. The International Students Centre is planning a trip for later in the semester, so I'll venture inside soon enough.

Castle.

The Castle sits atop an extinct volcanic rock and offers some pretty spectacular views of the city, like this one:

And this one:

Then I set off for the bottom:

Looking down the Royal Mile from the foot of the Castle. Camera Obscura on the left, the Hub in the centre.

A better view of the Hub, a former church now the home of the International Festival of Edinburgh.

Looking further down the Royal Mile. You can see the top of St. Giles Cathedral on the right and the black taxis in the foreground.

More of the Royal Mile.

I don't know, his hands look pretty visible to me...

Scottish Parliament. Yeah, I know. Bang, bang?

A very obstructed view of Holyrood, where the Royal Family hangs out when they're in town.

All in all, it was a good walk. If I had but one complaint it would be about the number of tourist shops along the way. I don't think I passed single block where there weren't 2-3 shops blaring bagpipe covers of popular music (Coldplay?) and selling cheap kilts and tartans along with other crappy tourist items. I know it would've been naive of me to expect anything else on the street that houses a significant portion of Edinburgh's attractions, but still, it really destroys the ambience. 

In other less exciting news, I finished my first week of classes and am now enjoying the first day of my first four-day weekend of the semester. The total number of hours I will be spending in class every week? Five and a half. That is absolutely insane. And there's a study break in the middle of February, which means another week off from classes. Plus the three-week break between the end of classes and exams. Geez.

Here are some other pictures from my Royal Mile walk:

Police Information Box. No, I don't know what it does.

No God would ever allow this.

In case you want to know how to say something in Gaelic.

Really awesome bike racks near Parliament.

*Sung to the tune of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers, who are Scottish!