Friends, Art, and Less Lofty Pursuits

This week a took a mini study-break and got out of the library to have my friend come and visit.  She's studying at Trinity in Dublin, and I haven't seen her since last May.  It was so nice having her here!  It was also a great chance to visit with my other SLC friends in Scotland, and do some touristy things.

Actually, we mostly went shopping, but we also did things!  This morning we got up and climbed Arthur's Seat, which you may remember from my first climb (read about the peak and see pictures here).  This time, we were accompanied by spring!! It was absolutely lovely out and so exciting to see the first blossoms opening.

Spring also means rain and mud, so the path I had taken before was closed due to loose rocks.  Sarah and I ended up going a different way that wrapped around the hill and connected to paths on the other side.  the brambles surrounding the path had grown up into an arch, and it looked a bit like we were entering the realm of Faerie on the other side!

It was also a lot less windy at the top this time, which was nice.  On the way back, we took yet another path and came upon some 15th century ruins that had once been St. Anthony's Chapel.

a drawing of what the chapel would have looked like

 I also discovered that at ground level a little farther on is a big pond (St. Mary's Loch).  I want to go feed the ducks!!

This afternoon we dressed up to go to the National Gallery of Scotland.  We stopped for cupcakes on the way, and ate them on the steps of the museum, which was a reference to a show we all like, Gossip Girl, in which the main characters used to eat lunch of the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
It occurred to me while we were out that I don't actually have any pictures of myself in a kilt, even though I've become totally obsessed with tartan and wear them a lot.  Here I am outside the Prince's Street Gardens.  The minikilt I'm wearing is in the Dress Royal Stewart tartan, which I am making a ball gown out of at some point.

 The gallery was phenomenal, but I'll post about it separately tomorrow.  In the meantime, here's another sign on spring! We walked through the gardens on the way back, and there were crocuses (croci?) blooming everywhere.  Yay!