Milano

I'll start by apologizing for the long delay; it's midterm essay season here in Edinburgh. That being said, I still found time to fly down to Milan last weekend for a bit of sightseeing. You might notice that this post is relatively short, only four photos. Milan is really more of a commercial city than a prime tourist spot, which I realized shortly after arriving. Most of the tourist sites are centered around the Duomo cathedral, which is enormous and stunningly beautiful, even against the a cloudy afternoon. Having seen quite a few cathedrals at this point in the semester, I can safely put this one up at the top alongside Toledo, and well ahead of Madrid.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II, or a very old shopping mall. This is directly adjacent to the Duomo. It was quite the scene, with Prada and Louis Vuitton holding down the prime real estate in the center intersection. The domed glass roof was really impressive though, especially for a building that old.

The inside of the Sforza castle. It was massive.

And we caught up with my friend Hakeem, who showed us where the good food was.

Stirling and Dumyat

Stirling is about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow in central Scotland. Everything in the town -- streets, pubs, fish and chip shops -- is named after William Wallace, who defeated the English here at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. The battle features prominently in the film Braveheart, though Mel Gibson somehow managed to leave out the bridge. You can just see the bridge at the lower left of the photo, with the Wallace Monument on the hilltop behind. Beyond that is a mountain called Dumyat, where I will be spending my afternoon

I start my visit with a quick jaunt up the hill to see the castle. Pretty imposing from down here.

Stirling Castle. The statue at right is Robert the Bruce, who is right up there with Wallace and Robert Burns among Scottish folk heroes.

The Wallace Monument overlooking Stirling Bridge

After lunch I headed over to Dumyat to do some hillwalking. I decided against the path, and took it straight-up. The wind was intense.

It was also steep.

This sheep is suspicious of my presence.

The summit. It was even windier up there, so my stop was brief.

Looking back towards Stirling

"The Gateway to the Highlands"

A view south over the countryside on the descent. You can see the River Forth zigzagging eastwards towards the North Sea, just before it widens as it approaches Edinburgh.

You could see the remnants of an ancient hill fort on one of the minor summits.

I descended by a different route -- there wasn't much of a path, just more sheep poop and great views.

My Morning Walk

I live in Fountainbridge, a neighborhood on the western outskirts of central Edinburgh. George Square -- the academic center of the University of Edinburgh -- is right in the middle of town, just south of Old Town and The Royal Mile. I do this walk a lot.

The view from my flat window. Fountainbridge is a, how shall I say this, 'up-and-coming' neighborhood. That pretty much means it's a construction site. You can see Arthur's Seat though...it's behind the crane. Of note: the light-blue lift bridge and church steeple at right are along my walk.

I take the Leamington Lift Bridge over the Union Canal. Some days, if I'm lucky, the bridge will be up to allow a canal boat to pass. In these situations, you can still cross by taking the staircase.

The Edinburgh Quay: eastern terminus of the Union Canal. 'The Quay' is another 'up-and-coming' neighborhood.

I walk a few blocks down Lothian Road to get to the Meadows. This church is along the way.

Bruntsfield Links: they have a 36-hole short-hole golf course right in the middle of the city.

The Meadows Walk. This runs parallel to Lauriston Place -- the east-west thoroughfare in this part of the city -- but has significantly nicer scenery.

Old buildings next to new buildings. This is pretty much how it goes -- architecturally speaking -- in Edinburgh. This photo was taken from the Meadows Walk.

Bristo Square. The University students' union and other student-life buildings are all situated around here. I would call it the social center of campus. It's also just a few hundred feet from...

George Square, University of Edinburgh

Palma de Mallorca

I flew on Ryanair from Edinburgh to Palma, my first experience with European low-cost airlines. It was a cool experience: they pack the planes tight and turn them around almost instantly. Super cheap and well worth it.

An early-morning view of the beach in front of our hotel. Pretty nice. Shortly hereafter, this beach -- and all of the others along the Palma strip -- will have been packed wall-to-wall with overweight, naked Germans. Yuck.

We went on a bike ride to find a less crowded place to swim, and found this one across the bay. Our hotel is somewhere on the endless strip that you can see along the far shore. The north side of the island -- which you can see in the background -- is mountainous, less densely populated and apparently breathtakingly beautiful; if we were to come back to Mallorca, we would probably go there. As you can see, though, there isn't really a bad spot on the island.

Megan is blocking the nude bathers, who are not welcome on this blog.

It was really nice.

North Berwick

North Berwick (pronounced barrack) is a seaside resort town at the mouth of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian. I caught a Saturday-morning train here from Waverley Station in Edinburgh. I'm here to go castle-hunting.

The North Berwick Law is a volcanic hill overlooking the town, "law" being a Scots term for a hill that rises incongruously from the surrounding area. I'd say it's a safe bet that I make it up there at some point today.

Note to Dad: they have boats here. Note to Mom: they also have golf.

But first to business. I am told there is a castle down this road somewhere...

I spy a castle. I just have to cross somebody's cornfield to get to it.

Aha! Tantallon Castle is a 14th-century fortress perched on a cliff overlooking the North Sea. The main defensive wall has been well restored, so you can climb up on it for great views in every direction.

Castle-y photograph

Looking west over the countryside from the castle. North Berwick is about four miles away, on the other side of the Law.

Just offshore from Tantallon Castle, the Bass Rock has held chapels, military garrisons and prisons in the past. The only things there now are a lighthouse and a lot of birds. This is the view from the castle ramparts.

Northwest across the Firth of Forth.

And of course I climbed the North Berwick Law on the way back. This is the view from the summit, looking northeast onto the North Sea. You can see the castle along the shoreline at center, and the Bass Rock just offshore. Sidenote: "hillwalking" is quickly becoming a favorite hobby of mine.

Westward view over North Berwick and the mouth of the Firth. The structure in the foreground is what remains of a Napoleonic-era lookout post.

Ending the day with fish 'n chips on the North Berwick quay.

Arthur's Seat

My first full day in Edinburgh was actually quite beautiful (you could see the sky!), so I figured the timing was perfect for a run to the top of Arthur's Seat, an imposing volcanic hill just east of the city center. Arthur's Seat is the center of Holyrood Park and it's highest point, and I figured it would give me some great views of Edinburgh and the rest of Central Scotland. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

The trail, from about halfway up.

Running up may have been a bit overly ambitious.

Looking west over Edinburgh from the summit. In the foreground are the Salisbury Crags, a set of cliffs that hang directly over the city. People tend to refer to the crags as Arthur's Seat as well, though they have their own name (which I had to google to find). Edinburgh Castle is visible on Castle Rock, just over the end of the cliffs. My flat is in Fountainbridge, west of the center city, in the upper left of the photo.

Looking north from the summit. You can see the trail I took up along the lower left. Beyond the Firth of Forth (the inlet that runs from the center of Scotland into the North Sea), you can just make out the mountains of the Highlands in the distance.

Looking northeast over Leith and the Firth of Forth. You see out into the North Sea through the opening in the horizon at right.

I went down by a different route, this one of the southwest side of the hill, and got this great profile view of the Salisbury Crags cast against the sunset.

One last shot of the sunset and then back to my flat.