It's good to be back - to the blog, and to travelling! It's been a while, my friends.... I can only hope my future absences are not as short-lived as the ones before. I can't stop saying how good it is to be back on the road, even though it was on a train because driving is not a great forte of mine but to be able to leave a city (however much attached you are to it) to explore new places is something I will always look forward to.
This is Edinburgh. I think it will now become a special place for me, not unlike other places that have charmed and beguiled me but this city is one of fondness, warmth and joy despite the weather. Warm hands and warm hearts outbid early sunsets in quiet and trembling nights, over the measured exhaling of breaths. The light was terrific on the first day, and the streets were aglow in misty sunlight as I trawled the streets for food. The great thing about new cities is getting to wander amidst new architectures, and Edinburgh littered with many gardens and hilly façades was something that made me happy in a small and significant way. There is a stillness to this city, but also thrives on the wonderful transition into autumn, where its rustic palette comes to life and tingles you with secret joys.
It is always hard to describe places close to my heart, mainly because I do not want to ruin the intimacy of experiencing it and yet if I don't try I fear I will forget it all. So I will try and this is something for me as much as it is for you. For me, it was the lights and it was the air and it was the grasping mix of drizzle and rain that made it worthwhile: running for a number 7 bus across the bridge from Old to New Town, walking through Princes Street Gardens trailing up to the Castle and down onto a vantage point overlooking the North Sea and taking all the wrong buses to see Bonfire Night fireworks in an adjacent town which only left an ice cream shop open.
This is part one, and hopefully in the next post I can regale my joy of the wonderful Botanic Gardens and its tropical greenhouses which was one of the best places on the trip. Let me know if you'd like to see this (otherwise I get lazy and have zero incentive) and I'll put up some photos next :)
