Aug 11 - last day Petland Hills

that was no "hill." Definitely mountain climbing on the last day. Not a lot of sounds happening in the way of music on this day. A few odd things did happen to us on our adventure though. Every time the bus turned a corner it sounded like a bandsaw turned on in the back of the bus, and we got to witness the better part of an arrest while sitting at a red light. The climb up the Petland Hills was rough, but well worth it for the scenery, Arthur's Seat seemed to get smaller in the distance the more we climbed.

After Petland mountain climbing, Kerry, Alex, Katie and I hopped off the bus at Princess Street and hit the Walter Scott Monument. It has about 40 more steps than the Wallace monument and not nearly the walking space. If you thought it was cramped on the Wallace Monument, don't go up the Scott monument. The stairs narrowed so much at the top that we had to turn sideways to get our shoulders through the doorway. There is very little space to walk around at the top of the monument, but it is a great view of the city.

This is a view of the Princess Street gardens from the top of the tower.

After we all had dinner together, we thought we'd head back to the Halls, pack a little bit and try to catch the lights show up on Arthur's Seat. We weren't really sure if we actually saw the lights show. We saw something, but we were on the wrong side of the Craggs to really get a good look at anything. We were able to see the Edinburgh Castle from this side though, during a Tattoo performance for that night.

 Kerry snagged a few Canadian flags from the lobby of our residence hall. We both had a hard time coming down from Arthur's Seat that night,  but two years ago we never thought we'd be back again so knock on wood for a third alumni trip in a few more years.

It is not often in Scotland that you don't hear bagpipes playing somewhere off in the distance. We may be sensitized to it, being Edinboro students but it doesn't have the same feel hearing them on campus as when you hear them in Scotland. They sound like they are supposed to be there, innate. 

this video doesn't really belong in this post but I wanted to end with some bagpipes soo go with it.