24.02.2018 -
One more night & morning in Edinburgh! Shabbat was great - just about everything I was expecting.
After Arthur's Seat on Friday I climbed down and walked down the road to Holyroodhouse Palace, the Queen's seat in Scotland. I got to walk through it (including Mary Queen of Scotts' room) and the audio guide definitely helped. Getting tea beforehand definitely helped me stay away.
I walked all along the Royal Mile afterwards, heading to Mary King's Close. The historical walk took me below street level to where Edinburgh's poorest used to live before the city was quite literally built up. So glad I went, it gave me an amazing view at the more sullied and decidedly less glamorous parts of Edinburgh's history.
I was able to pop into a few shops on my way back to the hostel, but I mainly had to rush back to get ready for Shabbis 'cause the sun was quickly going down. I had dinner at the Chabad couple's house, which was an amazing break (as was my nap beforehand). We were an eclectic group of guests, as is typical, which was great for chatting, and a few faces were familiar to me the next day at another synagogue's lunch!
Lunch was really nice today (Saturday), and after I walked with a group of students to visit their Rabbi who was in the hospital (nothing serious, thankfully). It was a bit of a walk, but as he's one of the people who helped connect me with Edinburgh's Jewish Community for this weekend I really wanted to say hello and thank him.
I timed it perfectly on the way back, getting back to my hostel just as Shabbat was going out.
So now I'm sitting at the Royal Oak, a pub near-ish to my hostel, listening to some nice acoustic/Scottish music, and planning what to do with the rest of my night! I popped in Sandy Bell's, a famous pub, to check out the scene, but it was packed. I'll try again later. I'll be sure to update :)
Best <3,
-Ruth xoxo
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