The sun sets at around 5-5:30 here now, and it was about 3:15 in this photo. You can see the sun blaring out over everything and, in the corner, the moon is rising over the castle.
The Edinburgh buses have been flummoxing me of late. Ever since daylight savings, which was last week, the timetables and schedules both online and at the bus stops have been wrong. In addition, the 5 bus, which is the one I take, has been running between 15-30 minutes late for about a week, as far as I can tell. Today, I was trying to take the 4 to then transfer to the 5, but the 4 was late and I ended up missing the 5, and could either take the 4 to Princes' street and walk from there to my flat (it's about a 30 minute walk from the bus stop) or wait outside in the cold for half and hour for the 5 to come. I chose to take the 4 to Princes' street. Needless to say, I was very annoyed while sitting on the bus, but when we did finally reach Princes' street and my walk home began, my annoyance evaporated. It was a rare sunny day today, a brisk and crisp fall day, and it was beautiful. From Princes' street I could see the Edinburgh castle across a green meadow speckled with fiery red, orange, and yellow fall trees, and that made the trek home surprisingly worth it.
A view of the same statue as above from the opposite side. Here, you can see the blue sky and the afternoon sunlight reflected on the statue.
The castle, high up on the hill (or cliff, should I say...)
Sometimes, I just can't quite believe that I'm living here. In Oakland, my hometown, there are no archaic buildings, Tudor style shops, or, surprise surprise, castles that you might stumble upon on your walk home. There also aren't really distinct seasons, so having a fall where the weather turns colder and the leaves turn brighter is a new and enthralling thing for me (well, relatively new as this is my second year here...).
the castle on a cloud (almost)
The buildings below the castle, which to me are the very image of Scotland (or at least the image I imagine when I think of Scotland).
A mini lemon pie
Another unforeseen benefit of my walk home was that I passed by Patisserie Valerie, a very good bakery between Princes' Street and the Royal Mile. Of course, since I was walking right past it I couldn't help but stop and pick up a pastry for the road...