Night Watch

This week's post will be, as the title implies, pictures taken at night here in Edinburgh. As you all know (and if you don't, then seriously, why are you reading this?) I am a night person; I sunburn very easily, the sun hurts my eyes, I don't much care for mornings, and frequently suffer from bouts of insomnia. All in all, night time is the best time. So here are some of the shots I've taken at night. Keep in mind that most of these are from within the last week or so, and "night" means "5:00pm." The sun is disappearing earlier and earlier...right now it's 4:42pm, and it's completely dark outside.

This is the road that runs along the base of Castle Rock here. Obviously, I'm standing up on Castle Rock to be able to take this shot. I think this road is actually close right now, either for construction on the road itself, or on the rock, to keep it from falling onto the road.

This is me looking out over the city from Castle Rock. I don't know what that building in the center of the frame is, but it sure does look nice.

And again, out over the city from the rock, but this time, slightly to the right (as you can tell by the same lit up building right there).

This was actually my first time up to the castle, like, all the way up. I don't think they were still letting people inside, even though that doro is clearly open, but you can wander around in the parking lot all you want at this time. It looks like I'm farther back, but I'm actually only about 50 feet from the door here.

And another one, again, from a slightly different angle. You can seem some people silhouetted against the door, and against the lights on the castle itself, in the left half of the frame. I wasn't the only one up there taking pictures, there were actually quite a lot of folks.

This is a...well, it's a pub, I guess...it's the Whiskey Experience, which I guess is a whiskey pub. I don't know much about it, but I was walking up to the castle from New College, and it looked awesome, and you can see just right of center, it has an awesome automatic revolving door. So that's cool.

This is St. Gile's Cathedral at night. This was on my way home from the castle, and after I had fallen and sprained my ankle. I was walking down the street, stepped off the curb, and I guess stepped badly on a cobble stone, because BAM! I rolled my ankle and was in great pain. It was my good ankle, too, so now both of my legs hurt. But it was worth it, 'cause I think these pictures are awesome. This one, of the cathedral, is a bit spooky, even, with that weird green light up on the bell tower.

The library of the University of Edinburgh at night. This was just after Mass this past Sunday (Mass was on the 16 November). We were on our way to the pub after services and socializing, and I decided it was a cool enough shot.

And this is what I still think is Edinburgh City Hall, though I haven't bothered to actually find out. But it was brilliantly lit from below, as you can see, and so it made the pictures this week.

This is a shot from the roof of the Princes St. Shopping Center, which sounds cool, but actually is street level with Princess St; all the roads, except the bridges, dip downward from Princes St. into the Gardens, and the shopping center is buitl in there. This was taken 5 November, which is Bonfire Night, and was one of the few clear shots I was able to get, as it was quite misty.

Here's a picture of from the other end of the roof of the shopping center. I really like the two levels of lights in this one, I think it's really cool.

And this is that same building (I don't know what it is) from Princess St, from several weeks ago. This was taken around 2:00am, so it was proper night, not early evening dark night. There is more light in this because I'm walking along in front of all the shops and department stores, all of which keep lights on in their display windows.

But wait! This isn't night time! No, obviously not. But this is a cool picture. This is the Christmas Tree which is given to Edinburgh every year by "some town in Norway," to quote my Hebrew professor, and which is in the process of being properly supported, and then will be decorated. There will be more pictures of this when it is finished and all lit up, but I wanted to throw this in; check out the sky!

And another that, clearly, is not at night. This is me standing on North Bridge, facing west toward the castle. The spire you can see is Scott Tower, the monument to Sir Walter Scott. And the light and the clouds and the weird streaks in the sky all conspired to make this one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken, so it gets uploaded, too.

This weeks vocabulary: high school, college, and university.

These are terms we have in the States, too, but they have different meanings here. "High School" refers to the period of education from around the age of 13 until 16, whereas in the States it is, as you know, from 13-14 until 17-18; so it starts at about the same time, and finishes about two years early. Students are still in school at this time, but these last two years, from the ages of 16 until about 18, they are in "college," a more advanced course of study, culiminating in final, comprehensive exams (I think, anyway). After this, students who continue their education go on to "university," or "uni," as it's called. This has been a bit of a confusing point, as I often tell stories from my time at college, when I attended the University of Puget Sound. But, when I say college, Britons automatically jump to the last two years of what I consider high school. So I've had to start saying "uni" when I mean "college," though I staunchly refuse to refer to any of my high school years as "college."

Cheers!