When It Rains, It Shines

One of the most noticeable features of Edinburgh, Scotland is the weather, and how frequently it changes. Never mind that, while Philadelphians are sweating out highs of 81°F and Jumbos are fighting off 82°F with no air conditioning, it's 57°F here with a low of 43°F. No, the real trouble is the rain, which seems to come and go with the passing clouds. As one local woman put it, "No dear; we don't close [the farmer's market] for the rain. It's Edinburgh; we'd never be open!"

Rain one minute and sunshine the next was the theme of my tour of Edinburgh Castle, a fortress constructed long, long ago (12th century or so?) atop a large hill. It's full of cannons, towers, and, of late, Scottish history exhibits. It all looks a bit like this:

It's nice to be greeted by a friendly fellow at the door.

I don't suppose arrows can pierce that.

A sunny day for a castle tour, no?

You can see a lot from up here!

A British flag flies over one of the castle buildings.

Some of the cannons had a 2-mile range. Yikes!

Hello? (Ello? Ello? Lo? Lo...?)

Near the citadel; the inner (more difficult to breach) buildings

Edinburgh Castle

The walk up there was preceded by pouring rain, with sunshine arriving just in time for the visit. Sure enough, once the sight-seeing was over, the rain returned. A tip for anyone traveling in Edinburgh: Wear a raincoat at all times. And, unlike in America, carrying around an umbrella won't actually stave off the rain.

Learn British: Half-one (half-two, half-three, etc.). This is a way of expressing time. So 8:30pm, which will commonly be written 20:30 on printed material, is called "half-eight," while 7:45pm is quarter-to.