Edinburgh: My room has a nice ceiling

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got sick while I was in Edinburgh. Two rounds of antibiotics later, I finally seem to be recovering. I had to go to the health center here on campus after I got back. After getting stabbed in the arm and bombarded by radiation (aka a blood count and a chest x-ray), I found that I did not, in fact, have pneumonia, just bronchitis.

The trip from Dublin to Edinburgh made for a very long day. We flew through London on our way to Edinburgh, so we had to walk a long way through Heathrow to make our connection. The place where we stayed in Edinburgh was at the top of a very long hill, and there were no places open on campus where we could eat. So I walked down the hill and walked quite a long distance to the Tesco to buy some food. I then walked up that hill with several pounds of groceries on my back.

I spent the next few days regretting all that exertion. I knew I wasn't completely well--I'd gotten sick and run a bit of a fever in Dublin. I got out of bed to eat once in awhile, but I missed class and a field trip. Fortunately, I was able to work everything out with my professors.

Going to the doctor is really inconvenient when you're sick. That seems to be a bit of a fatal flaw in the whole system--if you're sick enough to see the doctor, you're sick enough that running around the city's a bit tough. Anyhow, I got some antibiotics and then went back to bed.

Once I'd recovered a bit, I took the bus around to see Edinburgh. I had a bus pass, so I stopped at several different locations to take pictures. Edinburgh is a lovely city--they have a number of parks, old buildings, and monuments. The view of Edinburgh castle is particularly striking, since it's on top of a large rock.

I walked around the park for a bit and watched people feeding the birds. I have never seen such a frenzy in my life. As soon as people started tossing out the bread, hordes of pigeons and seagulls descended on it until the ground was a boiling mass of wings. Oddly, the pigeons seemed to get most of the food while the seagulls stood back and watched. I wonder if the pigeons are more aggressive or better fighters?

At any rate, I did get to see Edinburgh, even if I wasn't able to do as much as I would have liked. I guess I have an excuse to go back!