In Edinburgh now after leaving Barcelona yesterday (11th) around lunchtime. Kim, Amy and I all went to the airport together but Amy flew to London to connect to her flight home; Kim and I flew into Edinburgh around 4pm. Kimbo leaves for London tomorrow to go home and I'm going to stay in Scotland for a bit.

Barcelona is an interesting city. A lot of people I talk to absolutely love it. I liked it, didn't fall in love but maybe that's coz we didn't spend too much time there. And it's a large city (and I prefer not-so-large cities :)) Or maybe it was because I was pretty stuffed after the overnight train ride (I hate having a cold).

A pic of the top (Kim) and 2nd (Amy) bunk in the sleeper train (there was a third at the bottom). We shared two of the other bunks with 2 other Aussie girls (SA).

Got on one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours for (an ouchy) 19 euro and saw what are supposedly notable sights in Barcelona. I really like the cathedral designed by the gawdy architect Goudi and some nunnery place looked pretty interesting. But seeing the Port and the football stadium, and lots of other random and non-memorable buildings was a bit boring. Even the much-anticipated Olympic village from 1992 (which just looks like other random buildings) just did not excite me too much.

Amy and Kim on the bus [below]

The cathedral [below] with scaffolding (as much of Barcelona comes with presently.

Ok, Las Ramblas, the main drag in town was cool. There were lots of street artists posing and looking like crazy statues which I thought was fun (eg. metal knight, a fruit tree, a guy stuck twisted in a box, a devil and angel playing chess, a super fat woman, a frozen cleopatra, 2 different guys in suits looking like their running [ie. stiff coat and tie flailing out the back]).

And there were flower markets and stalls of pets including birds, chooks, iguanas, tortoises, ferrets, and mice. And of course what was I looking out for??? Quaker parrots!! Like Midori. And I saw some! For 30 euro each... AND there are wild quakers in Spain!!! Some pesky Sth American people must've imported some and let them go. I couldn't believe it. I was just walking and I hear this very familiar, penetrating, trilling squark. I'm thinking 'hang-on I know that sound' (as does Vince and the rest of my family). And there they were, flying free!

Kim and Amy did some shopping and then we went out in search of some food. Tapas of course. Found a few bars but they were full of English-speakers. That was ok but in the end we had a quiet night. Only one night in Barcelona.

Can I take it home??? A quaker parrot for sale [below].

The 3 of us at our last tapas bar for the week [below].

So now in Edinburgh. Very diff weather to Spain - chilly as, but it was sunny today so that was great. Last night Kim and I went for a bit of a walk around, spotted some Edinburgh drunks that we couldn't understand and then noticed that the houses near the castle were brightly lit up. Of course we investigated. There was a film crew!! They were filming a movie!! And we saw the main actor!!! GUY PEARCE!!! In the flesh!! (sorry for all the exclamations). He was being filmed for his new movie - the scene was him walking along a path in the park that's just down from the castle (I think it's called Princess Park). So cool to see him. Got some pics. Apparently the movie is about Harry Houdini's life and Guy's the lead actor.

There he is (in the back if you're really struggling with your Australian actor repertoire), looking very distinguished.


Went on a free walking tour this morning (with the Haggis company) - that was entertaining. I never realised that there are only about 5 million people in Scotland. 450,000 in Edinburgh. It's all so small. And heaps of shops and businesses are advertising for staff - all the summer staff have left.

Kim and I then went to the Edinburgh castle and spotted a bag-piper on the way up the road! YAY, how Scottish :) They're only just pulling down the seating from the military tattoo - apparently they started in August to pull it down. The guy on the front entrance said that it's a big job (with a tone saying 'cmon give us a break'). I though 'hmmm must be considering only about 1/10 is down so far and it's October'. Maybe they should just leave it up until the next Edinburgh Festival? Anyway, the castle was good (£10.30) but not as castley as I'd expected - more a functional-type castle, not all view-points and churches and decorations. Oh and of course all the buildings have been re-fitted out for cafes, shops and displays.

The bag-piper [below],

The front of the castle with left over scaffolding [below].

Me in front of one section of the castle (Foog's gate, the entry to the upper ward of the castle) [below]

Kim and I then went for a walk up to Arthur's seat, the massive old (365 million yr old to be exact) volcanic crater right next to Edinburgh. Was a big walk but there were people running up!! It's apparently only about 250m above sea-level but it feels heaps more than that. (And the Eiffel tower is like 300m right?.)

Kim and I on top of Arthur's seat, taking a seat (god I'm so not funny) with a view to the east.

Me earlier in the day during one of our 'burns around town' (as Kim would say) looking up along the craggy part of the volcanic crater where Arthur's seat is the highest point [below].

Will probably look into doing a tour of the northern lands of Scotland. Maybe I'll discover some of my McLaren past out there in the wee Scottish hills.

Signing off...

NX TALLY:V

AIXAM TALLY:II