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August 22, 2006

Quincy is off

Quincy is on her way to the airport to fly back to Seattle. It was fun having a "flat mate" and I'll miss her. I think Bob will be arriving in a few days though so I'll just replace one p13n friend with another. Andy said the kids will think they go abroad and that's where Bob is since they've never seen him in America.

Last weekend was packed full of lots of exploration. On Friday Quincy, the kids and I got a tour of the Secret Scotland Nuclear Bunker and a trip to St. Andrews courtsey of Greg, our private local tour guide. The bunker is a kitschy cold war relic that was fascinating to see and there wasn't much to worry about the kids and damaging anything. We watched films on how to outfit your home in case of nuclear fall out.

Next we did some sand castle building on the North Sea shores of St. Andrews. I'm sure my brother will be appalled to read I didn't even hit a bucket of balls at the golf mecca of the world. We threw in stops for ice cream and fish and chips and the kids had a great day.

The next day Bestemor gave me a hall pass to roam Edinburgh. Quincy, Greg and I went shopping at one of my favorite euro stores, Zara. I told Quincy I wanted to buy a pair of jeans. She thought she'd buy some jeans too but then we realized the reason I like the store so much is because all the jeans are actually long enough for me -- meaning all jeans were at least six inches too long for Quincy. She did find a cute short sleeved shirt to buy.

We stopped for lunch and then wandered the Royal Mile. We stopped in at the St. Giles Cathedral and admired some quite pagan looking coat of arms. Next we popped into the People's Story Museum and learned about the past decades of life and various jobs of the locals. We ended the day at the doorstep of the Scottish Parliament and discussed the uniqueness of the building.

Sunday the kids, Bestemor and I did more of our own exploring. We visited the Museum of Childhood where I could barely drag Britta away from the doll house! I think I know what she'll be getting for Christmas this year. Afterwards we started wandering down to the bus so we could make it home for Britta's nap but we were lucky and she fell asleep in her stroller so we were able to wheel her around the Toulouse Lautrec show was going on. What a great show! We also got to see the works of an amazing photographer, Albert Watson.

My kids are getting so cultured! Bestemor has been taking them to museum after museum. Yesterday they got stuck in the elevator of the Museum of Modern art. They had to push the alarm button until they were rescued. It was great excitement for Karsten when he got to jump about 3 feet from the ground into a security guard's arms. So far though I don't think anything tops the swimming catfish they've seen in the Royal Museum's entryway.

This weekend will be my last in Edinburgh. The time is going so quickly. I think I've become addicted to this tourist life. Maybe I can become more of a tourist in my own city and try and continue this lifestyle in some small way.

Posted by jana at August 22, 2006 4:27 AM