Royal Botanic Gardens

Here are some photos from my trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Further explanation can be found below. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them. The one above has an ant on it. I didn't realize this when I took the photo. Cool, eh?



This is a slipper orchid, I believe. It's called that because the labellum (bottom part) is shaped like a slipper. Did you know that there are over 55 billion species of orchid? Actually, I think it's 25,000, but still impressive. The audio tour was pretty neat. Parts of it used the voices of experts and were in sort of an interview form. So, when the interviewer asked the orchid expert if all orchid species were attractive, the man replied, "No, some of them are hideously ugly!" Who knew?



I think that most of the flowers that look like this are called Cymbidium, or "Tiger Tail". I think I liked them the best.



Recently I mentioned to my mom that the weather here has become very nice and that flowers were blooming in George Square. She requested that I take some photos of these flowers because "Francesca and I like that sort of thing". Well, instead of just going to Geroge Square to get some flower shots...

Oh man! I went to the Royal Botanic Gardens and they were AWESOME! The place is huge, and I literally got lost within it (In a good way). I intended to go along the Water of Leith as well, but I was so pleased with the gardens that i spent the entire afternoon there. I took loads of pictures that will be up on facebook shortly.

The trip began around 1:00 this afternoon. I left my flat and walked north across Princes Street and up Hanover. After a few street name changes (of which they are quite fond here... It would be tough to organize any type of mobile riot or demonstation here, I think) and about twenty or thirty minutes on foot (mind you this is my foot speed, so divide by 1.5 to figure out how long it would take you) I found the place. I didn't really know what to expect, but what I found exceeded what I had been imagining. Not everything was blooming (in fact, most of it wasn't), but it was really neat to be in a place that was so carefully prepared by people who are really interested in the biology and the aesthetics of the plants. A lot of people thought and worked really hard to make that place, and I got to enjoy it for free (unless you count airfare and living expenses and university tuition, but it's not like those add up to much, right?).

I didn't realize until I ran into them, but the gardens also boast a number of big greenhouses. This was probably the coolest part. That's probably why you have to pay 3 pounds to get in to them. There were all sorts of cool plants and smells and more smells and humidity and odors and stenches and plants and smelly plants and smells. I took many pictures of these plants and I've attached some of them to this blog. The rest will go on facebook, I suppose.

I left the gardens at about 4:45 and walked the two miles home. My feet hurt now, but it was worth it.

Name that film: "These guys can honk all they want, but I ain't going faster than 12. It might take us around three hours to get home."

Whenever I'm having an exceptionally good day, I like to get some Kebab Mahal to top it off. So I did that as well. My lamb bhuna is calling me.

Robbie

Stirling, Rugby, Water Polo

It has been way too long since I last wrote. I have a lot to catch up on, and I'll do my best to remember what I've been up to over the last three weeks.

On a Friday a few weeks back, my friends Emily, Jon, and Steven (I think that's his name) took the train to Stirling for the day. We went to Stirling Castle and the Wallace National Monument (as in William "Gromit" Wallace) and they were both very cool. The castle was my favorite to date, though it has since been overtaken by Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey. More on that later. The Wallace National Monument was also cool, though the single super narrow spiral staircase that was used for both ascending and descending was a little bit scary. The highlight of the Monument visit was surely seeing the bust of Anaheim Ducks enforcer George Parros prominently displayed alongside those of William Wallace, Robert the "Isaac" Bruce, and others (see the photo. It's actually a bust of Robert the Bruce, but apparently they used Parros as the model for it).
Here are some more photos from Stirling:

Left: Castle. Right: Wallace Monument



On the next day, called Saturday, Emily and I took the bus to Murrayfield Stadium for the Six Nations Rugby matchup between Italy and Scotland. This was essentially the battle for last place in the tournament, so there was a lot at stake. Scotland won, though the game was sloppy (even I could tell). It was really fun to be a part of the mass exodus from the city center to the stadium and the atmosphere was great. There were loads of bagpipers along the road playing away and kilts were worn by many.

I had to leave the game about ten minutes early so that I could make it to a bus that would take me to Waverly train station. I had to catch a train down to Birmingham for a water polo tournament in Walsall (just north of Birmingham). I was, as I often am, super anxious about the whole procedure, but it worked out fine. My train was stuck in Newcastle for about an hour due to a fatality incident on the track between Newcastle and Durham (I believe). So, I got to Birmingham too late to catch the commuter train to Walsall and was forced to take a taxi. I got to our accomodations at about 1:30 AM.

The tournament was the semi-final round of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) water polo championships. We played Sheffield, Cambridge, and Cardiff, and won the first two of three. This was enough for us to advance to the final round (which was last weekend). Walsall was depressing.

That's all I've got for now. I'll have to cover Wales and more water polo next time.

wales

Tomorrow morning, I leave for Wales on a train leaving Waverly at 6:52 AM. When I get back, I'll have lots to write about and I'll catch up on my visits to Stirling, a Scotland rugby match, and Birmingham for a water polo tournament. Sorry I haven't been able to write much lately. Expect an outpouring next week.