Crawls, Chapels, and Cats

Hello again, adoring public!  So, it's been about a month since I last wrote to you all and a lot has been going on over here, as always.  Mostly, I've been slaving away over my papers and essays so that I can go on my epic trip in April, guilt-free.  Which is a boring story, but true nonetheless.  However, you all don't come here to hear me lament having to study (I mean, that is why I'm here). You come for the action! The adventure!  The quippy tone!  And I want to deliver for you guys.

 

 

So, to begin, my friend Marianthi had the most brilliant idea ever a couple of weeks ago and that idea was to go on a book shop crawl.  Edinburgh seems to have an endless supply of book stores and we were crying about the fact that we'd only been to a few.  In the usual style of intrepid explorers, we set out to right that truly heinous wrong. So, dear Marianthi made a map for us and we went on a truly awesome walking tour of the city along a learned, literary path!  We visited 7 book stores in the span of a few hours, and, for those of you who know me (and my obsession with books) the best, you'll know how hard it was for me to control myself and only buy 4.  Still, I think I made some pretty great choices!  After walking around for a few hours, we had a fever, and the only prescription was the coffee shop Chocolate Tree! (You thought I was going to say, "more cowbell", did you?)   People...this place...there are no words. It's SO tiny, there literally only have two tables there, but they serve the most amazing hot chocolate, and if the hot chocolate wasn't enough on it's own, they put gelatto in it!  You have not LIVED until you have had a milk chocolate hot cocoa with a mega scoop of salted caramel ice cream.  And now I have to stop talking about that, because I will drool into my keyboard and short-circuit it.

 

Now, what really got me writing today was a short jaunt to Rosslyn Chapel yesterday!  Yes, THE Rosslyn Chapel - the one from DaVinci Code, the one with all the Knights Templar biz, the one with the masonic roots!  It was everything and more.  You could feel such a sense of history being in there, and the fact that the entire church was carved from stone was really stunning.  The intricacy of these carvings, and the lack of continuity really threw you for a loop.  The tour guide told us about so many interesting tidbits - like the hidden crosses carved into the walls, the weirdly posed angels behind the altar, the crest of Scotland (side note: you all know that the national animal of Scotland is a unicorn, right?  A freaking UNICORN?  Are you kidding me?!), and the murder that occurred right in the middle of the chapel!  Plus, there was a seriously creepy crypt, and you could see the ruins of Rosslyn Castle from outside.  We didn't get to stay as long as we would've liked, but that was mostly due to our bus driver, who got us lost and drove us past the Royal (Dick) School of Edinburgh, like, five times. Our laughter is probably still echoing through their halls!

The reason we were in a rush, was because we had booked a table at the first ever Edinburgh Cat Cafe!  What is a Cat Cafe, you ask?  Exactly what it sounds like, I answer.  We had an hour to hang out with and pet a range of adorable kitties!  The cuteness cannot really be described, so I'll just let you enjoy the photos.