Now I'm in Edinburgh

After essentially no sleep in my once again overheated Helsinki hotel room, I got up at 5:30 a.m. to begin the process of traveling to Edinburgh.  Many hours later, I arrived to weather that felt like it was competing in the Scottish Stereotypes Olympics.

Click an image to see a larger version.

The good news is that it's actually on the cool side here, so I'm quite enjoying walking around in a t-shirt.

After settling into my new hotel, where the AC works and my room is delightfully cool, I set out to explore a bit.  My hotel is just around the corner and down a bit from the Royal Mile, so off to it I went.

The crowds were amazing, people everywhere, small acts from the Fringe still lining the streets and fighting for attention.

I stopped at the St. Giles Cathedral, which was huge and lovely.

In addition to a great many interesting Gothic features, St. Giles houses some lovely stained glass pieces by Edward Burne-Jones.  I couldn't get a great shot with my phone, so you'll have to trust me that this window, for example, was amazingly beautiful in the light of the closing day.

I did mention that the cathedral was huge and lovely.

To get a sense of how crowded the street was, check out this view from near (but not in) the castle at the top of the road.

Coming back to the hotel, I got this shot of the rear of The Scott Monument.

Up close, the monument was too big for me to be able to capture all of it, but I quite liked it.

From a distance, it resembles an alien spaceship ready to soar.

For dinner, I took a risk and went to BubbaQ, a local barbecue place.  Two of us shared a platter of all of their meats.

The food was fine, decent but not a patch on the quality of the better barbecue joints back home, not to mention those in Austin.

Facing the water on the walk back from dinner, I found I loved the night sky.

Tomorrow, I will explore more of the city!

Gotta travel early, so here, have two pics of me in Helsinki

Yeah, tomorrow is a travel day.  I have to arise about 5:30 a.m., shower, and head to the airport for a flight to Edinburgh.  Despite the unpleasantly early departure hour, I'm quite looking forward to my first visit to Scotland.

Multiple correspondents have requested that I provide pics of myself in the places I visit, so despite my hatred of how I look in photos, I'm trying to oblige.

In one of today's adventures--more on today later, I hope--I spent time walking through and enjoying a park and the garden abutting it.  This bridge really charmed me.

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I like the way the sun's glare transforms my normal "I will kill you now" resting gaze into the rather more interesting "I am somewhat sad to say that I will kill you now" look I'm giving here.

By contrast, in this photo at a stop at a nearby Pystygrill, I think my expression has graduated to an almost smiling "I will kill you after I enjoy a delicious burger" expression.

Quite the improvement, eh?

Still lazy in Helsinki

So, no long catch-up post today, despite my earlier comments and hopes.

That said, today a storm rolled in, so the sky was interesting all day long.  The train station, a nifty building with more than a little Russian influence, managed to be under clear sky while right behind me the gray was coming.

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As the sun was setting (late, of course), the Aeteneum Museum practically glowed in the day's golden end during a break in the showers.

The night turned cool after the rains, but my room managed to largely reject the cool and cling to its set temperature.  Still, I'm getting a little bit of temperature relief, for which I should be grateful.

Sleeping in a warm hotel room

is really not working for me.  The coolest the hotels--I've now tried two and asked about others--will allow a room to get is 73 degrees Fahrenheit, which is way warmer than I'm used to.  That may seem like a small thing, and in many ways it is, but it causes me to wake up more often than usual in the night, to soak my pillows with sweat, and generally to have poor rest.  So, I'm in bed plenty of hours but still more tired than I would like to be (which is not at all, because I'm on vacation).  The hotel personnel with whom I've discussed this point out that it means the room is never wasting energy, but at this point I'd happily pay more to waste some energy.  That is not an option.

So, a longer blog another time.  For me, it's another night of fitful slumber in a too-warm room.

I want a cold hotel room.  I can make my room in Austin in a cheaper hotel 65; I never thought staying cool in Helsinki would be a problem.

In Helsinki

I've made it to Helsinki, where tomorrow I will start attending this year's World Science Fiction Convention, aka WorldCon.

The travel day included the usual mix of boredom and stress.  I'd planned to show you pictures of my strange hotel room--which I will change tomorrow--but it's +7 hours here, so it's quite late, and I'm very tired.

I will say that even the urinals in the rest rooms at the Savoy are posh.

See what I mean?

Heading to Helsinki

Early evening this Friday, I'll head to Europe for about two and a half weeks, a time centered around the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) in Helsinki. This event is the first WorldCon in Finland, and it's also my first trip to Finland--or any Scandinavian country.

I don't know yet what, if anything, I'll be doing officially at the con, but I'll definitely be going to the usual events, some panels, and so on.  If you're also going to be there, drop me a note if you'd like to get together, and we can try to make that happen.

Sandwiched around the con will be some time in London and in Edinburgh--my first trip to that city and to Scotland.

I will, of course, report on my adventures here.