U.K. Trip, Day 16

Edinburgh streets

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It was raining steadily this morning, a disappointment since we had planned to hike Arthur's Seat today. In fact it only rained harder and harder, so by the time we'd walked down to Grassmarket, my jeans were soaked above the knee. We returned to the National Museum and perused their Reformation and Medieval Church sections. One jewel: a gorgeous tapestry of the Arma Christi, the threads still vibrantly tinted, glowing. Another jewel: communion tokens, inscribed, "Holiness to the Lord." 

We took our time there, then sauntered down to Armchair Books to have a last look-round before walking back to our room, where we ate a very late lunch. We spent the afternoon reading while rain beat against the broad windowpanes. I finished The Help. 

In the evening we walked to Reverie again for tea, in the rain. It was crowded this time, the windows fogged over. We ordered a mussel pot, four pounds of mussels steamed in garlic, white wine, and butter, and garnished with fresh parsley, with bread to soak up the sauce. Another new food for me, and a delicious one--nutty, buttery, smooth. We walked back to our room in the rain, up Blacket Avenue, which we've come to love for its greenness and stillness--the elegant, protective, brooding silence of the huge old trees in the rain (with the barren city all round; no tree-lined avenues in Edinburgh!). 

We packed, and Scott finished "The Turn of the Screw." Back to Northern Ireland tomorrow.