Easter Sunday celebrations

Yet another fine sunny, albeit cool, day, for Easter.  For me the day began on the computer, as usual, and it was fun to be up so much earlier than my religious American friends on Facebook and "watch" them come online with their Easter greetings in their early morning hours.

We were determined to enjoy this day outdoors, so we headed downtown, intending to find our way to the Royal Botanical Gardens, but were sidetracked by so many things!  We wandered through Princes Gardens, stopping at the Sir Walter Scott memorial and enjoying a (very handsome) bagpiper dressed in his McLeod from Skye tartan.

We decided to head up to the top of Calton Hill, but along the way found the Old Calton Cemetery and the grave of David Hume, the father of Scottish philosophical study and one of Allen's heroes.

And next to him was - surprise! - a statue of Abraham Lincoln, apparently erected as part of a handsome memorial to six Scottish Americans who died in the Civil War.

The climb up Calton Hill is named in honor of Mr. Hume and features the best views of Edinburgh possible.

Looking toward the Firth of Forth

Toward downtown/Old Town/The Castle

Toward Mr. Holyrood, the one Allen hiked on Friday

The hill was full of groups of people in self-defined pagan (or Druid?) garb doing exercises, running or rolling around, blowing rams' horns, being goofy.  Easter Sunday brings them out, as does practice for a pagan festival scheduled for the last day of April.

Looking down on some great rooftop gardens

This one's on top a shopping mall and hotel.

I just like this photo with Allen on the left.

Those legs. Lots of families downtown going out with Nana for Easter lunch, lots of Easter hats apparent.

I though Eugenia Doubtfire was a made-up-for-the-movie name until I saw this.

Just liked

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At the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh

They had acres of demonstration gardens, always my favorites.

This large (and somewhat staid) memorial to the Queen Mother was built with corporate contributions in honor of "the most famous of all Scots."  Arguable, I suppose.

The back gates were beautiful tributes to rhododendrons...

...and like the front entrance, featured a soap-and-water-mat foot bath so visitors won't bring in any bad-for-plants stuff on their shoes.

Back to our hotel for a well-earned rest, then back to Leith and The King's Wark restaurant, where we'd gone with Nat the night before, for a reprise meal.  Fun in that we took the wrong bus and saw all sorts of neighborhoods we wouldn't have seen otherwise, fine with us.  And that was Easter Sunday!