Nae as Gid as Embra Castle, Like

Or so says the (Scottish) friend who took this picture of the Colosseum. There is no denying that Edinburgh is very pretty, something I had managed to forget over the years, just because of the tendency of very familiar things to evoke no wonderment whatsoever no matter how richly deserved. Edinburgh is a town that smells of hops and sounds of bagpipes and my auntie lives there: the end. But when I went back over the summer I was very struck with how beautiful it was, and I think not just in a wistful patriotic way (though I was with the Scottish friend, who was a bad benchmark for this, admittedly). Why they call it the Athens of the North I couldn't say, not least because I have never seen Athens. I'd have though Edinburgh's hill-bound location would more obviously earn it the title "The Caledonian Rome" vel sim; but perhaps Rome is indeed really too measly to sustain the comparison...