How To Properly Worship the Sun in Scotland

Sometimes Edinburgh looks like this:

It is a beautiful city no matter the weather (good thing too), but when the sun comes out I swear it is sunnier and brighter than any place I’ve ever been. It’s kind of like when Dorothy steps out of her black and white Kansas farmhouse into the technicolored land of Oz. Birds gustily burst into song, rainbows spring out of emerald green hills, and all of Edinburgh breathes a happy sigh.

Here’s the thing though. Just because it’s sunny and the birds and rainbows are doing their thing, it doesn’t mean it is warm. Warm-ish, maybe, but not warm (unless you are one of those people that says a windy 47°F is warm). But as any Scottish person worth their salt will tell you, it’s no reason not do a little sun worshiping. So I grabbed the mustached husbando and headed out doors.

First stop, Princes Street Gardens for quick outfit shooting:

The good: necklace from Kenya (thank you, Pam!) • vintage Coach purse
The could-be-better-ethically-speaking-but-none-of-it’s-new: Primark coat and tank • Uniqlo sweater • Madewell jeans • Frye boots

Ice cream is popular here. . . all year round. 47 degrees and windy, and Scots stand outside with ice cream running down their cones. Scots are made of stronger stuff than I (I opted for a chocolate brownie instead, life being full of hard choices):

Next up, wedding watching! We (being wanna-be Scots people) were sitting at an outdoor cafe (with our coats on) when this wedding parade strolled by to some very merry bag piping. Any given Saturday you will come across a wedding party waltzing after their bag piper — lovely!

P.S. I in no way enhanced any of these sunny photos in photoshop. Those vivid greens really exist here when the sun bothers to show up. Nutso, isn’t it?

And if you get nippy from trying to be a true Scots, just duck into your local café for tea and cake (tea and cake or death, tea and cake or death!).

There are some lovely views from cafe below the National Gallery, and such good cake. nom!

Now you’ve got the feeling back in your hands whilst holding your mug of tea and gobbling your cake, head back outside for some more lolling about in the grass — preferably in the shade of a large castle:

End your day outside as the sun sets (which is around 8 pm now — thank you nearly-Artic-circle latitude!), sniffing cherry blossoms and looking at church murals with wonderful morals:

Once home, inspect possible (I say, very slightly possible) evidence of a rosy glow (wouldn’t go so far to say “tan”) from the sun.

So who’s ready for a little sunbathing in Scotland?

—–

Dear Cath,

Do you remember when we were studying here how everyone would crowd the Meadows once it hit 60 degrees? We only had one spell like that so far, but I’m crossing my fingers that May will be at least a touch warmer than April — jacket weather instead of coat weather.

I would give anything to meet you here on the next sunny day. How does tomorrow sound?

Love,

Lar