1. Tristan et Yseut, by Béroul. The ancient sappy over-dramatic love story that inspired all the modern sappy over-dramatic love stories. I hoped I'd appreciate this more when my university professor wasn't breathing down my neck to finish it in a hurry. I didn't. It's still over-dramatic and sappy and makes no sense. The king is a gullible fool. He sentences Yseut (Isolde) to death by burning for adultery, but she runs away with Tristan and after two years all she has to do to be pardoned is hold a passionate speech about how no man besides her husband has slept with her? So the king accused her of adultery with Tristan. And after two years by his side in hiding all she has to do is make a speech? Like, if the king believced in the accusations enough to sentence her to death... what does he think they've been doing together for the past two years and how is a speech enough to make everything alright again? I know it's somewhere around 700-800 years old and a lot has happened to storytelling over the centuries, but come on!
2. The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black. This is one I got in an OwlCrate and the blurb didn't convince me that I'd like it. True enough, it had its issues but on the whole I came out of it really having enjoyed reading it. Cardan seems exactly like the tortured soul I enjoy reading about and Jude perfectly depicts the desperation in being an outcast longing to belong. I enjoyed reading through the twists of the story and I really didn't see the end coming. So kudos to Holly Black for that. I'm kind of wanting to read the next book in the series but I'm also apprehensive about it, because with the way things ended in this book I can only see the next one going in one of two ways and I'm not really a fan of either of those ways. Still, this was a lot more fun than I expected.
3. Kallocain, av Karin Boye. Första gången jag försökte läsa denna så var jag ungefär fjorton år och jag tyckte att den var fruktansvärt tråkig och jag läste aldrig ut den. Alla dessa år senare så var den kvar i minnet och jag bestämde mig för att ge den en ny chans som vuxen. Den här boken smälter in perfekt i vår nuvarande dystopifokuserade populärkultur. Hade den släppts i år hade den antagligen varit väldigt populär, men istället får den finnas lite i skymundan; undanträngd av större internationella dystopiska klassiker som t ex 1984. Jag hade gärna sett att Kallocain var mer utarbetad med en mer detaljerad omvärld, men det är samtidigt detaljer som inte egentligen behövs. Det hade inte gett mer till storyn att veta hur världskartan var uppdelad i den här framtiden eller vad Kemistaden en gång hade varit för plats. Det enda dessa detaljer möjligtvis kunde ha gett till en redan riktigt bra bok, skulle vara en fastare förankring i minnet; en mer känslomässig koppling till vad som hände i boken.
4. World War Z, by Max Brooks. This book was terrible. It's told after the fact and while it's an interesting take on the zombie story it doesn't fully work. Mostly because it very quickly becomes the exact same story told from several different points of view but in basically the same words and formula. It gets repetitive and boring and I had to force myself to finish the last 150 pages because I really didn't want to, but 150 pages is nothing so I persevered... And felt completely fooled when it was done. So not worth it.
5. Deception Point, by Dan Brown. If you've read one book by Dan Brown you've read them all. I read the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons about 13 years ago, and 16 y/o me absolutely loved the action and the conspiracy theories. This book I got from my grandmother a couple of years ago and I only got around to reading it this year. While the action is still entertaining (although at times completely eye-rollingly unbelievable) the formula for this book is 100% the same as for the Da Vinci Code and because of that I had every single twist figured out before I was even halfway. The shocking revolution of the traitor isn't very shocking when you've known who it is for the past 100 pages... Basically this book got 2 stars on Goodreads because the action is entertaining, but I'm never reading Dan Brown again.
Always Remember Me: I watched Dodger play this otome game on Youtube years ago and wanted to try it for myself. I played through the normal Eddy route, misclicked and had my save overwritten, game wanted me to start over. I disagreed and didn't play it any more. I might pick it up again at a later time, but tbh Amarantha bothers the crap out of me.
Crysis: "Can it run Crysis?" Ofc I had to try this game! The whole legend around it makes it necessary! Unfortunately I didn't like it. Too little story and too much "go here and shoot stuff just because. also there's something weird going on but we're mostly going to ignore that except when we feel like we need to really bring your attention back to the fact that there's actually a story". It got repetitive and boring incredibly quickly.
Cities: Skylines: City building sims are usually straight up my alley and I had heard so much good about Cities Skylines that I seems almost rude to say that I didn't enjoy it much. I gave it 7 hours of my time and not once did I feel like I was actually getting somewhere. My towns got to 5000 in population pretty quickly at which point I always, always, always without fail got to watch it collapse back down to 800, go back up to 5000 and collapse back down to 800. Didn't matter how many different towns I did or different maps or different ways to build the city. At 5000 people the city would just die. I lost my patience trying to figure out why after having it happen about a dozen times. I haven't looked back since uninstalling it. But it seemed so promising~~
I got this game on release so it has taken me an inordinate amount of time to finish it. I blame work taking too much of my time :P
I played all four paths and ended up somewhere around 180-200 hours total game time. The replay value of this game is insane!
The general plot is that you're Byleth, a mercenary's child with a shady past. You don't know your past and you don't know how old you are or even how old your father is. Due to circumstance you end up teaching at the Garreg Mach Monastery's Officer's Academy. This year the Academy's three houses are led by soon to be national leaders. As the year goes on it becomes apparent that some sort of darkness is doing things in the background and chapter 12 inevitably ends with the continent falling into all-out war. A war where ordinary people are fighting aginst each other but also against saints, dragons and demons. And that's going to be all the details I'm giving. I'll try to avoid spoilers.
When I originally started playing I immediately felt a strong pull to Claude. So I decided to save his path for later. Which turned out to be a great decision since his path offers the most answers. If I had played his path first the other three would've felt somewhat lackluster. In hindsight, the order I played the paths in turned out to be pretty darn perfect.
First path: Azure Moon (The Kingdom of Faerghus/Dimitri)
I chose this one first, mostly because I felt the least pull towards any of these characters. Dimitri's dark past tugged at my heart and especially after I realised what kind of end he got in the other paths. Felix and Sylvain soon became two of my absolute favourite characters and I made an effort to add them to my house in every subsequent path. Interestingly, this is the only path that even goes into the Kingdom to try and save the situation there and fight against Cornelia. The other paths just treat the Kingdom as a lost cause and ignore it. This path offers pretty much no answers at all, and is mostly just about saving the Kingdom and rectifying the situation. The end to this path is basically a return to the status quo in terms of the social order, although the country map has to be redrawn. I married Dimitri in this path, although it was pretty much a coin toss between him, Felix and Sylvain. In hindsight I'm still not sure whether I would've preferred to marry Felix or Sylvain instead of Dimitri. The final fight was epic and crazy and in the end the only two left on the battlefield was Byleth and the Hegemon Husk.
Second path: Crimson Flower (The Adrestian Empire/Edelgard)
My second choice is pretty much the exact opposite of my first path. Edelgard became one of my favourites, but Hubert and Linhardt both totally stole my heart. Bernadetta also became very dear to me. All in all the Black Eagles had a lot more interesting characters than the Blue Lions. This path forces the war and playing it drives the war home. The map is redrawn in blood and the social order is torn apart. This path offers a few more answers regarding the darkness, but nothing definitive, other than that they're there and they're a separate and ancient power that needs to be defeated. Along with a footnote at the end that they devoted time in finding and defeating them. This path involved the most killing of other characters, except, surprisingly Lysithea. The game offers an option to save her, but gives no reason why Lysithea is special. Not until after I had played through the third path did I start to draw my own conclusions why, but the game doesn't really specify. This is the only path that turns Byleth back to their original appearance. I married Hubert in this chapter, although I did consider Linhardt for a while. This path had the least intense final battle, but some of the most rewarding post-battle cutscenes.
Third path: Verdant Wind (The Leicester Alliance/Claude)
Still feeling strongly for Claude, this was the path I was the most excited about and so I resolved to make the absolute most of it. So I recruited everybody I could find the time for (Linhardt, Caspar, Bernadetta, Dorothea, Felix, Sylvain and Mercedes as well as the Church of Seiros characters). I absolutely loved playing this path. All the characters in the Golden Deer house are amazing (even Lorenz who was the first character I blatantly hated when I first got to really talk to him, but who then really grew on me after the timeskip). Marianne made me so proud towards the end. Her personal growth was phenomenal and totally believable. This path had the most interesting paralogues, and the truth bombs at the end were very welcome. Although, after having played three paths hearing the truth was more like getting suspicions confirmed rather than having the truth dropped. And then we had Chapter 21 when this game suddenly turned sci-fi. That was a major wtf moment and I was not expecting it! The sudden sci-fi elements was more surprising than the actual truth! I married Claude in this path, because how could I not? He's amazingly adorable and funny. My heart broke for Dimitri in this path, but having Dedue back by my side felt nice. This path offers a definitive final fight against the darkness as well as answers to what the darkness is and where it came from. The only path to explain it. This final fight was amazing. Like literally wow.
Fourth path: Silver Snow (The Church of Seiros/Rhea)
After getting an amazingly satisfying ending to the third path I felt sort of ambivalent towards playing the fourth path, but I went ahead and did it anyway. This path is actually a sidestep of the Black Eagles path. If you choose to side with Rhea over Edelgard you end up with this path instead of the Crimson Flower one. In terms of which battles it was pretty much exactly like Verdant Wind, with the exception that this path doesn't do the fight at Gronder Field. Instead we get a report about how the three leaders basically decimated eachother. Edelgard is severely wounded, Dimitri dead and Claude missing... So that's great. The game doesn't explain what actually happened to Claude, but from the other paths I have a theory. This path offers the same truth as Verdant Wind, but in less detail. I married Seteth in this path because I love him :3 He's probably the character who's grown on me the most throughout the game. From being suspicious and not trusting him in the first path to feeling bad for having to kill him in the second path to loving every interaction he has with all the characters in the third path to loving him in the fourth. The final fight in this path was the classic and preordained dragon fight that figures in every Fire Emblem game. And this fight was crazy. Like all my characters were over-levelled but still I only had Byleth, Seteth and Flayn left to fight the boss. But we won :3
All of the paths end with the map having to be redrawn, since the countries always dissolve one way or another. Claude's goal is the most admirable imho, while Edelgard has pretty much the same goal in mind but a much bloodier way to get to it.
The puns in this game are amazing and it's always a joy to watch the characters in their respective support dialogues, which is why I did so so so many auxiliary battles. So I could get as many of them as possible!
I really love this game, although I feel pretty full with it after 200-ish hours. Still I want more story. I really wish for a DLC giving us more Fódlan, because I feel like I need it.
RP jobbar på svinstian. Index uppträder. Kvark har hört ett telepatiskt meddelande. En kvinna behöver hjälp. En spejare kommer och berättar att han sett en stor varelse som strandat. RP väljer att åka dit med sin gummibåt. De ser kadavret. På södra stranden står en man och vinkar. Han varnar RP från att gå nära den andra stranden. Han presenterar sig som Kejsaren och säger att på andra stranden finns det ett monster som slukar allt i sin väg. Jony går fram till kadavret och blir attackerad av en etterbest som spottar och missar. Sen hör Kvark det telepatiska meddelandet igen. Hon verkar närmare den här gången. Index gömmer sig bakom en sten och råkar bli amfibisk efter att hon misslyckas med att känna zonen. Kvark känner zonen och får redan på etterbestens HP. Jony attackerar och etterbesten dör, men när den dör dyker det upp en etterbest till samt en skövlare. Danko känner zonen och får veta skövlarens HP. Rösten försöker övertyga Kvark att skydda varelserna. Index känner zonen och får reda på den andra etterbestens stats. Kvark försöker svara på telepatin men misslyckas. Jony och Danko står över. Kvark blir telepatiskt lockad att skydda varelserna och en raggbest joins the fray. Index misslyckas med att känna zonen.
Kvark lyckas få kontakt. Han får veta att hon kallar sig för Hydran och hon vill ha hans hjälp. Jony misslyckas med att känna zonen. Danko känner zonen och får reda på raggbestens stats. Hydran vill att Kvark attackerar Kejsaren. Index slår för att manipulera Kejsaren och får reda på att de är ett tiotal plundrare. Kvark frågar varför han ska attackera Kejsaren och får till svar "Så han inte tar min mat". Kvark frågar var Hydran är och tar en poäng förvirring och får inget svar.
Jony avrättar Kejsaren och alla plundrare kommer fram. Danko skjuter en av dem till döds. Plundrarna börjar skjuta. Index blir bruten. De andras mutationer skyddar dem. Danko vårdar Index. Jony laddar om. Plundrarna laddar om. Index gömmer sig på andra sidan stenen. Kvark, Jony och Danko skjuter. 1½ plundrare faller. Plundrarna skjuter men allas mutationer skyddar dem. Striden fortsätter tills alla plundrarna är döda. När alla plundrarna är döda rör det sig borta vid norra stranden. Ytterligare sex varelser kommer fram. Efter dem kommer en mask-/larvliknande varelse med stor mun och en massa tänder fram. Den kravlar fram till kadavret och börjar mumsa. RP bestämmer att de klarar sig utan kadavret, och börjar istället loota Kejsaren och plundrarna. RP tar sig sedan tillbaka till Arken.
1. Norra Latin, av Sara Bergmark Elfgren. Jag har hört så otroligt mycket om den här boken. En del besvikelser och en del förälskelser. För min egen del är jag inte helt övertygad. Jag gillade uppbyggnaden av historien, innan magin introducerades och Erling inte var mycket mer än ett spöke på en gammal skola. Sen kändes det som om hela historien balanserade på ett hår från att totalt spåra ur. Riktigt bra böcker brukar få mig att känna något som påminner om ett adrenalinsug när all action i klimaxet sätter igång, men här var det väldigt lugnt. Just för att klimaxet i sig var väldigt lugnt. Jag gillade Tamar och såg mycket av mig själv i henne och Clea var en riktigt övertygande karaktär, men Tim kändes mest överdriven i sin karaktär som en tonåring dramaqueen med attitydproblem. Ingenting i boken överraskade, utom möjligtvis avslöjandet av vem Rut egentligen var. När jag väl satt och läste så ville jag bara läsa vidare, men när jag la ner boken för paus så kunde det ta dagar, t o m en vecka, innan jag plockade upp den igen. Den skapade inget sug efter mer. Den gjorde mig inte nyfiken på vad som skulle hända sen. Den hängde sig inte kvar i tanken efteråt.
2. Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo. When I finished Six of Crows I immediately ordered the sequel and I loved it! Even though there was no grand adventure type och thing happening in this book it was still enough action to keep me on my toes trying to figure out Kaz's schemes before they happened (I rarely succeeded). The book was an emotional rollercoaster. The highs from watching the schemes play out like expected and the lows from seeing the schemes averted when it becomes obvious that their enemies had anticipated their every move. This book was an amazing ride and I couldn't have asked for a better ending concerning Kaz and Inej. I couldn't have asked for a better ending overall, with just enough heartbreak but mostly happy ends all around.
3. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo. I loved the Six of Crows duology so much that I went and got the original Grisha trilogy. This book didn't do much for me until the very end. I think I've been reading too many fantasy YA in a court-life setting recently. I used to think fantasy court-life was dazzling to read about, but in this book it mostly bored me, and I didn't like Alina much at all. Too mousy. And Mal was just out to misunderstand every situation and every word ever. So annoying. The Darkling was what kept me reading. Every scene he was in was brilliant and I loved his combined menace and sadness. The Darkling alone is what made me give this book three stars rather than two on Goodreads.
4. Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo. Things start to heat up and this book is slightly better than the previous one. Every scene with the Darkling is what gives this book life. But as much as I loved reading about the Darkling it was Nikolai who stole my heart. Alina doesn't deserve him. None of the characters in this book does. While the Darkling as a character is amazing imho his power gets a bit over the top in this book. It gives him an edge, but it also makes him virtually untouchable and seemingly unbeatable. I want to feel like the protagonists have a chance while still feeling the threat from the antagonist. It's a delicate balance and I feel like she tipped it over.
5. Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo. This book was amazing all the way until the ending. Alina finally stops being a mouse (thank you!!!), the Darkling's backstory is revealed along with Morozova's story and the truth about the amplifiers, and my heart broke for Nikolai. I expected an epic battle between armies with Alina and the Darkling at the centre. What I got was a complete anti-climax from the third amplifier and the Darkling's ultimate defeat. The final scenes and the epilogue were disappointments and not at all how I would've preferred the story to end. The ending is what made me give this book four stars rather than five on Goodreads.
Growing up with no brothers and no male relatives interested in games I didn't discover games until I was in my late teens/early twenties. So obviously there are a lot of classic that I've missed! One notable franchise that I've completely missed is The Legend of Zelda. So here are three Zelda games I played on my 3DS.
Ocarina of Time
Definitely the most popular games of them all and the one I've heard praised the most. It's definitely cute and the feel of the game was pretty straight-forward. Some puzzles required some time, but nothing that got me stuck. I did spend quite long in each dungeon, though. The very first dungeon inside the Deku Tree I stayed in for about one hour. Mainly because my hands aren't very good with controllers. Kb+m is much easier for me. The ocarina is very gimmicky, but such an integral part of the game that I couldn't imagine it without it. But fishing can just eff off in every game ever. It's such a pain! The game is very cute and quite enjoyable, but the dungeons get repetitive, even with the varying puzzles.
Ganondorf has a humongous nose.
And shut up, Navi!
A Link Between Worlds
I had a really hard time with this one right off the bat. Mostly because the game introduced moving platforms and blocking projectiles in several different directions in the very first dungeon and my clumsy controller hands struggled to keep up. But apart from this the dungeons are pretty straight-forward, although with seemingly more advanced puzzles than in Ocarina which made the later ones a real pain to get through. The story in this one has a better flow imo, because everything you do feels connected to the main story in a way Ocarina didn't. I really don't like the top-down view, though...However the mechanic of going inside walls is really cool :3 And the difference between Ocarina's "This is Navi and he's your personal fairy and he'll help you" versus LBW's "catch a fairy and put it in a bottle" is hilarious to me.
And Ganon... is a pig? O_o
Majora's Mask
This game stresses me out with the timer constantly on the screen xD This game is dark, and creepy, and the first part of the game is spent running around as a Deku rather than Link (well it *is* Link, but he's been transformed into a Deku). This is also a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, which in my book just means that Link just can catch a break! The ocarina plays a part in Majora's Mask as well, but now it seems even more gimmicky imo (although without the ocarina's time power the game would've ended within the first two hours). The mask system is pretty cool though!
The moon really creeps me out... I'll have nightmares about that moon...
And ofc Majora's weak spot is between the legs smh xD
After having played these three I think I must agree with the consensus (for once) that Ocarina of Time is the best one. At the same time I'm feeling like these games aren't really my thing. I enjoyed playing them, but they didn't wow me, and I can't pin-point why. RPGs and dungeon-delving are usually right up my alley. So yeah, I'm not gushing about these games but they were quite enjoyable and I'm happy they weren't 100+ hours games. I might give BotW a try one day! And I really needed this video to figure out how it's all connected:
The hype gets less for every chapter. Or is that just me? The hype train left without me when they announced that there wouldn't be a physical Collector's Edition of this chapter. A dragon statue would've been perfect beside my Molag Bal, Dwarven Colossus, and Mephala But ofc I still pre-ordered it! Now it's been a month since I finished the chapter, but here's a late post!
New class, new zone, new story and the return of a bunch of characters! I was pretty excited to get into it nonetheless. I immediately made a new character in the new class, necromancer, and started playing it. Got to say that while the necromancer has some pretty cool skills I didn't have as much fun playing it as I do playing templar or sorcerer. Imo necromancer was a pretty meh experience. However, it's a very versatile class (much like templar in that aspect) and a lot of people enjoyed it (and I got to admit that there are very few things as satisfying as summoning a flesh colossus on an enemy and have it pummel them to death).
My angry little necro
I enjoyed the story a lot more when playing through it on my templar main, but that could be because several of the characters were old friends and acquaintances that were all too happy to see me again :3
The story revolves around Abnur Tharn, former high chancellor to the emperor and one of the five companions with whom you do the mainquest. Cadwell also plays a big part, so it's one big reunion from the mainquest days :3 Abnur has accidentally let loose dragons in Elsweyr. Dragons that had previously been imprisoned and the two dungeons in the earlier DLC tells the story of how that happened. The chapter continues with how they're defeating the dragons and I assume the next story DLC will show how they're getting rid of them again.
The story starts pretty slowly like these things do but the last few quests are just epic battle upon epic battle and I loved the final showdown.
Dragon battles spawn in specific points on the map and they're basically this chapter's anchors, which also work like extra world bosses. These dragon battles aren't as much fun as the Skyrim ones though. I think everybody expected Skyrim dragons, but we got something different and I'm not entirely sure that I like them. But that can be due to the sheer amount of people playing through this zone at the same time I did, which usually meant you had to run like an idiot to get to the fight in time and when you got there practically manage to just get in a hit or two before the dragon was dead. Their HP just melted under the sheer amount of people attacking it at once. When I get back into ESO after the novelty has worn off the battles may be a lot more fun.
In every new zone there are side quests that catch my attention, sometimes more than the mainquest itself and in this case there were two. I really enjoyed The Stitches and the story there. Sereyne is so hilarious and a bit sad. Perfect combo! There's also the side quest where Raz show up again and we're shown a completely new side of him :3 A story/quest can't go wrong if Raz is in it ♥
Elsweyr was a fun adventure and I was thrilled to run around with Abnur again. My favourite out of the five companions. He's so delightfully sarcastic. And finding out about Cadwell's backstory didn't hurt. Elsweyr was pretty good overall, but neither Summerset nor Elsweyr have lived up to the standard that Morrowind set as the first chapter release.
I was excited when I saw this first Fire Emblem title for the Switch, then I was hesitant when I realised that they had made a hack-and-slash title of my beloved TBS series. But I got the game anyway and started playing. Historically I've been very bad with hack-and-slash games, but I figured this one out pretty quickly.
I absolutely loved it when I was woken up by Chrom and Lissa just like in Awakening. I loved seeing all the old characters again, especially Chrom and my Fates brothers (Xander, Leo, Ryoma, Takumi).
But the more I played the more the game felt like fan service in a pretty package. Aytolis could've had their own bunch of heroes. There was absolutely no need for the devs to include heroes from older FE titles except for the fan service. Except I guess the theme of this kind of game (I'm looking at you Hyrule Warriors).
I missed the strategy element from earlier FE games since most stages in Warriors could be cleared by just running ahead and hacking away. Sometimes use the healing staff which (conveniently) most of the heroes had. (And if they didn't have a staff they had 3-4 healing pots). Mostly you could just run around as one of the main characters, Lianna or Rowan, without thinking about any of the other characters in the group. They mostly managed by themselves, and if they didn't they would tell you well ahead of time so you could run over with a staff-wielding character and heal them. The maps were never so big that you couldn't run straight across them (or make a complete circle) with lots of time to spare. In other FE titles, if you don't think you die. But this felt mostly like midless hacking. Considering it's a hack-and-slash it shouldn't surprise me, but it still disappoints me. One positive is that I enjoyed taking over fortresses and I would spend more time than necessary to just make sure that every inch of that map was blue, and not red, before completing a stage.
The story was extremely straight-forward to the point where absolutely nothing came as a surprise. The bad guy "reveal" made me roll my eyes so hard I was afraid they might get stuck.
The final dragon fight against Velezark was less interesting than the fight against Darios, which was just before. Velezark took longer to beat than the bosses of other stages, but the fight wasn't by far as interesting as the one against Anankos in Fates and it also falls short from the fight against Grima in Awakening.
So tl;dr. Great to see lots of old faces, but the weakest story and execution of the FE I have played this far.
Today we stayed in bed extra long in the morning. I didn't have all that much planned for today anyway. When we finally left the hotel room we made our way up Calton Hill (with our legs aching from yesterday's ordeal).
The guidebook had made it seem like there was a lot to see, do and explore on top of Calton Hill but there wasn't at all much. The observatory was tiny. The monuments were cool especially the Nelson monument which can be seen from all over the city. We dubbed that "the Assassin's Creed tower" during our first day. Funny story is the story about the National monument which was to be built as a copy of Parthenon in Athens, but they ran out of money after only 12 columns and it remained that way. Locals have dubbed it "Edinburgh's disgrace" according to our guidebook.
When we had had our fill of the view from the hill we walked back down to the city. We had some time over so we walked down South Bridge looking for the Surgeons' Hall museum. It's really cool, but also really morbid and grotesque (and a bit gross). Edinburgh was prominent in the 19th century for discoveries and advances made in anatomy and pathology. This museum displays old and preserved organs and body parts, both healthy and otherwise and tells the story of how we went from not knowing a damn thing about our own anatomy pre-18th century to discoveries in the fields of anaesthesia and surgery. Most of the preserved body parts are from the 19th and early 20th century (so all of them at least 100 years old). And it's all so frickin cool! We didn't have enough time to go through it all in detail, but I definitely wish we did. No photography allowed of course.
After that we had dinner and then went to The Real Mary King's Close on the Royal Mile to catch the 6pm tour that I booked on Friday. Our guide led us below the current city to show us the streets and homes on the centuries old street buried underneath the buildings of today. He told the story of the plague in 1645 and how people lived and died in the closes (alleys) of Edinburgh. It was a bit too gimmicky, though, with a lot of it depending on technology rather than the spoken word. And they would benefit from having smaller groups. The group we were in was 21 people and it was very crowded in most areas. Smaller groups, more props and less gimmicky technology would improve the tour by a lot. The tour finished by the group listening to a pre-recorded (again: bigger impact if the guide had told the story) 17th century ghost story that supposedly took place in Mary King's Close. I really liked our guide! He filled the whole tour with a kind of fatalistic humour that made everything funny.
After the tour we decided to go back to the hotel. We took a detour through the Princes Street Gardens on the way to the tram. We bought some sweets and drinks from the nearby Tesco and had a quiet evening on the room before going to bed sort of early. Tomorrow we're going back home.
This day we actually woke up at some sort of early hour so that we could have the hotel breakfast, which wasn't at all what I expected, but it was still good.
After breakfast we took the tram to Princes Street and from there walked down to the Royal Mile and went in the opposite direction from the Castle. The main attraction for today was Holyrood.
On our way there we made stops at the Scott Monument and the People's Story museum, which is a kind of unique museum in that it tells the story of the ordinary people of the city rather than the nobility or military or whathaveyou. I thought that sounded really interesting when I read about it, but I was quite disappointed in it when we got there. I love history, but when we get to the 20th century I lose interest, and this museum was 95% 20th century
After that we continued down the road and got to Holyrood Palace; the royal family's official residence when they're in Scotland. Much like the royal palace in Stockholm parts of it are shown as a museum to Mary Queen of Scots and those coming before and after her. There was no photography allowed inside the palace. The coolest parts of the palace was partly Queen Mary's bedchamber which was up a tower and you had to climb a tiny spiral staircase to get there (how did she do that with those dresses?!?!) and partly the old ruin of Holyrood Abbey on the Palace grounds.
When we were done with the Palace we had lunch at the café and then started on our trek up to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is a big hill (or a small mountain?) right next to the Palace. The top is at 250 m and the climb gets steep. After 45 minutes of burning legs, burning lungs and gasping for breath we reached the top. And it was so worth the agony of the climb! The top offered a stunning view of the city and its surroundings. We spent some time relaxing there before beginning our descent.
On our way down we took a tiny detour to a ruin we had seen on our way up, which was the remains of an ancient chapel.
We got down and made immediate use of the ice cream truck placed at the bottom of the hill and then we started on the walk back to the tram. On wobbly legs. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on our way back and then got back to the hotel room where we showered before going out again.
Since it was Toni's birthday I took him to where I celebrated my 18th birthday. The rock pub The Black Rose. Exactly like I remembered it! This night there was an open mic night and the sound levels were high. Everybody sang along even if they didn't hold the mic, and danced and laughed and drank. It was such an amazing atmosphere that even the stuffy air made no difference. There was an older guy there who chatted animatedly with everybody and in such a severe Scottish accent that neither of us could understand most of what he was saying. I also talked with an American guy who seemed nice. It was a great evening and we stayed until they closed at 1am.
This day I had planned a whole day for us in the Old Town. Arguably my favourite part of any town/city. First off we went to Edinburgh Castle where we proceeded to spend a little over 3 hours. I've previously been to the Castle but it was a lot of fun to see everything again and to watch Toni's reactions. The castle is oooooold, like 850 years old and still one of the most impressive buildings in the city. And since it's on a hill it can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the city *queue a multitude of pictures of the castle from every angle*
After three hours at the castle we moved on to the next place on my list: St Giles Cathedral, which was cool but looked pretty much like cathedrals everywhere. The most unique part was the chapel of the Thistle. Photo permit cost £2 so we decided to not take any photos.
Right after that we went across the street to The Real Mary King's Close and booked a tour for Sunday. I tried to book it via their website before we left home, but it wouldn't work for some reason, and then we went to have dinner at a burger place close by, which is where I tried haggis for the first time. My burger included all the ordinary things: beef and onion rings, but also a haggis fritter. Knowing what it's made of I expected the taste and texture of fried liver. Couldn't have been more wrong. It's juicy and spicy and I really liked it ♥
After dinner we walked down Victoria Street on our way to Grassmarket and there we found a Harry Potter shop. So I had to go inside. And spend a bunch of money. We walked through Grassmarket, up the stairs of the Vennel and past the remains of the Flodden Wall and George Heriot's school, before coming up to the Greyfriar's Bobby statue and the Greyfriar's Kirkyard. After a quick look around the kirkyard we walked down Candlemaker Row and along Cowgate until we got to the South Bridge Vaults, where we grabbed a drink at Bannerman's; a rock bar.
After the drink we walked back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and then we took the tram/walked back to St Giles Cathedral to meet up for the City of the Dead walking tour. I really, really recommend this one! It started off as a history walk along Old Fisherman's Close and Cowgate before the tour brought us to Greyfriar's Kirkyard and the spooky part began. We got the story of the Mackenzie Poltergeist and the Covenant's Prison (the world's first concentration camp), and while most of the tour had been about building tension through words there was one single orchestrated jumpscare towards the end. The tour guide made a point of explaining that the café where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book overlooked the kirkyard and that she got a lot of inspiration for names from the gravestones. I found James Potter, Moody and Scrimgeour on the stones. According to the tour guide there was a gravestone with the name Thomas Riddle Esq. but although I followed her instructions to the letter I couldn't find it. I suspect it may be in the fenced-in area, and by then the light was so bad that I couldn't see what any of the stones said. (The tour may be scarier in the autumn and winter when it's actually dark during the tour).
When we walked back to the hotel I found said café and we stopped for pictures. I had tea there during my last visit 10½ years ago ^^
We finished the day with a drink in the hotel bar, before going to bed just after midnight completely exhausted.
2. The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black. This is one I got in an OwlCrate and the blurb didn't convince me that I'd like it. True enough, it had its issues but on the whole I came out of it really having enjoyed reading it. Cardan seems exactly like the tortured soul I enjoy reading about and Jude perfectly depicts the desperation in being an outcast longing to belong. I enjoyed reading through the twists of the story and I really didn't see the end coming. So kudos to Holly Black for that. I'm kind of wanting to read the next book in the series but I'm also apprehensive about it, because with the way things ended in this book I can only see the next one going in one of two ways and I'm not really a fan of either of those ways. Still, this was a lot more fun than I expected.
4. World War Z, by Max Brooks. This book was terrible. It's told after the fact and while it's an interesting take on the zombie story it doesn't fully work. Mostly because it very quickly becomes the exact same story told from several different points of view but in basically the same words and formula. It gets repetitive and boring and I had to force myself to finish the last 150 pages because I really didn't want to, but 150 pages is nothing so I persevered... And felt completely fooled when it was done. So not worth it.
