The moment I booked my trip to Edinburgh, I had one immediate and overwhelming thought: MUST. FIND. CASTLE. As I mentioned, there is in fact a castle looked conveniently in the middle of the city. I rose early this morning, jet lagged and confused, after being completely incapable of sleep until something like 3 am, after randomly eating an entire box of children’s alphabet cereal that was handed to me on the street, to CASTLE.

AND CASTLE I DID.

AND FOUND: a cheery and self deprecating and delightfully nerdy tour guide who told me everything about the castle and its cannons and its rich history that I’ll never remember, but also, found: the oldest thing I have ever in this life seen: a CHAPEL BUILT IN 1190:

I stood inside. I touched its walls. I reflected. I wondered, as I always do in old places, what it would be like if the people who originally built it /lived there just like, came out of their bedroom to find their living room or great hall FULL OF TOURISTS. I hiked back down the hill. I took a three hour nap.