6月3日，他们抵达爱丁堡后，我们去餐馆享用晚餐。然后，朋友说要去 Hard Rock Cafe （‘硬石’餐厅）买纪念品。谁知，当晚那儿有私人宴会，餐厅和纪念品店都不开放给大众，他们只好隔天早上离开之前再去。在餐厅的入口处有一个穿着苏格兰传统服装的风笛手。靖恒听得入神。不知道是不是那儿只有他一个小孩或是他入神的表情，那位先生竟上前要跟他拍照。可是靖恒不肯自己走上红地毯，结果那个人便走出来。这么诚恳，总得拍个照吧，所以建明也有一起拍，因为靖恒还是不愿一个人跟他拍照。虽然如此，你还是可以从照片里看到拉长着脸的靖恒。
接着，我们走上‘卡尔顿’山。其实一直想去那里看黄昏，可是都懒得在晚饭后出门。这次难得，就去了一下。黄昏真的很美，可惜我们不能等到太阳完全下山，因为太阳下山的时间最早是10点30分，而我们得早一点带靖恒回家刷牙，冲凉，睡觉。
可以说，虽然这次有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎，但不但没有尽地主之宜带他和他的朋友到处走走 （他们已来过爱丁堡），还让他们特地绕一个圈来这里，少了看别处的机会，还觉得不好意思的。
An ex-colleague came to tour UK and actually made the effort to come over to Edinburgh to visit us and bring us stuffs that were passed to him by our families. He and his friend, an ex-classmate, had travelled from Isle of Skye to Edinburgh. The journey took them about 8 hours and they were clearly exhausted. And afterwards they would go to Newcastle and Derby before heading back to Manchester, their base. Newcastle-upon-Tyne would not have been their choice of sight-seeing destination if not for this round-about trip to come over to Edinburgh (which they have been to before) from the west of Scotland. It was really heart-warming and yet did make us feel rather bad.
We had dinner (again not their choice of restaurant, it seemed) and then walked to Hard Rock Cafe, where my friend wanted to buy some souvenirs. But it was closed to the public for a private function, so he could only return the next day. There was a bagpipe blower to herald the arrival of invited guests and Ethan stood there, entranced by the sound of bagpipes. The bagpipe blower might have noticed his very flattering expression, or perhaps Ethan was the only young child around. Anyway, he went forward and asked him to come onto the red carpet for a picture. Alas, not so Ethan. He refused to go with the stranger, despite encouragements from Jianming. So, in the end, the bagpipe blower came out. We had to have a picture somehow then. So, Jianming was in the photo too, since that seemed the only way to get Ethan to stand still for the camera. You can see from the photo that Ethan looked rather grouchy still.
After that, we walked up Calton Hill. We have always wanted to watch its sunset but were too lazy to get out of the flat after dinner. So, this time we went and saw the beginning of the sunset and it was indeed beautiful, with the sun setting over the sea in the distance. However, we could not wait for the sunset to reach its most splendid moment and ending, as that would be after 10.30pm. Obviously, Ethan's bedtime routine would be badly affected.
It was good meeting up with a friend from home over here. The weather was nice and we did not have to escape into some air-conditioned shopping malls or cafes like we do back home. The cool, temperate weather and the historic feel of Edinburgh make it a really nice place to just chill out with friends in the open.
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