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furrfu March 26 2008, 21:47:00 UTC
Forex, the big clump that is Edinburgh Castle is on the leftover core of an extinct volcano.

A lot of Scotland shows signs of old volcanoes, it turns out. I recently got "Earth Story" on DVD, a terrificly nerdy documentary series on geology (not quite up to the standards of Sir Dave, but very good nonetheless) and that tied quite a few loose ends together in my mind (like the Giant's Causeway on the other end, also volcanic - and of course, Iceland's just over the horizon).

So, er, what I'm really implying is that Earth Story is quite interesting, I guess. If you like volcanoes. Which is rather tangential to your post, but heigh ho. ;-)

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sierra_le_oli March 26 2008, 22:30:57 UTC
I have what you might call a vested interest in volcanoes, considering where I'm from. :-) I never thought of Scotland as being particularly interesting from a volcanic point of view, but as you rightly point out, Iceland's not that far away.

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furrfu March 26 2008, 23:35:31 UTC
...considering where I'm from.

I'd love to visit Rotorua or a similar area someday. I've seen it on TV/DVD but that's not quite the same. :-)

ObRef: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thulean_Plateau - "Remnants of this great plateau are found in northern Ireland, bits of northwestern Scotland, the Faroe Islands, bits of northwestern Iceland, eastern Greenland and western Norway". If you'd like to see "Earth Story" do let me know and you can borrow my copy. If you're interested in volcanoes it's a must see, I reckon. And together with various bits of documentaries by Sir Dave (including but not limited to "Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives") it really makes you look differently at the landscape/world...

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sierra_le_oli March 27 2008, 08:44:25 UTC
Yes please, I'd like to borrow Earth Story sometime.

Rotorua was one of my favourite things last trip (er, I had a lot of favourite things *g*). I still can't get over the birds who evolved to live in a hot crater. Anyway, if you're ever in that neighbourhood, the Volcanic Plateau with its three active volcanoes isn't that far away. Have just realised how lucky I was getting to go there on a school geography trip. :-) Two samples: we walked up Red Crater (it was warm under our feet) and saw the Emerald Lakes on the other side after sliding down the scree slope.

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bslsimes March 26 2008, 21:55:56 UTC
I lived for about a year in a flat down near the Firth. I can confirm that in winter not only was it a bit grim, it was also bloody cold.

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sierra_le_oli March 26 2008, 22:28:15 UTC
Due to suffering from a cold two weeks ago I was very apathetic about planning for Easter. So when Wingnut said, "let's go to Edinburgh", I said "great idea!" Which promptly turned into, "who's $%^#& idea was this?" when I saw the forecast for last weekend. I spent a lot of time sitting in front of our friends' fire. Well, I had to or else the heat would've reached the chocolate on the coffee table which then would've melted.

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clanwilliam March 26 2008, 23:44:34 UTC
Edinburgh is one of the three great Georgian cities in the UK[1]. Having been to all three, (hell, having lived in one and got married in another and spent way too much time in the third - so I think you can figure out what they are), I can assure you that each is a national stereotype as well.

I love Embra. Particularly off-season. Am v.v.v.v.v. excited I should be going there in a couple of weeks or so.

[1] Translation: there was a *huge* property slump at exactly the right time to preserve the architecture.

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sierra_le_oli March 27 2008, 08:45:45 UTC
I hadn't realised because they were talking more about the Victorian apartments because that's what they'd originally wanted to buy. But then, I didn't have time to see New Town this visit.

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