My internship is going as well as could be. I'm nearly half-way to my goal of surveying 100 visitors and I should hopefully have more completed surveys once I go in tomorrow to check the survey box. Next up for this week will be completing a costings list of materials for the polar-themed activity for pre-school kids. I can't believe I've only got three and a half weeks of my internship left! My goodness, time sure does fly when one is learning so much and having a great time!
Yesterday one of my coworkers grabbed some ASVA (Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions) passes so that we could be touristy and get into attractions for free. First off we went into the National Gallery of Scotland and looked at some simply amazing art! We saw art by Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Cézanne, Rembrandt, as well as Raeburn's Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch. There was this one painting that was so interesting... There was a man whose face was so realistic! You should have seen his hair, his eyebrows, his wrinkles; I think I looked at that one for about 15 minutes for that reason alone.
After that we went off to Camera Obscura and the World of Illusions which completely blew me away! (The website is still in construction but you can see some of the views from the tower there.) The first thing we did was go to the very top of the building to the tower which overlooks Edinburgh including the Castle, Princes Street and the Royal Mile. My coworker let me use her camera so I'll try to put up the pictures we took there soon. Then there was a presentation using the actual camera obscura and that was one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen in my 21.66 years of life! The rest of the building houses a collection of visual illusions, hands-on activities, and enough holographic wonders to last a few hours at least. This is a definite must-see for any visitor to Edinburgh!
Then we went to the 3D Loch Ness Experience which was kinda interesting, I guess... I can't see how they're a 4 star visitor attraction, but it was worth seeing just to say that I've seen it. What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't have gone if I had to pay a fiver (10 US dollars) to see the 25 minute film. Some of it was 3D and some of it wasn't, or so it seemed. Thank goodness for the ASVA pass making it free for us!
Finally we went to the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Centre which was a perfect ending to a day of tourist activities! With our (free) admission we also got to attend a whiskey tasting session before the start of our tour. Yes, ladies and gents, I had my first taste of whiskey and it was beautiful. I had a dram of Isle of Skye and I really appreciated the caramel/citrus taste that went down smooth with a slight zing at the end. Made me all warm and toasty! The tour was fun; a series of four sessions: First a video, second a talk from a guide telling us about what a distillery is like, third a projected video of a deceased noser (a person who checks whiskey by smelling it) and, fourth, a barrel ride through the history of whiskey in Scotland. Yes, you heard me right: A barrel ride! It was like going on a trip through a wax figure history of the topic and was kinda cheesy, but I love cheesy things so I had a good time.
All in all it was a great day doing touristy things! I'll let you all know, via this thing-a-ma-blog, when I've got new pictures posted. Hope you're all doing fab!
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