Blame the snoods.

It was a shockingly sunny Edinburgh morning and I had no classes. Consequently, I decided to trek to faraway Princes Street (the hub of all things store-related) to expand my warm clothing collection: in particular, I wanted one more snood (the most useful winterwear object I’ve ever encountered). Okay, so maybe I’d only been to Princes one other time, but I wasn’t worried. My Mental (in both senses of the word, I later discovered) Edinburgh Navigation System was all ready to go!

A quick flowchart detailing my foolish methodology follows.

Patent pending.

Using this fine system, I took a wrong turn moments after leaving the University and detoured through Grassmarket (apparently the former site of executions…lovely) and the West End for about thirty frightening minutes before I finally caught the holy sight of an H&M superstore.

Several pounds and a fashionable new snood & sweaterset later, I wanted to redeem myself. Instead of giving in and riding a taxi back to Sciennes, I retraced the original route I’d taken with my friends on Saturday, relying upon such wonderful landmarks as

  • the super classy Pizza Hut by the Balmoral
  • Cafe Nero (memorable because its logo font encourages the delightful misreading  ”Cafe Nerd”)
  • the row of tourist shops all blasting bagpipe music at the same time
  • and the Justiciary and its fancy-scarf-wearing employees

to find my way. Surprise! It took no more than fifteen minutes to return home. All that madness because I didn’t take the “high road” by Greyfriars…

(At least I now know how to reach the critical Edinburgh shopping destination known as Mr. Wood’s Fossil Shop. See, there’s a good side to everything!) 

DO NOT TAKE THIS ROAD (unless you want to buy fossils) (and hats off to you if you do!)