Edinburgh 2000

No! It didn't rain when we arrived!

Leaving our home country, everybody laughed at us, knowing we planned a trip to Scotland - our summer holiday! But arriving at Mortonhall camp site, some Scots comforted us, telling us that a day without rain wasn't a Scottish day.

On Sunday, we got to know Edinburgh on the "Grand Pan-Edinburgh Treasure Hunt". Fortunately, every group was accompanied by a local, so that the probability to get lost was quite low. Surprisingly, the team that was invited to have a meal for free in one of the pubs, still didn't come last.

During the upcoming week, there was a vast choice of lectures, excursions and discussions. The big excursions, both towards the west of the country, were certainly two main highlights. It is said that some folks even went swimming at Loch Lomond (has anybody taken pictures to prove this?). Some others had great fun being eaten by midges at Glencoe (by the way...who fought whom in the Battle of Glencoe?).

A consequence of staying at Edinburgh was the meeting with Dolly, the sheep, and Professor Wilmut, her creator. It was very interesting to hear about his point of view in the gene discussion, and I dare say, that in the end everybody had a much more refined idea of what's really going on.

As in the preceding years, the so-called "fun part" of the programme was quite large. The "Big Bug Show" offered a variety of possibilities to get in touch with really nasty animals, live music in the marquee asked for dancing encouraged by the (traditional) Spanish Sangrķa, and the Ceilidh bid us farewell with dancing until midnight!