Exploring Edinburgh

Another Italian restaurant last night. If I didn't know we were in Edinburgh, I'd swear we were in Italy. Every other restaurant is Italian and they all have an Italian waitstaff. It's like getting two countries in one. Anyway, the place was packed due to everyone celebrating their marathon finishes. We got

seated in the party room where we had the privilege of singing happy birthday to a beautiful 90 year old Scotsman. We ordered the salmon simply because we were in Scotland and had to have salmon. It was all very good a lot of fun -- just not too Scottish!

The skies seemed a bit more cooperative this morning and we set out for another adventure. Our plan was to try to climb up to the summit of Arthur's Seat, the dormant volcano. However, along the way we stopped to take pictures of the Holyroot Palace and then we went into the Parliament House. Somehow got on a one hour tour of the place and by the time we came out the sky had changed. The path up the volcano is across from Parliament and the Discover Museum. We started up and sure enough the skies opened up and it was pouring. Ran back down and wound up in the cafeteria of the Discover Museum with about 1000 kids running around. Since it was after noon already, we decided to get a quick bite and wait out the rain.

I was a bit bummed that the hike was cancelled but we charged on and went into all the free museums we could find: The Edinburgh Museum, The People's Story Museum, and the Writer's Museum. Phew!!! Also went to the Waverley Train station to see what platform our train will be on tomorrow. This place is huge. 

One interesting place we discovered was on one of our many maps. (We discovered in Amsterdam that not everything is on one map - you need about half a dozen to get all the info,)  Somewhere on Calton Hill was an Abraham Lincoln Monument! So off we went leaving the crowds on the Royal Mile in search of Old Abe. Of course he wasn't where the map said exactly. We asked many a Scot and no one had even heard of the monument. Finally a very friendly couple came along and joined the conversation. He got out his smart phone and googled it. Abe was in the Calton Cemetery on Waterloo Place which was up (really up on Calton Hill) around the bend from where we were all standing.

Up we climbed, found the cemetery and there stood Mr. Lincoln - it is a tribute to all the Scots who had died during the Civil War. I wonder how many people in this city know about this.The cemetery also housed a great many famous Scots. The views up there were fabulous. And the skies were still playing tricks. The sun just could not make up it's mind. On the way back down we went via the North Bridge and I remembered something I read somewhere - that the stairs leading down from The Scotsman are made from different kinds of marble. Each step is different. We took a quick look and sure enough, they were all different all the way down to Market St. Nothing terribly special, but quite beautiful.

From the North Bridge we walked down to Princes St. and got on the 22 bus, which also takes us to our guesthouse, to go down to the Ocean Terminal in Leith. The Britannia is docked there. This was the Royal Yacht until it got decommissioned in 1997. Geoff and I had seen it before in Boston during the Tall Ships, but we never had a chance to board. 

Well imagine my surprise when we get let off in front of a huge mall and a sign saying "Your Tour begins on the second floor".  What's up with that?? We thought we would just go down to the dock and take some pictures but you can't get close to this thing. You have to traipse through this mall before you can get anywhere near her. It was 4:45 by the time we got there and usually there are no more tours, but they had a few late people so they let us on. That was nice because it wasn't packed. You get a self guided audio tour. It was all very grand, 50's style. We were most impressed with the engine room. I still could not get over the fact that they built this mall around a ship!

It was dinner time when we left the ship and we were back in the mall. Lots of restaurants with great wide views of the Firth of Fourth body of water where the Britanina is docked.  We were hoping for some good seafood but as usual, most of the places were Italian! We chose a very nondescript place that had veggie burgers and we were good. The food was again delicious but still not Scottish. Back on the bus and in our room by 7pm. Well fed and totally exhausted. Packing again for York tomorrow. Looking forward to a smaller city. 

Checked email and got a wonderful hello from our friends in Kent who we met in Zanzibar. Hope to meet up with them while in London. I was also alerted that the Edinburgh 1 Photo Album link wasn't working. It should be OK now. Lastly, we have had phone issues with our international phone since we arrived in the UK. So we never did hear from Lucy and I had no way of getting in touch with her. We finally heard from the makers of our SIM card and they OOPS sent us an old card that doesn't work in the UK. Hopefully, they will be sending another out and it will meet us in York. We will want it in London.

Another early night for another long day tomorrow.

Next time.... Going to York