Scotland part four - Edinburgh   

posted october 2013

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When we arrived at the Edinburgh B&B mid-day, the host gave us a map showing that we were on a main bus route into the city, and away we went.  We off-loaded on Princes Street, and a bagpipe player was playing. 

Edinburgh prides itself in having named its main train station after the most popular novel by its native son novelist Sir Walter Scott, who essentially invented the historical novel. His Waverly series consisted of 29 books.       

We wandered downhill to Holyrood Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II and part of her family stay almost every August. It is a formidable set of buildings but photos inside were not allowed, as you tour so many different rooms. The parkland & Abbey surrounding the Palace were of more interest to me.      

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

	Princes St. Gardens		the Royal Mile Starbucks		writings on the Parliament building		Palace of  Holyrood
				more doors		the self-guided tour starts inside
	no photos were allowed inside		Royal Family		Elizabeth II		the garden
		head gardener's house		old foundations
	Abbey Strand

After more than an hour visiting Holyrood we walked a Royal Mile uphill to Edinburgh Castle and arrived just as it closed for the day.  We dropped off the Mound and had an early dinner at an Italian Ristorante.       

	Castle closed		near the Castle		Paul		view of distant hills
						The Mound
	near the National Gallery		Italian cuisine  downtown

On Saturday after another great breakfast, we were downtown early and explored Edinburgh Castle for almost five hours. There's a lot to see, and the views over the City are fantastic. 

	morning in Edinburgh		Paul		the royal mile model		Waverly Station
				at the Castle entry		on the Castle ramparts
	the neighborhoods
		at Edinburgh Castle

Later in the day we walked to Calton Hill and near sunset had dinner at a sidewalk cafe. 

	hydrangeas		Princes Avenue		see the walkers up on Arthur's Seat		web shot of Holyrood Castle from there
		National Monument		British Naval Commander Nelson Monument, see note		Dugald Stewart monument
	we finally found a  sidewalk cafe		Doris & Paul
		our last evening  overseas		bus ride home

 note - I found out later that visitors can climb 200+ stairs to the top of the Nelson Monument, with a great view of the City.

our impromptu sidewalk dinner consisted of two Italian flatbreads and a bottle of Primitivo, split among three of us. Then we walked a few blocks back towards the Royal Mile, and attended a vocal concert in a local church on a side-street, based on an announcement handed to Doris, as we left the Castle.

We learned that this was the last practice session for a local choral group about to compete in the one-week National MOD, the annual Scottish Gaelic music competition. They sang a capella, meaning, no instruments.  

The performance started around 7 pm and began with a ten-minute bagpipe solo. Then the vocal performance in Gaelic was terrific. 

We left when there was an intermission at 9 pm, to get back to the B&B for some organizing & packing for tomorrow's early start. 

Epilogue - we were up early the next morning but our flight to Newark was cancelled. We left two hours later and at Newark said a quick goodbye, as we drifted apart to different gates for the next leg.

I was a stress case, sure I was gong to miss my connecting flight and Customs had a broken conveyor belt so there was a huge luggage logjam. I left luggage and ran to the next gate, barely making that flight.    

Once landed at SFO a pleasant & kind Filipino airport worker let me use her cell phone to call my wife to say I'd be at SMF (Sacto airport) in 90 minutes.

The 20 minute turbo-prop hop (at night) from SFO to SMF flew over familiar Bay & Delta terrain at 15,000 ft., an unexpectedly pleasant end to the trip.  

Please see the epilogue page where I thank my sisters for planning out the visit, and, where overnight lodging info. is provided. 

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