Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Below is an excerpt from my journal the day we arrived in Edinburgh:
Wow! What a difference a day makes! Since we’ve been in Spain and Portugal for the past several weeks, we’ve just adjusted to “being sweaty” most of the day! And, we love being sweaty! When we arrived at the Edinburgh airport, it was overcast and starting to drizzle. Our Uber driver picked us up and we just stared in disbelief as he drove on the opposite side of the van on the opposite side of the road!
The neighborhood we are staying at for the next couple of days looks exactly as I had imagined they would in the UK! Our door is blue and is on the third floor. We took a winding staircase to reach the top. Each room has large long windows made with the old glass. Our room came with a fireplace and sweeping views of Edinburgh. A green and lush garden with hydrangeas (my favorite) and apple trees were down below! Yes, we are in Scotland! I am in heaven!
Except just a few itty, bitty problems…the water and heat will not turn on. I went to wash my hands and not a drop of water came out when I turned on the faucet! Is this a bad sign? We can handle it for one night, right? Edinburgh was definitely quite cooler than Lisbon had been, so we were scrambling to contact a plumber/heating repairman to get these issues resolved. Some things never change wherever you are in the world!
When I think of Scotland, I think of green rolling hills, plaid everything, fish and chips and Braveheart! Obviously, I know there is so much more than that, but that’s what came to the mind of a girl from the Midwest! Here are a few highlights from our time in Edinburgh in no particular order:
Edinburgh Castle and Scottish Bagpiper…no explanation needed!!!
Lunch at Oinks We read about this “take away” restaurant on a travel blog. How could you pass this up when it’s 2:00 p.m, everyone’s starving, and it’s the right price? It was perfectly seasoned pulled pork with homemade haggis and mustard mayo sauce!!! You also had an option for a crusty section… I highly recommend it!
Museum of Scotland We visited The Museum of Scotland on a rainy afternoon, and it was a pleasant surprise! We’ve learned that in Scotland you can have sunshine with a downpour, and it doesn’t dampen any locals plans. Inside the museum, we visited the “History of Scotland” exhibit, and ran into Dolly the sheep. Zach had the opportunity to drive a simulated version of an F1 car too. Also, as an added bonus, we learned that all museums in the UK are free! Yippee!
Harry Potter Mania All roads lead to Harry Potter here in Edinburgh. You can even take a Harry Potter tour to see the places where H.K. Rowling was supposedly “inspired” to write the popular series. Well, Zach was pretty excited to see all the Harry Potter things, so that’s exactly what we did! We walked away with a “special” wand from The Wizard Boy store.
Arthur’s Seat at Hollyroodhouse Park On the day that we leave each location, we always go around the dinner table and share our favorite experience. We all agreed that hiking Arthur's Seat was our favorite! It was created by ice sheets from an eroded stump of a long-ago volcano. The climb was a little steeper than we had anticipated, but the sprawling views of the city and Edinburgh Castle were worth it! The wind was practically blowing Zach over! We also had the vantage point to view the North Sea. We rambled back down to town, and Zach started running down the hills. He said, “mom, can you videotape me?” As you can see below, we have a video that might be worthy of a spot on America’s Funniest Videos! I think he watched it 50 times so far!
After four nights in Edinburgh, we decided to rent a car and head up to Inverness. The Northern Highlands await!
