Tuesday 20th -- mostly Edinburgh

We start the day with breakfast in our room. The Court Residence may be fancy but breakfast is continental in our room. Which suits us, no need to act civilised amongst other diners :-)

Then, eventually, we go to the big city. A ten minute walk to the railway station. Buy tickets. Wait five minutes for the next train, they are every fifteen minutes. A 20 or 25 minute journey, one stop at Edinburgh Haymarket then a few more minutes to Edinburgh Waverley.

I know this is the station we need. I didn't realise there would be a choice of 3 or  4 exits. We pick one. A lucky choice, we follow crowds of people and soon find ourselves near the castle.

"Near" the castle? Well, we can see perhaps 500 people packed into a bit of road with space for half that number. That, we think, is the entrance to the castle. Where we are standing could be the top of the Royal Mile. It's crammed with souvenir shops which are crammed with tourists. The roads -- closed to traffic -- are walkable, the footpaths are not.

We sidle into a cafe. Packs of people, not a seat to be seen. We sidle out again. Not many cafes here. Lots of souvenir shops.

We walk a little closer to the castle... and find The Hub. An old building converted to function centre. Today its main function is to sell Fringe Festival tickets. It also has a cafe and a toilet, we use both. There is space in both... I think we have been too long in the country, these crowds seem awful.

There are posters for Fringe events, nothing appeals. Rather, the style of the posters put me off though they barely hint at what the shows would be about.

I have a quick glance at a brochure for the real Festival. Some of the music would probably be good.

In the street is a busker, a Spanish shading on classical guitarist. He is terrific, we listen for ten minutes. Excellent :-)

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btw: I suspect that this journal (for the last couple of weeks) is a bit flat. I feel that I have been recording what we have done, where we have been -- but just recording. With too little humour, too little enthusiasm. Yes, we are enjoying this holiday! It's just me, I'm a bit flat, I tire too easily. Then I'm tired -- and flat -- when I post to the journal at the end of each day. Sorry! We really are enjoying ourselves :-)

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We are near yet another "souvenirs of Scotland" type of shop. Let's go in and buy you a beanie, says Deb...

At home I have a knitted beanie from our first trip to UK, 40-plus years ago. It's my favourite beanie, with a lot of emotional attachment. Trouble is, it is finally falling apart, more hole than beanie. Deb wants to buy me a replacement...

It's okay, I explain, I love the new one that you, Deb, knitted. I love the old one only for its 40 years of history. Not for its style or even its... provenance.

And then I worry. Deb wanted to do this for me. She may be disappointed. Sigh...

I give Deb a hug, thank her. Tell her I love her. And I do :-)

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Enough of these hordes of people. We hop on a hop on hop off bus, for a tour of the city. We just stay on for the entire journey, 7.5km in one and a half hours. During which there is pelting rain though it's fine before and after. The bus threads through traffic which I would avoid in a Mini.

Did you know that Arthurs Seat was the vent for a volcanic blowhole? It was worth the trip to find that out, I still chuckle...

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We walk back to the railway station -- via the Festival Village. Which seems to be a pop up pub with food. And crowds. Then downstairs to the mall, down again to the food hall. Where, of course, we get coffee and cake. Cheesecake. It's a universal foodhall, different yet comfortingly familiar.

A group of three... young women finish their food, take out cigarettes, head out to the smokers' area. They look young enough that they will need to chew mints before they go home to their parents... Or do they just look young through my old man's eyes :-?

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Down another level to the trains. We ask which train to take... it's up, across, down again... and there's a train leaving in five minutes. Somewhere we read that Waverley is the second biggest station in the UK. Yes, it is big.

A quick train journey, a short walk, we are home again.

Out for dinner at six, to 1807, a pub across the road from last night's. Again, good pub food, relatively simple.

We walk a bit after dinner, it's still bright daylight. A bit of exploring, steps up then under a tunnel, we are on the other side of the railway line. Linlithgow is a strip of town along the High Street, a busy through road. Shops and such either side of the road. One side is then edged by the railway, with houses but no shops beyond it.

What we find is a park, a geocache and a canal... Yet another cache which has brought us to an unexpectedly interesting spot! There are narrow-boats (some occupied, some for hire) moored in a broad part of the canal. And a statue of a cat :-)

And then we walk home again. And relax.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"I would like to think it's possible to construct a society where our orders don't involve slaughtering our own people." ...Gen. Khiruev via Yoon Ha Lee

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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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