Wednesday 21st -- afternoon in Edinburgh

So we're back from a quick walk to get icecream (delicious, from an icecream shop up the road), returning via the local museum (small but good). Now back to yesterday...

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We take the train to Edinburgh Waverley. It's easy, we're old hands, we did this yesterday.

aside: As I'm typing, a man is outside our open window. I think he's speaking Italian. If I concentrate I can hear that some of the words are English... Turns out, he is speaking English. Scottish English. Near incomprehensible.

Back in Edinburgh: We walk towards the castle. Turn off, reach the Scottish National Museum. Gates open for the Tattoo after eight pm, we have many hours to fill, we spend a few hours in the museum.

There's a lot here, we could have spent days! We're not looking for anything in particular, just wandering round. Not wandering too fast, not after I start to drip sweat. These buildings are designed for a cold climate, they can be a bit muggy inside.

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another aside: In our accommodation, we wash a few pairs of underpants. It takes a couple of days for them to dry. Lying them on the heated:-) bathroom floor doesn't help. There's a "heated" towel rail but we can't find any way to turn it on. And on the theme of "fancy", the bathroom mirror is heated. After a shower there are two large warm areas, clear of steam.

The shower taps take some experimentation: there are three taps, unlabelled. Bottom tap fills the bath. Top tap is the shower, turn right for the hand-held shower, turn left for the fixed shower-head. (Or is it the other way round?) Centre tap adjusts the water temperature.

Of course there's a light and fan in the bathroom, switch is outside the door. Plus the fan and a dimmer light comes on automatically. Activated by a movement sensor, it's not safe to sit in silent contemplation for too long...

At the other, less modern, end of the room, the window has wooden shutters. Close the shutters at night to keep out the light. Close them with the solid, old, metal bar to keep out the world.

In the kitchen area, a two induction coil cooktop, microwave, small dishwasher, and a fridge. Deb fries eggs for breakfast :-)

Now back to Edinburgh:

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We spend a couple of hours wandering the museum. There's a restaurant on the top level of the museum, we book for dinner. While we're up there we go up another level, it's outside. I go up the final stairs, to the outdoor terrace. Funny, I didn't like the stone spiral stairs at the palace, these metal spiral stairs don't worry me at all.

The view is nothing spectacular, a lot is blocked by the broad planters round the outside, which also make me feel safe. Rain is spitting down. I rejoin Deb inside the building.

Time for afternoon tea. Sweet or savoury? I ask Deb. Sweet, she replies. So I pick a sweet cupcake with light sugary thick frosting icing on top... sweet indeed :-)

At five pm we leave, the museum is closing. As we leave, we make sure that we know how to get back to the restaurant. We walk to the National Library, which is open till later. See the cunning plan? We are close to the Tattoo but avoiding the rain and the crowds. In the library we just sit and read free newspapers.

Back to the museum. There's a door open. A man inside, concierge for the restaurant, asks if we have a booking. In fact, I have no idea what he says, he speaks Scottish English but that is the question I was expecting. I give him our name, he passes us to another man who guides us to the lift, presses the button, tells us to go to level five then leaves us. Later, I wonder if these two are hoping to be tipped.

We take the lift up to the Tower Restaurant.

It looks quite flash. The food is quite flash, we choose options from the two-course "light, pre-show". All very nice. One of mine, whitebait, I like but is too fishy for Deb. We enjoy our own choices :-)

We spend a lot of time commenting on the people at the next table. One is a loud American man, a woman is happily being chatted up. The other two we identify as the man's sister and her daughter. All wild guesses but fun :-)

I go to pay, by card. The man says, This button allows you to add a tip... I say, Add ten percent and thanks for the lack of subtlety. I actually mean it, this place seems to deserve tipping. In general I object to tipping.

Another break, time for real-time dinner...

====    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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