Portal, scan and a pat down...

Home, sweet home

Portal, scan and a pat down: bye bye Edinburgh. Thursday and I was going home (some of the English languages best words). I was so tired the night before that I had a hard time going to sleep.

The Castle of Edinburgh as I left the city

The trip by foot down the hill to the bus stop was much easier than I had anticipated; the wait not long (maybe 5 minutes) and the bus fairly empty, the ride fine. At the airport EasyJet has it down to a science: you weigh your own luggage, scan the boarding card whereupon the machine issues a luggage tag, one then rolls one’s luggage to a portal and a real person checks the boarding card and ID. No receipt issued.

Ah, but security more than made up for that ease: I went through the portal, which promptly rang so in turn I got to go through the body scanner – also rang – and led to a pat down. Was it the bar in my arm? No one seemed much concerned – maybe my nails have lead in them.

Made my way to the departure zone, looked at all the stores – now mainly whisky so didn’t buy anything. Went out the East wing as well and finally settled on a Cappucino with an extra shot of espresso and a “Cheddar Cheese Ploughman with Branston Pickle on Malted Bloomer” (read a cheese sandwich on brown bread). Ate half before they announced a delay of almost an hour in the flight’s departure. Good thing that I was going home!

The time did finally roll around but there was a gate change – went there only to find a UA flight. The board posted “gate change awaiting” and although it also posted “go to the Easy Jet App” that wouldn’t load. Is this fun yet? Again though – I was going home so not much could dim my good spirits.

Scottish thistle - the country's "flower"

What a trip, what great travel companions so I'll leave you with the thought lettered on a pub in Inverness:

*Friendship is like Whiskey, the older the better. Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good Whisky is barely enough.*

The Fringe, Hub and Tattoo…

all rolled into one along with what seems like hundreds of thousands of tourists equals Edinburgh on steriods !

Fringe - the world's largest arts festival!

 Slept the sleep of the righteous – or the dead tire and it was actually my alarm clock that woke me up at 7. Had to go find breakfast as none in my arrangement there – sigh. Had gotten used to the wonderful Scottish breakfasts. Actually if the truth were known I was not very happy to be in a big city. Weird that.

I walked in the correct direction stopping for a cappuccino (good) and a scone (not quite so good if not downright not a scone!).  My travel companions texted that they were on their way so I went on down and walked up the hill towards the castle. 

Castle of Edinburgh with stadium seating for Tattoo

It was only when I logged on to the Tattoo wifi that I found out that I needed it to receive WhatsApp messages. We finally did re-connect with each other around 10h00. I had meanwhile done the souvenir store near the castle. When we connected we went back in and spent too much time there as by the time we went back to the castle (which opened at 9h30 and had basically no lines) the line was way too long. We proceeded to head for the Bobby statue down at Greyfrair’s then into the church grounds and cemetery. 

Greyfrair's Bobby

Most of the churches here charge £2.00 for taking pictures – hmmmmm….. We had gone past the Elephant coffee shop where the first Harry Potter book was written and since G wanted to eat there and none of us had had much breakfast we went at 11h30 before the crowds.

The Elephant House

As the sign says...

Afterwards we continued wandering down the Royal Mile dipping into stores until we arrived at Holyrood – the Queen’s residence in July. It was 15h30 so only time to take in the palace itself and gardens. It didn’t take much imagination to see the Abbey ruins as a whole building nor the “palace” as living quarters. I was actually rather awed to be walking where the Queen lives at least a month of the year! Had a Prosecco and a third of a polenta cupcake with lemon icing. My was that delicious in the castle coffee shop. 

More than one interesting sight on the street

The Royal Mile

The castle - a special camera setting

Holyrood Palace

The Abbey

The world's best cupcake

After having walked all the way back up the Royal Mile and finding the store that I wanted to re-visit inaccessible due to the arrival of the Tattoo participants, we

(or rather I) decided that we should look for a restaurant down on Rose Ave. walking down the hill near the Museum. £55.00 got us two great salads (Caeser for G and a “Rosehip” one for me with greens, artichokes, pine nuts, croutons both black and white, and grilled chicken – scrumptious – and Fish and Chips for M who for the first time was so tired that he didn’t finish it). I treated them and gave G her two cards and a book about Mermaids and other stories from Orkney and both of them a wee Orkney desk calendar. Walked back to the Novotel and got some cheddar (ok 4!) on the way in a Sainsbury.

Knew that I had a voucher at the hotel for having them not make up the room so enjoyed a Prosecco down in the bar before yet again tumbling into the last night of hotel or B&B beds. This travel is hard work!

Back to minor snafus...

and some lucky breaks as well.

And back on the road headed for Edinburgh after a normal breakfast. But first we walked back into town, went to St.Mary’s where I took pix of yet another Via Croci (in ceramic this time). Back to House of Fraser for a wee bit then across the bridge to do a couple of souvenir stores as G was looking for a t-shirt for a grand nephew. 

Flowers at the Park Guest House

One of many stone statues at the Park Guest House

St.Mary's in Inverness, the first catholic church to be built when Catholocism was again allowed

Back to the Guest House to pick up the car and go to the Botanical Gardens (floral hall as the owner of the B&B said) as I didn’t really want to walk it.  

On the road and on the way down – saw a sign for other gardens so took off then couldn’t find them but never mind we came across the battle fields of Culledon (Lord Cumberland (English) against a Bonnie Prince Charles Stuart (backed by the French) – the battle between the Jacobites and those loyal to the English. Inadvertantly went in the back way so didn’t pay the £11.00. 

 

Culloden

Walked around a bit then continued on to the Cawdor castle and grounds. Had lunch first – I took the carrot and coriander soup with a cheddar cheese scone. Since they didn’t allow backpacks in the castle, my pockets were full and I had my sweater and scarf around my neck, my purse and camera slung across my chest, and my jacket tied around my waist (originally misspelled that one "waste" in a probably freudian slip) with the black backpack folded and stuffed in it.  The Cawdor castle was very well laid out – even a dungeon and more tapestries than I have seen in a long time. It belonged and still is inhabited by the Cawdor family.

 

Entry to Cawdor Castle

Motto

Great gift shop but not really enough time as M had told their Guest House that they would be there by 17h00.  

Then of course we ran into traffic slow downs on the A9 due to roadwork so they had to call and let him know that they might be late. Turns out that he is leaving. Now one would think that he would have told them that at some point! Oh well. It may mean my having to negotiate getting to my hotel with my luggage on my own later this evening. Time will tell. Also know that my roaming days run out tonight at midnight and that the new ones won’t start until Aug.10 so no more looking up routes, fares and the like unless I want to spend a small fortune.

Will be glad to be going home as am now tired of rushing.

Sevral hours after planned we finally arrived at their B&B and they negotiated getting the key (their phone bill is going to be awful as they have had to use it several times) around 18h30 then we set off to find my hotel. Had decided to do dinner literally whenever we saw something, but most likely after my hotel as I didn’t think there would be anything on the outskirts where we were. Got lucky and saw a grill on the left side as we were traveling so a left-hand turn further down and we went back.  I had a great burger and they split a Caeser salad and a pizza. Our waitress had an accent so I asked where she came from – Hungary. On to the hotel which we had trouble accessing. G had seen it off the freeway, but the GPS showed weird directions and we overroad them – to our sorrow. on the third try we managed to finally arrive at the hotel where they proceeded to offer me the same conditions, if I would go into town. I looked at her and said "but I can't make my friends drive me into town then back out to there place here on the outskirts" to which the receptionist replied, "no, no, we'll order and pay for a cab". She did a good sale’s job so I took it and arrived at the Novotel in the city around 21h30. Getting more and more tired. Room anonymous and of course not really in the center of town – getting to a tram or the Airlink bus tomorrow is going to be a challenge. 

I could go back to the other one for the last night, but that would mean taking my luggage and storing it for the day so am seriously considering simply taking a cab – regardless the costs. After all I haven’t spent what I brought as after the credit card snafu I charged as much as I could instead of using my cash. 

The bed in any case looked beyond blessed, as by then I was truly tired.

Always have a brolley in one's bag as...

Edinburgh and Scotland are known for their “mists”.

Day two of the Scottish adventure.

 

It was very amusing this morning when I stepped out in search of breakfast. One minute nothing, next rain, three minutes later yet again nothing. I must have opened and shut my umbrella a half a dozen times in the short hour that I was out and about.

So today is going to be a GREAT DAY –  first of all it would be hard to beat yesterday’s challenges and secondly it’s my birthday (remember the “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” – almost did several times yesterday).

Also whilst looking around the neighbourhood last night I had seen that one of my favourite dining experiences – MILK – was still in existence! So since the hotel currently isn’t offering breakfast what better excuse to check it out. Had a lovely plate of scrambled eggs on Farmer’s bread with a spinach salad and one of the best cappuccinos that I have had in a long time. Great for those more discerning people who don’t mind rudimentary seating and deco (there are several, the one I went to is on Morrison Rd. near Haymarket)– the food is well worth it! http://www.cafemilk.co.uk/west-end/

 

Breakfast at MILK

Upon my return to the hotel Richard was on duty so I could get addresses for a convertor plug and exchange my latest adventures. He was surprised that I hadn’t been awoken by the noise at 4 a.m. but that is probably about the time that I was finally soundly asleep. I gave him the MILK brochure as he didn’t know about it then off I went to try and solve at least some of my “problems” (interestingly he thought that a non-valid credit card was more of a problem than a convertor plug, but my theory that without the convertor plug I couldn’t even begin to solve other problems might have had convinced him – not!).  Walking up to the electronics store had me passing a post office so on the way back I tried getting funds that way – no go, so I am not sure why the Post thinks that it is possible but maybe as it was a small shop… she suggested that I try outside as well, but that too didn’t work. Nevertheless I was able to exchange some of the Swiss francs that I had left in my stash (and was going to take out at home so did I have a premonition that they might come in handy?) so not desperate yet: I do vaguely remember that I wanted to cut back on the food this trip – hmmmm the gods that be are enforcing that perhaps?

Then it was back to the hotel to deal with the credit card, pack and get to the station. Not impressed by the after sales service of Postfinance: three calls, dropped twice, but finally got someone competent on-line (wish that I remember her name as I would certainly write a thank you) who ordered a new one, but also managed to release my current one to a signature-only credit card. Of course now I need to try and use it to make sure it works and certainly before I hit the Orkney Islands where facilities may be few and far between – Inverness will be my proofing ground.

By then time was getting way too short for comfort so rushed down and had Richard order me a cab whilst he was printing my receipt. Had to go the back way around the hill (rather like trying to access the train station in Geneva) so it might have been the same time by tram. On the other hand it certainly was more comfortable and he dropped me off right at the entrance.  There my fortune was looking up. There was a machine just inside the door – instructions were easy and miracle of miracles my card actually worked for ID (leaving me to truly wonder when my credit card went belly up as that purchase was after Wengen) and I had my tickets in hand within minutes. Finding the track was a wee bit stressful, but in the end I was on the train 5 minutes before departure. Minor, very minor, snag (note that I won’t even qualify it as a glitch), no seat reservations honored on this particular train. But the personnel on the key told me that the last couple of wagons hadn’t a soul in them – turned out to be true. Interesting to note that one accesses trains via gates now that are manned by personnel checking tickets. Security is tighter – I sigh for the long-gone days when one didn’t need it.

Beautiful train ride north through the Scottish countryside – every changing skies, shores and pastures made for a pleasant ride.

difficult to make out the torrents of rain as I was boarding the train

One river after the other

mostly bays and water always in sight

Derricks in the North Sea

Hillsides were lush

The sun popped in and out highlighting glorious scenery, small villages and more water

A sight that we were to see hundreds of times

On the arrival tracks in Inverness

Arrived on time and caved to the luxury of a cab to the guest house. I had been able to pull up the address and it looked to be about 25 minutes of walking. With the iffy weather and two pieces of luggage simply didn’t want to do that and couldn’t quite figure out the busses (nor did I see any later along that route). Checked in to yet another wee room with no “en suite”. This time though there is at least a separate toilet just out the door and a shower and large room to the left.

Park Guest House in Inverness

Dumped my luggage at this lovely B&B (http://www.parkguesthouseinverness.co.uk/)literally and headed back out in search of coffee and cake as I hadn’t had any lunch and also in celebration. Ended up walking along the river, across the footbridge and back to the shopping center next to the train station. Coffee and cake in Marc’s and Spencer’s followed by a bit of retail therapy. The excuse of course was that I needed to see if I could use my credit card with signature instead of a nip code.

Yes – hallelujah.

Along the River Ness right in town

Birthday celebration cake and coffee

Walked up to the “castle” as well then headed back footsore and tired. Was almost there when my friends texted that they had arrived. A short reunion and we headed back down and across the river to one of the restaurants that I had seen earlier. Had a lovely celebration at the Waterside Restaurant.

 

A castle which is not a castle

The "castle" at Edinburgh

 

What better meal for a first night than fish 'n chips

Truly a fine birthday.

After filling in our breakfast orders we agreed to meet at 8. Tomorrow we head yet farther north – friends exploring the Orkney Islands together.

No “en suite” was the least of my worries

Note:  blog posting was nigh unto impossible as there was spotty wi-fi connections on Orkney Island and in most Guest Houses so these are being publish after my return.

Day one of my Scottish trip:

It all started out so well: for once I was early to the airport having taken a bus just in case the cement blocks had already gone up on the streets preparatory to the Geneva Festival.

Of course saying goodbye to my younger son – in the bus where we ran into a friend – was not a barrel of laughs, not knowing when or where I will next see him as he is off across the ocean before I return: an adventure without a return date. I did the same so I certainly wish him well, but a mother’s heart remains a mother’s heart.

The flight was easy – I even bought coffee in celebration. The main pursuer a delight with his flattery and jokes and we arrived within 10 minutes of “on time” – even the queuing to show our passports went fairly quickly, luggage came up right away and the bus into town was waiting.

luggage racks on the busses

So far so good.

The first glitch was major – I had received whilst at the airport in my e-mails notification that booking.com had been unable to process my credit card for the two nights at the end of the stay so first things first, try it to see in the Guard’s Hotel. 

Horror of horrors – refused, declined, not usable. Fortunately I had the cash to pay that room. Then I learned that my room didn’t have a bathroom – down the hall but for my usage only, nor did they do breakfasts any longer (under full renovation, but again am pretty sure that my booking said with breakfast – sigh). But back to the credit card problem: am pretty sure where it happened, but astonished that they hadn’t charged my card earlier as well as the fact that it worked later for my train ticket (I think – tomorrow we’ll see). Also totally flabbergasted that at no time did I receive anything from my provider to say that it had been blocked. Scramble, solution(s)? Having travelled back in the days when we had no credit cards and sometimes ran out of money I can at least think. Couldn’t simply go online and pay via e-banking as I hadn’t brought the card reader with me (for a week? Really!); wasn’t sure that I would have enough cash at the end (had foreseen enough for the B&B’s as figured some wouldn’t want credit cards) and was afraid of losing the reservation – right in the middle of the “Fringe” (a whole other story). Finally came up with a very good solution: called younger son who happened to be at home, had him go on my computer, pick up the e-mail in question and “change the credit card” to his! Now have a confirmation that that has been done. And turn about is fair play: many years ago I had to buy him a bus ticket on-line when his funds were inaccessible. My bill is much higher and so, yes, I will reimburse him. Nice to know that parents can be bailed out by kids not that it’s a one-way street!

Second glitch was more pride and hunger.

Chose to return to a restaurant that I had enjoyed years ago when my then housemate and I had travelled to meet her daughter who was studying in Edinburgh. Fairly full but there was a table for one. Waited 10 minutes to be given the menu (the waitress had seated me so she knew that I was there); another 20 for her to come and take my order then sat and sat and sat. Couldn’t see that she was overly busy and finally reminded her that I had ordered. “Oh yes”. Another interminable wait – and still not even my beer. Another reminder – it was all that I could do to remain polite – other tables had simply gotten up and gotten her. Oh dear, she had the order but had forgotten to put it in. Still on vacation mode and wanted my fish cakes and beer so waited some more. At the end of an hour though enough was enough and I simply left. Wonder if she even noticed? A word to those travelling to Edinburgh – be very pro-active should you decide to eat at the Haymarket in Haymarket.

And of course there was a third glitch (my favourite number is three and if I don’t have a third disaster I am always uneasy until it happens thus closing the circle until the next time). I had brought my convertor plug for the UK… but the top bit where my plugs should have gone was too loose. No that is a true disaster – not be able to re-charge my computer, my cell phone, my cameras?  My plugs were too heavy for the razor plug and I was only saved by the fact that under my bed on the floor there was a bar with one plug in it. Was able to re-charge all three items during the night and tomorrow is another day – another adventure.

The fact that my room was rather an old monastic cell and that my bathroom was three doors down was a very minor inconvenience.

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Spartan but functional

Good things: on-time plane; decent flight; good public transportation; wifi everywhere in Scotland

Less so: no bath in the room; no credit card; no plug; no service; noisy neighbors.

It would look as though the bad outweighed the good – not so: all was saved by the competence, friendliness and hospitality of Richard at the reception desk. He listened to my woes, was very thorough in his explanation of the quirks of the front door, the no “en suite” etc. then it turns out that he had spent 6 months traveling Canada and was, in fact, not from Scotland at all but from South Africa. A world traveler always makes a great person to have on the reception desk!

So, yet again, although the Guard’s Hotel http://www.guardshotel.co.uk/ is rather dated (but they are in the process of upgrading, everyone has changed except the owners), it is so ideally located next to the Haymarket train station with tons of public transportation possibilities and is within walking distance of Prince’s street that I will continue to use it and recommend it for anyone travelling to Edinburgh.

Bobbie Burns himself

Parliament above the town

one of the beauties in one of the parks

Edinburgh

Another beauty