Edinburgh in a day

So in my last post I regaled you with getting to Edinburgh. This post picks up from there.

Friday September 23.

We checked into the Royal Leonardo Haymarket. It was a cool hotel, right in the heart of things. The employees were super friendly and suitably horrified by our travel story so we liked them right away.

That first night after the hellish day of travel we were not getting into another vehicle, so where we had dinner had to be walkable. The hotel desk clerk called around to many nearby restaurants only to find that none could accommodate 9. That became a common comment "9?" Like they never heard of 9 people wanting to eat together!

Eventually we just walked up to the corner to a bar called Malone's. It was a typical Irish looking bar, which was interesting because we were in Scotland, we thought! We ordered drinks, ate bar food and basically chilled out which we really needed to do. 

We walked back to the hotel and had a nite cap in the bar and then headed to our rooms where we collapsed into bed and fell fast asleep.

Saturday September 24 .

The next day (and now our only day in Edinburgh) started bright and early with breakfast at the hotel. We were introduced to the traditional Scottish breakfast which was the same at every hotel in Scotland. 

• eggs, either scrambled or fried, 
• some kind of sausage unlike any I've ever had before
• bacon (their version is more like Canadian bacon)
• Haggis 
• Tomatoes diced
• Mushrooms sliced
• Baked beans 
• Fried oat cakes which resembled hash browns
• Toast, pastries, croissants
• Fruit
• Yogurt
• Porridge
• Coffee, tea, orange juice

Following breakfast we headed out to find a stop on the Hop-on Hop-off bus route. That would be our method of transportation to get around the city. Our time was limited though because we had a tour scheduled and paid for called The Secrets of the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle. 

First things first, all Hop-on Hop-off buses are not created equally. So we walked to the area we were told we could catch the bus and they just kept passing us by. Finally one kind driver stopped after Steve and Hank chased him down the street. He explained we had to look for certain bus stops and that our tickets were for the red buses! He even went so far as to let us ride his bus and he took us to where we needed to be. Once again, the Scottish people were so kind. 

The HO - HO bus

We went around on the bus for a bit and then got off near an outdoor market which was pretty cool. Calla, Cathy and I roamed the market. I couldn't believe my eyes that they were making paellas!

There were also amazing brautifully baked pastries and breads, leathercrafts, jewelry and a monk selling handcrafted liqueurs.

Kim and Michele went off to find St. Giles Cathedral and the boys found a bar. 

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This Wee Pub - Biddy Mulligans 

Eventually we all rendezvoused, miraculously since our pre flight communications strategies weren't working. (This would become an underlying theme - we couldn't get ahold of each other easily.)

We got back on the bus and took it to where we thought the meeting point for our tour was. We asked directions and once again got many different answers. Finally after a lot of dithering and walking back and forth, Michele went into a tourist info center to ask for help. The person working there walked out the door and pointed to a statue in the square right next door! That was our meeting point!

Our meeting point

The tour was really wonderful. We learned lots about how the city was laid out and why things are the way they are today. Our guide was very knowledgeable and very sarcastically funny.  At the end of the Royal Mile tour we moved right into the Edinburgh castle tour. 

Edinburgh Castle from a distance. It's huge!

The entire tour lasted about 4 hours. Informative but exhausting. Traveling is not for the faint of heart or body!

Edinburgh Castle sits atop a hill and can be seen from all over the city. But because of how big it is it is very hard to photograph in it's entirety. So I bought the card below just to show it here. We all have photos of bits and bobs (as they say there) but nothing like this. 

After we finished touring the castle and grounds we made our way back to the hotel via the HO-HO bus. We had dinner reservations at The Tolbooth Tavern which was built in 1591!

I had a confirmation that said our reservation was at 7:30 which was what we were shooting for. However, when our taxis were taking longer to arrive than expected, we had the hotel call them to confirm we were indeed on our way. We were told the reservation was for 7 PM and we had missed it. After assuring them our confirmation {which I had printed out )said 7:30, they agreed to hold it! Yet another kerfluffle in our increasingly kerfluffled trip.

Once we arrived we were lead to an upstairs room which featured our table smack in the middle. The waiter whose name was Joe was so friendly and fun and soon we were having a great time. It was Kim and Paul's wedding anniversary so our first toast was in their honor!

We ate the haggis as an appetizer perpared in a way that Joe told us was most palatable and we all agreed that it was harmless!.That was the first of the "must try whe in Scotland" dishes - we eventually tried them all!

Haggis

There was live music played by an authentic Scotsman dressed in a kilt! It was everything we had hoped for.

So, as it turned out our one and only full day in Edinburgh was just great. Do we wish we had more time there? Absolutely. Will we go back? In a heartbeat!

The next morning we pick up our rental cars and start the self drive portion of our trip - stay tuned for that kerfluffle!

As always, thanks for reading.

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