Arrived in Edinburgh
April 24, 25, 26
We slammed into Heathrow airport around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2019. On my BA bumpy flight, the last 20 minutes felt like a cross between a roller coaster ride and bumper cars! When we finally stopped on the runway, the captain announced that the flight had been very windy, especially during the approach to landing and whereas we had hit the ground more heavily than anticipated, the good news was, that we had hit the ground where expected!! Welcome to British humour!!!
The transition from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 went smoothly, apart from Security where once again I had to empty my back pack for "something" not yet discovered!!!
Meanwhile, Robin and Peter landed in Recyvyk for a short turnover to Glasgow. Five hours later, after numerous messages that they would be leaving in the next hour/30mins/15mins/15min they took off for the hour's flight to Glasgow. They were meeting me at Turnhouse airport and the plan was for them to rent a car, drive to Edinburgh, book into the Airbnb, and scout out a restaurant for a quick dinner. Not to be!! Fortunately, the Airport has free Wifi and we were able to communicate. We did meet around 6:00 p.m. after Peter drove around the airport a few times looking for the "Pick up zone!!"
It was fun driving into Edinburgh from the airport. We passed many of my childhood haunts, and the memories came flooding back! It's hard not to keep saying to Robin and Peter: "This is where I used to ....!" Or, "it didn't look like this when I lived here!" Get the picture!! Boring for them!!!
The rental flat is in the Dean Village. It is very adequate and the view out the windows is over the Water of Leith. The Dean is very pretty: the river winds through a maze of renovated homes in an area that originally housed grain mills in the 1100s. The original buildings standing today, except the obviously more modern ones were probably built late 1700s into the 1800s. It is a truly charming area. We had a quick pub dinner which was delicious, and finally rolled into bed around 11:00 p.m.
We spent Friday roaming Edinburgh on foot. We walked up to the West End, along Princess Street, partly through Princess Street Gardens, up the steep steps to the Royal Mile and the Castle through a narrow close. We spent a couple of hours touring around the castle and enjoying the various amazing city views. Then we walked down the steps to the Grassmarket, famous for its hangings in the 1600s and in later years its markets. We wandered along the set stone (or maybe cobbled) streets and paid our respects to Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye Terrier who is said to have watched over the grave of his master for 14 years in the mid 1800s until the dog also passed away. Total dedication! I also threw a couple of characters in that you might recognize!! Hint: Remember that J. K. Rowlings wrote most of the Harry Potter series while in Edinburgh!!
As you can tell, history in Edinburgh consumes the visitor, and I am no historian....so I have only given you the barest of facts of what we have seen.
Shortly after this, I left Robin and Peter to wander down to Holyrood Palace while I headed back to Vodofone to try and sort out my SIM. When I first had installed in the morning, the sales person told me it would be active in 20 minutes max. On this second visit, they told me everything was perfect, but sometimes it takes 24 hours for the SIM to become active! So, I headed back to the flat and WiFi to try and sort out my arrangements for the evening!!
I made it a little late, to Katie's, my house mate from my Foreign Office years in the late '60s. We had a lovely evening, a lovely dinner, good chats, and great doggy licks from her 11 month Cavileir Spaniel, Cody. Katie's son Gavin very kindly drove me back to the flat in the Dean Village saving me a bus ride and a 15 minute walk in the pouring rain!!
April 24, 25, 26
We slammed into Heathrow airport around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2019. On my BA bumpy flight, the last 20 minutes felt like a cross between a roller coaster ride and bumper cars! When we finally stopped on the runway, the captain announced that the flight had been very windy, especially during the approach to landing and whereas we had hit the ground more heavily than anticipated, the good news was, that we had hit the ground where expected!! Welcome to British humour!!!
The transition from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 went smoothly, apart from Security where once again I had to empty my back pack for "something" not yet discovered!!!
Meanwhile, Robin and Peter landed in Recyvyk for a short turnover to Glasgow. Five hours later, after numerous messages that they would be leaving in the next hour/30mins/15mins/15min they took off for the hour's flight to Glasgow. They were meeting me at Turnhouse airport and the plan was for them to rent a car, drive to Edinburgh, book into the Airbnb, and scout out a restaurant for a quick dinner. Not to be!! Fortunately, the Airport has free Wifi and we were able to communicate. We did meet around 6:00 p.m. after Peter drove around the airport a few times looking for the "Pick up zone!!"
It was fun driving into Edinburgh from the airport. We passed many of my childhood haunts, and the memories came flooding back! It's hard not to keep saying to Robin and Peter: "This is where I used to ....!" Or, "it didn't look like this when I lived here!" Get the picture!! Boring for them!!!
The rental flat is in the Dean Village. It is very adequate and the view out the windows is over the Water of Leith. The Dean is very pretty: the river winds through a maze of renovated homes in an area that originally housed grain mills in the 1100s. The original buildings standing today, except the obviously more modern ones were probably built late 1700s into the 1800s. It is a truly charming area. We had a quick pub dinner which was delicious, and finally rolled into bed around 11:00 p.m.
We spent Friday roaming Edinburgh on foot. We walked up to the West End, along Princess Street, partly through Princess Street Gardens, up the steep steps to the Royal Mile and the Castle through a narrow close. We spent a couple of hours touring around the castle and enjoying the various amazing city views. Then we walked down the steps to the Grassmarket, famous for its hangings in the 1600s and in later years its markets. We wandered along the set stone (or maybe cobbled) streets and paid our respects to Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye Terrier who is said to have watched over the grave of his master for 14 years in the mid 1800s until the dog also passed away. Total dedication! I also threw a couple of characters in that you might recognize!! Hint: Remember that J. K. Rowlings wrote most of the Harry Potter series while in Edinburgh!!
Once we were back on the Royal Mile we went into St. Giles Cathedral. I had forgotten how stunning it is. Not too large a cathedral it was the site of the feisty Jenny Geddes who in the 1660s threw her stool at the Minister in protest of the use of the first Episcopal book of common prayer, which was aimed at moving the Scotland towards Anglican church services. We also went into the Thistle Chapel which is small and stunning with beautiful wooden carvings and is a chapel for the Order of the Thistle....Scotland's highest chivalry order. One of the other beautiful features in St. Giles are the stained glass windows. The church has been in that position for over 900 years, although the current building originates from the 1400s.
As you can tell, history in Edinburgh consumes the visitor, and I am no historian....so I have only given you the barest of facts of what we have seen.
Shortly after this, I left Robin and Peter to wander down to Holyrood Palace while I headed back to Vodofone to try and sort out my SIM. When I first had installed in the morning, the sales person told me it would be active in 20 minutes max. On this second visit, they told me everything was perfect, but sometimes it takes 24 hours for the SIM to become active! So, I headed back to the flat and WiFi to try and sort out my arrangements for the evening!!
I made it a little late, to Katie's, my house mate from my Foreign Office years in the late '60s. We had a lovely evening, a lovely dinner, good chats, and great doggy licks from her 11 month Cavileir Spaniel, Cody. Katie's son Gavin very kindly drove me back to the flat in the Dean Village saving me a bus ride and a 15 minute walk in the pouring rain!!
No comments:
Post a Comment