Flashback: An account of Day 2

Sorry for the Memento-style posting here, but I'm trying to give everyone a taste of what's currently happening while at the same time catch up on all the stuff we've missed up to now. So here is a quick run-down of our first day in Edinburgh. Tomorrow: Erik's arrival and our trip to Aberdeen and Lagganvoulin Cottage!

Didn't know you were signing up for an old-time serial drama, did you?

DAY 2: Friday, October 9

After such a long day of traveling, we (unsurprisingly) slept in the next morning until well past 10 AM. This means of course that we missed our first Scottish breakfast, and we woke up a little hungry, so after a quick shower and cup of instant Starbucks (thank you ☺ ) we were off to catch the bus, which thankfully stopped right in front of our guest house.

It’s always a bit unsettling the first time you take foreign public transit, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s in another state or another country…there’s always that feeling you’re in the way and holding up the natives as they go about their daily business while you try to figure out where you’re going and how to pay for it. Thankfully our first driver was gentle and we had asked the guest house in advance whether exact change would be needed (and it was), since fumbling for change while time ticks by is no way to make a first impression.

We took a seat near the front of the bus and Dad quickly struck up a conversation with an Edinburgh native. He was mentioning things we were looking forward to seeing in Edinburgh and she was marveling at how she hadn’t been to some of them in all her years of living there. Seems to be that way wherever one lives, since it usually takes a tourist to get you to go somewhere you’ve been close to all along.

Naturally we got somewhat lost amidst the labyrinthine streets (and okay, we might have been distracted by gawking at the breathtaking architecture and history all around us) and as a result we missed our stop, so I sheepishly asked the driver and he kindly gave us directions to get to the Royal Mile, which involved disembarking and getting back on another bus in the other direction…yet another early example of the omnipresent Scottish hospitality that we have grown to depend on in our travels. Also, I like run-on sentences.

So we finally arrived at the Royal Mile (well, midway along the Mile, thankfully) and began a long walk up to the castle. It’s something of a tourist trap at that end, with scads of gift shops offering the kinds of items that have become all too familiar: scenic fridge magnets, miniature whisky bottles, clan keychains, stuffed nessies and highland cattle, wool scarves, tartans aplenty, etc. It was tempting to stop and buy some things right away but we restrained ourselves, knowing better things lie ahead.

We finally made our way to Edinburgh Castle and its size was astounding. It’s the first castle I’ve ever seen and it’s a massive one, so when we started our way up through the main gates we were unsure we’d be able to walk through and see much of it in the afternoon we had. Fortunately, when paying our entry fee (which became a membership to Historic Scotland for each of us, since it’s going to save us cash by the end of this trip), one of the staff mentioned we could take a car to the top of the castle. This proved indispensable, as it gave us a quick way for Dad to reach attractions at the heart of the castle, though I have to admit it was bizarre to ride in what was a small cab through side tunnels and passageways. Felt like a slow motion, one-sided chase scene in a James Bond film.

The interiors of the castle were as astounding as anticipated, and my inner dungeon master geeked out more than a little bit in the Great Hall, with its myriad broadswords, claymores, pole arms and axes along the walls. The Crown Jewels of Scotland were humbling to behold, especially the Stone of Destiny, which has been used for ages under the throne in Westminster for coronations and more. We rested briefly in the Queen Anne café with a coffee and a bite (my leek soup and Isle of Mull cheddar sandwich were perfect), but by the time we were rounding out our visit to the windy top near the 1 o’clock Cannon and Dog Cemetary, we were all getting pretty tired so we asked a kilted staffer named Paul to call us a car. In chatting with him we learned that he remembered studying the Oregon trail in school. Small world, right?

On the walk back to the bus stop I stopped in a newsagent on a hunch and scored a new power adapter to charge our electronics. I was so pleased with myself when we got back that I immediately plugged it in to the power strip that I brought (a trick I picked up when I was in Australia in 1998), but it popped the power strip and stopped responding right away. Smooth. So I kicked myself and went on a hunt for dinner possibilities as well as a local shop that might offer another converter.

I didn’t find another converter, but I did find out that the pharmacist could give Dad an emergency supply of his missing meds if he came in the next day to fill out some paperwork (yay!) and I found a place to grab Chinese food for dinner. Yes, I know…pizza and Chinese for our first dinners in Scotland…the options were limited, all right? Jeez. The Chinese was better than the pizza, especially the spicy pork ribs and lemon chicken, but what was listed as dinner for three seemed more like dinner for six and we practically rolled ourselves back to our room, and after a long day of adventuring in the city, we finished the night with some BBC (I believe it was a news show about science fiction culture with a panel of participants including Kevin Smith). From ancient history to pop culture…seemed about right to me.