July 27, 2008 London to Edinburgh

I can’t believe it! I’m really here! I’m in SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!

I slept well in our no-frills hotel, and was up at 7:45 to shower and have a meager breakfast of 2 slices of toast, OJ, and a small container of yogurt. Lots of other choices, but nothing I could eat. We checked again with the front desk, and this time they knew what we were looking for, and I got the SIM cards safe and sound. I called about Daddy’s kilt, and all is well--it’s there at the Balmoral.

We took the bus back over to Terminal 5 and went through security. SO much more civilized than at home! I actually got a nice “massage” as I was patted down! I got some bottled water, and then went to wait for them to announce our gate. We boarded the plane, sitting in “steerage” this time. (that’s what my Dad jokingly calls Coach class!! He flies so much, he nearly always gets a free upgrade to Business or even First Class) I was stuck in the middle seat between Mom and Dad. I had a splitting headache from sitting outside a perfume store to wait for the plane. I slept about an hour, which was good, since we were delayed about 45 minutes. Fortunately, we made up time, so we were only about 10 minutes late. We were met by the representative from the Royal Scotsman, and went to get our bags. Mom’s walker came right down this time, along with our bags, and then we were off.

It was a lovely drive through Edinburgh--I love this city! The hotel is BEAUTIFUL!!! It looks like an old castle or something, very old fashioned and fancy. Mom and Dad’s room was ready but ours wasn’t so we just all went up there to dump our bags. We went down to tea at 2:30, since we’d had no lunch. I left everything in the room. BAD idea! We were just ordering our tea ( of which I could eat almost nothing), when the fire alarm rang and we had to evacuate the hotel!! NOT a drill--the “fire lads” arrived with sirens blaring! Well, as Debbie says, if you’ve got to stand outside a hotel for a fire alarm, it’s nice that they have 2 men in kilts to look at, and bagpipes playing across the street!! We waited over an hour before they let us back in. At that point, I opted to bag the tea idea and go exploring. We’d already sent Daddy off to take his train trip--no sense missing that just to stand around and wait. If only I’d had my purse with ATM card, I could have run to change money, and gotten an hour more time in to explore. The lifts were still out from the fire (there really WAS a fire, in the kitchen) so I had to climb the 4 flights of steps up to Mom and Dads room to get my stuff. It wasn’t easy, but I was able to do it, thanks to 70 less pounds and lots of training! I did get to ride back down, as the lifts reopened.

I went on a city tour, atop a double decker bus. Pretty cool! This is such a beautiful city! We went past all the big attractions. I thought about getting off, but the tour guide was good, and I just stayed on the whole hour long circle tour. Afterwards, I walked along Princes Street, looking for a bottle of water and something to eat. I found Marks and Spencer, and went down to their food hall to find something. I got water, an apple, some cherries for later, and some digestive biscuits (I LOVE those things!!) I went up to look at knickers, but couldn’t remember which ones Deb had that I liked so much, and the sizes were confusing, so I didn’t’ get any. I found a souveneir shop and got postcards for me and for Mom. And a Scotland tee shirt for me for the gym! Mom and Deb were napping, but woke up when I got back to the hotel. My dress had come back from the concierge and was looking very nice after pressing. I rearranged some things in the suitcases, and then it was time for dinner.

We took a taxi to Jackson’s. I LOVE the cabs here! Why can’t they have these civilized cabs in New York?? Very roomy, comfy, so much more civilized. Anyway, I finally got to try some Haggis. Not loving it. A bit of a musty sort of taste. Daddy loves it, so he got to eat pretty much all of it. I had a salad and lamb--just a tiny bit of meat though. Deb gave me some of her rib eye steak, which was good, and I had some nice tatties (potaotes) and some bread and butter. My protein is in the toilet so far, so tonite I will definitely have a bolus!!

Deb and I opted to walk back to the hotel. It was still light out, even after 9:00, and a mist was starting to settle over the higher points of the city. It looks so cool! Now I’m sitting in a Burger King with free WiFi--the hotel charges 15 pounds a day ($30!!!!). Tomorrow we have the morning free and then we get on the train!