Dining like the royals….

We were not meeting our group until dinner time, and the weather is still exceptionally nice. During my walk yesterday, I had noticed a BIG HILL, right at the end of the High Street. And anyone who knows me will guess that I cannot see a BIG HILL without climbing to the top of it.

So I took advantage of both the extra nice weather and extra time, and headed that way right after breakfast, where, once again, we failed to try the haggis..

The BIG HILL in question is Holyrood Park, which is the remnants of the dead volcano that created the land around Edinburgh. 

It has an impressive cliff  overlooking the city (Salisbury Crags), which is where I headed first. But, once there, you can’t help but notice an even BIGGER HILL - which is Arthur's Seat, the highest point of the volcano crater, at 824 feet.  

That doesn’t sound that impressive, but Edinburgh itself is at sea level, so for just a “morning stroll”, it is quite a lot. The trail is mostly easy although there is some scrambling at the end, and some steep parts. It is used so much that every rock shines from the many boots that have waked on it. It’s probably really slick when wet, but today that was not a problem. 

 The trails are lined with these beautiful golden bushes - making the entire hill glow. These are Hairy Thorn brooms, or Scotch brooms,which sadly are invasive, but very pretty this time of the year.

I was really surprised by how crowded it was! Not unpleasant yet….   But  I wouldn’t want to see it in peak season. Then again, it’s Saturday and the weather is just so nice that a lot of locals were there, not just tourists.

The view going up, and at the top is well worth the climb! Plus there were a lot of pretty birds.

This is the only one I manage to take a picture of (It’s a common chaffinch). But not common to me, So, I was excited  

On the way back, I took in some more of the cute stores on High Street,

 

and admired the many flowers on the other side of the Princes Gardens, including some unusually bright and colorful rhododendrons. 

Just as I got back to the hotel, I got a message from my friend Fiona, who lives in London, telling me she was having lunch at my hotel!!!!  How likely is that??? So we shared a glass of Rosé. What a lovely surprise that was!

Joe and I walked to Rose Street, the pedestrian restaurant street next to the hotel, and shared a traditional English pie outside, soaking in the sun. 

We finally met our tour group, and started with a bang, with diner on the royal yacht Britannia -which is now a museum and which we had all to ourselves this evening (see picture on top of blog). The food was excellent and the setting even more so. More of Edinburgh tomorrow- it’s late now… just time to finish the blog, and watch the end of the final of Eurovision (!!!), and go to bed. 

    

The weather is splendid and everything is blooming in Edinburgh

 

Our flight was uneventful, and on time - my favorite kind of flight- landing us in Edinburgh around 9:30 am local time, which is 4:30 am NY time, so we are a bit zonked out…..   

Our first sight of Scotland was a vast, and barren land, but as we approached Edinburgh, we started seeing signs of agriculture (the yellow patches are rapeseed fields) and civilization.   

 

I dozed off a couple of  hours on the plane, so while Joe napped, I took advantage of this beautiful weather to take a long walk around the city. I first went to the old town, through the beautiful Princes Street gardens, and up to Edinburgh Castle. I did not go in however, because we will visit it with our tour group, and the lines were long!  

Instead, I wandered along High Street (AKA “the Royal Mile”), enjoying the street performers, the cobble stones and the little side streets (called Close). It’s very hilly and there are a lot of steps!

I continued on to Carlton Hill to admire the view and then back through the more commercial, but still pleasant, Princes Street. Edinburgh is quite compact and very walkable (as long as you don’t mind stairs and cobblestones….). 

And - unlike many old cities- it has managed to avoid putting too much cement amongst its old stones. There is this one building which is hard to explain though, and which, to me a least, looks just like the poop emoji……

 Everywhere you look, you can see the castle as well as other interesting buildings. We will probably learn much more about those once we join our group and actually have a formal tour….  so, much more about that to come in the next 2 days.   

Along  the way, I stumbled upon this pizza place…..  Joe and I may have to have haggis pizza tomorrow…….  but this evening, we are tired, so we just had dinner at the hotel, which happens to have a really excellent Middle Eastern restaurant!  

Following are pictures of the many flowers blooming right now everywhere, and one more of the Castle, from right across from our hotel.

We are off to the land of lochs, monsters, many isles and scotch whisky.

 

After a VERY slow trip to the airport, with every road congested by either accidents or construction, we are close to boarding our flight to Edinburgh! We are flying Delta, because it is the only airline with a direct flight, and the Delta terminal is a complete zoo!  (Where is everyone going??).  

We had an extremely expensive bite (this “cheers” was $65!!!!!!!), and are now at the gate, only 40 minutes early, which for me is a record (2 or 3 hours is more my average….).

Landing early in Edinburgh tomorrow where, hopefully, I will have more interesting things to report than the price of wine at JFK.

Here is the obligatory picture of a very hazy Manhattan skyline from the Whitestone Bridge.