Edinburgh

November 15, 2008

Scotland for my birthday–this is the life. Go to Edinburgh if you get a chance. It is a little more tightly wound than Amsterdam but I think that is the English influence. They have their priorities in the right place-their largest monuments are to literary greats like such as Sir Walter Scott and not war heroes, they hasve a great pride in beer and the food is really, really good. Probably best of all for us, all of the signs were in English so we had almost a week with no guess work–we knew where we were going and we knew what we were eating.

Ben and I spent 5 days and 4 nights at the end of October at a wonderful bed and breakfast (Straven Guesthouse) located in Portobello which is about 15 minutes by bus outside of the city center. It sat right on the ocean which in the middle of July or August may have been more important but when the high is 38 degrees F it is less enticing. We saw castles (Edinburgh and St. Andrew) and palaces (Holyrood) and hiked up Arthur’s seat (where there was ice). We walked on the royal yacht Britannia and took a day trip to the “kingdom” of Fife and saw Robert the Bruce’s grave and the Ancient and Royal golf course at St. Andrew’s.

The people were wonderful, we had sun (if not warmth) everyday and the public bus system was easy to maneuver. We definitely want to go back when the weather is warmer. Click on the pictures for more information.