Wee Bit of the Scottish Kilt (Country #11)

 

Edinburgh was more lovely than I thought it would be. It is just what you picture, castles, stone buildings, green hills, accents you can’t understand, etc. It doesn’t hurt that the weather was unseasonably warm and dry, a fact that we appreciated the entire time we were there. The minute we arrived, Dave and I were plotting our next visit (in the spring of course). Overall, everything is cheap, the food is good, the town is loaded with tiny boutique stores selling locally made art and clothes, and you can walk everywhere.

View from somewhere or other, redic.

 

View down the Royal Mile from the castle.

   

I haven't seen anything good today.

Eat-Drink-Drink-Sleep-Repeat

We went to Edinburgh for Hogmenay, which is a street party/music festival/all around good time. We bought tickets and booked our hotel months ago, specifically for this sold-out festival. We stayed at Ramsay’s B&B, and it is everything the Tripadvisor website says it is - and more. The owners (Norrie and Sharon and their daughter Madison) were the best hosts you could ask for. They left champers in our room for New Years, sent us off to Hogmenay only after we all shared several drams of scotch (mixed with Baileys for the ladies) with their visiting extended family, and invited us to their friend’s Hogmenay after-party. Unreal! I will never stay anywhere else in Edinburgh.

We are so cute.

 

Dancing with fellow crazies at Hogmenay.

Gorgeous couple, and look Andy isn't making a weird face.......

 

Ready to show kilt-dude what's up.

 

Us with some friendly Scottish dude, that is how they roll.

Other Non-drinking Activities

We went to the usual suspects: Edinburgh castle, St. Giles Cathedral (though the Scots are Protestant, it was still an interesting church), scotch tasting (gross, and this involves drinking so I suppose it is under the wrong heading), Ballyrood Hill for the windiest hike I have ever done, the palace, the hauntingly beautiful abbey, the Royal Mile, Carlton Hill, and the Edinburgh underground tour. It was all stinkin cool.  

There's the scotch, in case you missed it.

Scotch tasting, blech.

Recovery (A.V. and J.V. stop reading now)

After hiking Balyrood Hill, I was cold and tired. I won't go into my stomach issues, which occurred as a result of drinking large gulps of water from a tap in Austria labeled "kein Trinkwasser" (idiot, I took German specifically to avoid such situations......). Massage and spa anyone? We wandered over to the schwanky Balmoral Hotel and chilled out, well actually we warmed up in the saunas and steam rooms – then got massages, followed again by more poaching (as J.V. calls it) in the saunas and steam rooms. Heaven! Oh and did I mention the post-spa champers in the hotel bar. Perhaps I shouldn’t, because I think A.V and J.V. may be hating us right about now. While we were spa-ing, our faithful travel companions were on their 15+ hour journey back to the Bay Area. We miss you already!

So who’s up for Hogmenay next year!

Who is in for 2012/2013? Come on, it only rained a little.......