May 30, Trip to Edinburgh

An Edinburgh Tour

May 30, 2004

Dear Families and Friends,

The wedding of our friends Robin and Art gave us a wonderful excuse for our first visit to Scotland. We describe the Edinburgh wedding itself elsewhere, and here's the rest of the story.

We left Frankfurt Thursday evening, after work. The idea was to grab a bite at a recommended airport restaurant and start our two-hour flight fully prepared. The restaurant idea turned out to be far more complicated than we had thought. It took almost 40 minutes to go from check-in to the restaurant via two or three security points, emigration, shopping, etc. The restaurant view was interesting enough but the service and food were nothing to recommend. We left there and walked the half-mile or so to our departure gate, starting our trip far more tired than our well-made plans had intended. Oh well, at least we saw a nice sunset on the bus ride out to the plane.

The small jet trip to Edinburgh was completely normal: full plane, small seats, no real food, assorted bumps. The airport was interesting only because it was a healthy hike to find the taxi stand where we explained what hotel we wanted. The driver said he knew where it was, at least that's what we believe he said, but they do speak a different language here. (In fact, he delivered us directly, no problem.)

Over the next three days, we managed a wedding, a small family reunion, a bus tour, a yacht tour, a castle tour, a whiskey exhibition, and a gallery visit. We also managed a few meals and pub visits. The picture gallery below tells the story.

What was our overall impression? Frankly, I found the gray buildings, crowded streets, and street drunkenness discouraging. Our last stop, a pub lunch at the Cramond Inn, on the Firth of Forth, was a pleasant glimpse into rural Scotland and I'm sure a three-day whirlwind is not the way to see Edinburgh, but I can wait before I go again. There's just too many places left in our to-be-visited list.

Of course, the REAL highlight of the weekend was the wedding and all its festivities, but, that's another story.

John and Marianne

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Leaving Frankfurt \Airport, the highlight (pun intended) was the sunset.

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Walking around Edinburgh, The Castle looms over the scene.

http://www.welcome-scotland.com

I'm not sure we usually do bus tours, but this was a pretty good way to spend an hour or so, listening to stories about the local landmarks.

http://www.edinburghtour.com

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Holyroodhouse is the royal residence when the Queen or her relatives are in town. On other days, tourists flood the place and take pictures -- outside only, thank you.

http://www.royal.gov.uk

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The Yacht Britannia is another royal gift to Edinburgh. British royalty gave up yachting a few years ago, but their last yacht is open to tours and gives an interesting glimpse into royal luxury.

http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk

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The whiskey distillers organize a Disneyland-like exhibit of the history and basics of the making of Scotch whiskey, from John Barleycorn's rustic still to a uniformed guide pouring a modern sample. Homework was also recommended for this course.

http://whisky-heritage.co.uk

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Just downhill from the Castle, across from the touristy whiskey exhibit, the wool folks had their show-and-tell.

http://www.geoffreykilts.co.uk

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An evening highlight was the sound of The Boy's Brigade, Edinburgh, Leith & District Battalion "beating retreat" in the shadow of old Edinburgh.

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Later in the evening our wedding group joined "Adam Lyal (deceased)" as he led us up and down the old town trying to scare us with stories and rubber rats. The rat actually worked.

http://www.witcherytours.com

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Just before we flew out, we had a pub lunch in Cramond, a village on the Frith (estuary) of Forth that has been settled since Roman times. This was a pleasant end to a hectic weekend.

Other Websites:
(Nice Brochures anyway: http://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk http://scotlinetours.co.uk

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