Birdsong's Trip to the UK

Went to Bennet's (1831), near Toll Cross for pints and had dinner just behind the pub, smoke free! Smoke in the all pubs was really bad, but we suffered through it. For dinner we all had lamb pie with puff pastry on top. Delicious! Back to our rooms for brandies - Glad had purchased a bottle.

Sunday Oct. 9 - Leith, Britannia

We planned a slower day. We had walked so much the day before! Ate breakfast at the Ellesmere House. We met a couple who lives outside London, but has family in Edinburgh they were visiting.

Bill and Jane were their names. He is a mechanic and she drives a food delivery truck for high-end hotels. She asked where we stayed in London, and when we said, "Near Central Hyde Park" she assumed it was a VERY expensive hotel in the next block from ours. Nope, we were at the musty London Elizabeth Hotel.

Bill and Jane complained about the Politically Correct leftist system in Great Britain. They know people who get out of high school and never get a job - just live off the dole.

Their daughter does so with her baby and her boyfriend. He is 29 and has never had a job, and probably never will. The system allows this. He keeps checking a form saying he is looking for a job when he isn't.

Bill and Jane gave George a special bottle of high alcohol content beer, and we all exchanged email addresses.

For something different for breakfast, we tried the salmon, but didn't like it - too strong, and not seasoned. None of us wanted to try the kippers.

Drizzly rain all day. Took a taxi to Leith, a seaport town that is now incorporated into Edinburgh, to see the Britannia. It is a former royal yacht, commissioned in 1953.

The yacht is in perfect condition with all the furniture and décor from the days the royal family used it. Décor was the Queen's choice, light and airy. Princess Diana spent her honeymoon here.

Back to Ellesmere for lunch at the Golf Tavern just off The Meadows. This is the oldest pub in town, built in 1456, but the inside was completely remodeled into a very modern bar - a disappointment to us. Had steak and ale pie - great. I'll definitely try to cook this at home.

Naps and then dinner around the corner at Bombay Bicycle Club, Indian. Good, but not as good and the restaurant in Paddington.

There was light rain in the evening and it was VERY windy. We were told it is very stormy in Oban, our destination the next day. I started writing a poem to Diane, "On the occasion of her moving to Florida."

Monday, Oct. 10 - Train to Oban, Scotland

Checked out of our B&B and took a taxi to the train station. We were sad to be leaving, because we all just loved Edinburgh. The weather forecast was for very stormy here and worse in Oban, but we had only light rain.

Changed trains in Glasgow and had time for a cappuccino. We had packed wine, cheese and crackers for the trip.

It was too rainy to see much from the train. We passed Loch Lomand, but couldn't see much.

Arrived in Oban at 3:30, taxi to Kilchrenan House, our Peggy-reserved B&B, just across the road from the harbor - beautiful view!

Walked for our first pint at Harbor Inn. Had dinner at The Waterfront, upstairs near the train station. Pouring rain, rain! We all had good, waterproof walking shoes and rain jackets, but our jeans got a good soaking.

Walking back toward the B&B, we stopped at The Cellar Bar. The exceedingly drunken owner or manager was talking loudly to his mates and we counted the number of times he said, "Fock! Or "Focking: " 27 times in about three minutes. Larry tried to record it on his iPod, but something went wrong. Several couples left the bar during his loud expletive delivery. We were amused.

George Spatz

Glady Birdsong

Peggy Spatz

Larry Birdsong