Birdsong's Trip to the UK

Saturday, Oct. 15 - Inverness, Scotland

We had planned for our last day to tour the castle museum - but it was closed! We walked back up the Ness to the Floral Gardens (pretty unspectacular).

Had dinner at the classy, modern and very pricey Mustard Seed. Great food! Nightcaps at the Harlequin Pub on Castle Street on the way home.

They were having a quiz contest. We started playing it but there were too many British things we didn't know. We helped the women next to us with the names of some songs during part of the quiz.

Sunrise this time of year in the UK is 7:15. There is a very long twilight, especially this far north. I was contrasting this to my experience in Kenya on the equator, where there is no twilight. After the sun goes down, it is DARK immediately.

Monday, Oct. 17 - Back to Edinburgh

Took the train back to Edinburgh via Aberdeen. You can see how much we loved Edinburgh - second visit!

We did not have a B&B reservation, so we dragged our suitcases up the hill beside the train station to the Tourism Office. Normally they could help us locate a B&B, but their computer was down.

They gave us a booklet with LOTS of B&B's. We found one not too many blocks away and headed for it. It was around 3:00 and we were hungry! The B&B had no sign out, and they said they had no rooms, but referred us to a friend in another part of town.

She called us a taxi and we took off for 6 Mary's Place, Raeburn Street, in Stockbridge. Had lunch at Aboca pub at 4 PM. Visited two local pubs, Burt's and St.Bernards. The locals were very friendly. Talked with locals, Helen and George.

Tuesday, Oct. 18 - Edinburgh, Botanical Gardens, Rose Street

Walked to the Botanical Gardens; quite impressive. Back near the B&B, we ate at Buffalo Grill, across from the pubs. Locals had said we should go there. It was "American" food, we found. The locals didn't know we would rather NOT have American food.

Then we walked to the train station to book our trip to Haltwhistle. Naps.

Larry had heard that Rose Street had 37 pubs in a four block area, so we set out walking to see how many we could visit. We only did three or four.

Not finding a restaurant that looked good, we took a taxi back and ate at the San Marco Polo right next door to our B&B. GREAT. Back to St. Bernard's. This night there were a bunch of really friendly old guys.

Everyone thinks we are Canadian. Guess Americans stay in big hotels and not in B&Bs or frequent neighborhood pubs.

Botanical Garden, Edinburgh

The streets in Stockbridge are brick. The name Stockbridge in Saxon means "wood bridge." We passed a house with a sign over the door: "Believe in the good Jesus. 1603".

The most famous resident of Stockbridge was Sir Henry Raeburn, the architect and painter who painted "Reverend Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch." There was a copy of this painting in our B&B, and I took a picture of it. Adam Smith was another famous resident.

Mary's Place is typical Georgian architecture in New Town. It was built in 1829 as part of the estate of Mayor John Learmonth. Mary was his daughter.

New Town is the part of the city built after the walled "mile" was completely built. The "mile" runs from Edinburgh castle to Hollyrood.

The three main streets of New Town that run parallel to the Royal Mile on the north are Princes, Queen and George. Rose Street is a smaller street just north of Princes.