August 09, Grandma goes home

 Since my flight did not leave until 2:05 p.m., and given that the airport is a mere half hour's drive from the hotel, I had hours in which to get ready, and, of course, go for a walk!  I prepared my standard flight menu: peanut butter and jam on crackers and fruit. (not on crackers.  Airplane food is, IMO, just so terrible). Got organized and hit the pavement...and the path!  It was raining!  Not badly, but enough for the rain gear.  Was this an omen?  No matter, I was ready to get home.

It was time to trade 

for 

photo taken at Edinburgh Airport.

Edinburgh Airport is the worst!  I used to think that Manchester Airport held that distinction, and it probably did for some years, but they modernized, at least their international wing, so they have moved way up in the rankings.  The scene is so bad that you cannot even find your airline to check in. And the hordes of people, OMG!  If there was a virus going around, and someone in the airport had it, you'd be a goner! 

Then there was the gate change business.  Yes, it happens, but not only did my flight have two gate changes, it seemed that every five minutes a voice came over the loudspeaker announcing other gate changes.  What a zoo!

Despite the chaos, the flight left on time, arrived on time, and luggage was not lost!

After popping in for just a minute to see how Marjorie was doing, arrived home, ate almost 1/2 pint of ice cream and went to bed.  It had been a great two months.  I was fortunate on so many accounts:  good weather, so very many nice people, beautiful scenery, and no accidents!  Every now and then I thought I could have speeded things up a bit, but staying an extra day at many places, allowed for a richer and more varied experience.  It was a most excellent hiking trip, with Many worthwhile side of off the trail experiences!  

But I am going to miss you guys!

Yes, I am!

August 8, Edinburgh/Stockbridge

 Oh, no!  The entire post just got deleted!  I should have switched to WordPress.  This is so annoying and besides, remember when I said Stockbridge is quieter than Edinburgh?  Not true!  It is incredibly noisy and especially right outside my window where a ton of people are drinking and there is loud music playing non stop. This goes on starting at about noon until late at night.  It is simply a different kind of crowd than that which the Old City attracts.  

Just put on noise canceling headphones.  It helps!

So now to recreate what was lost.  Today there was a strike affecting the major museums —good thing I picked up on that yesterday—so that left culture off the agenda.  I decided to walk the Water of Leith Walkway in the direction opposite to the one that went to the Royal Yacht and take a look at the Colinton tunnel, where there is a huge mural. I was a bit concerned that it would be littered with political statements, but it wasn't.

Maybe this guy was thinking about it:

Or maybe he had other things on his mind, like how to defeat the Vikings or something!

National flower:

National costume and national instrument:

Not the national animal but it should be:

The big picture more or less:

The walk there was gorgeous:

Oh, I am so proud of my prize!  I will have the fanciest nest in the.....tree?  Well, where ever the nest is:

I am biding my time:

A delicious morsel awaits:

Man with long hair who forgot his bathing trunks:

Original(?) bump on a log

Not ripe just yet:

The Water of Leith Walkway follows the river, but sometimes there is no path tight along the river's edge and sometimes there are two paths:  one along the river or very close to it, the other, paved and perfect for cyclists, veering away from the river in several places.  On the return walk, I decided to hunt out the closest-to-the-river path as much as I could.  The worst that could happen is that I would end up somewhere I did not want to be.  This, however, is a CITY, not the moors, not a forest, not a field that is bigger than the eye can take in, I would deal!

One of the not-exactly-along-the-river's-edge diversions took me to a huge walled garden.  Was it ever gorgeous!

Lavender reaching for the sun:

Formal and informal plantings mixed together.  Wonderful effect!

Spectacular stand of pink lilies

Near the end of this 5***** walk, there was a millstone from France from back in the day when Dean, a town near Stockbridge, had a thriving milling business, what with being right there on the river and all:

Two things:  A millstone is VERY heavy and big.  Now, what it was about the Frenchness of the stone, I have no idea.

Back in Stockbridge, I looked at the shops.  There were the usual, but also a fish store. The guy who owns it is busy setting things up at 6:00 a.m.  I know because I have passed by at that hour or earlier and seen him setting his (or other peoples') catches, fresh as can be, in the window:  

Then I took a stroll to Inverleith park, where many fowl enjoy the lake.

Mute Swans:

      

Well fed male mallard duck:

Feral rock pigeon:

This little guy, a Eurasian Coot was all alone!

Surely you must be wondering how I became an instant ornithologist,  I didn't!  I used Google lens!  It took a picture of the picture!  So, if I am wrong, it is because I don't know any better!

August 07, Edinburgh/Stockbridge

Today I decided to do a circular walk of Edinburgh, hoping it would be the same walk that I had done several years ago; it wasn't.  But it was pretty decent all the same except for the part with the locked gate that required a detour.  Stockbridge is about a mile from "Old Town" the main tourist center of the city where the walk officially started—not that it matters where you begin a circular walk. Getting there was a most pleasant, uphill jaunt.  The air here, at least this morning, was like a magic potion.  No huffing and puffing up those hills!  It felt great!

The route took in some fine views, such as the castle up yonder on the hill:

Overlooking the Firth of Forth:

On that same hill, that being Calton Hill, is this modeled-after-the-Parthenon-structure, a monument to those who died in the Napoleonic Wars, but the city ran out of money, so the monument was never finished.

Tour busses stop here, so there were lots of people running around taking photos:

More of themselves than of the scenery!  

I think that hill yonder is King Arthur's Seat, which is a must-go-there, apparently, and I was planning on climbing it tomorrow, but I may have a different plan.

Adam Smith seems to be on the shit-list:

But David Hume with his famous big toe (at least in the rendering) is OK:

This elephant, with flowers engraved all over it,  lives in the Princess Street Gardens:

After returning from the city walk and having a little lunch, It was time to visit the Botanic Gardens.  These were among the best botanic gardens I have ever experienced. They are beautifully laid out and huge—I have no idea how much of the garden I walked through what with being so useless with a map that I didn't even use one, but I enjoyed the meandering tremendously!

It was exciting to see another thistle-like flower with a bee on it!

Or under it, as the case may be. This flower's name is Cirsium Purpuratum and it is from Japan.  

You can see a bunch of them:

The gardens are a mix of an arboretum, plants, and flowers, creating a lush and varied environment:

Very tall tree:

Windflowers!  Pretty in pink:

Lily of the Nile, reminiscent of Belvedere CA, oh so many years ago:

There was a spectacular rock garden that had a water fall running through it

On the way back from the gardens, I stopped in at a sweet little shop that had a colorful display of fabrics from India:

The needle work was so fine and it was especially nice that you could get up really close to inspect it!

If you saw the movie, "The Wedding Planner," you will remember the fabulous hot colors: yellows, and safron, and orange.  Well, these fabrics were not quite like that,  but they were colorful and a delight to the eye.

August 06, Edinburgh, Royal Yacht Britannia

 Picked up by taxi at 5:30 a.m. for the hour's drive to Edinburgh.  Although the hotel at which I am staying has only ten rooms, they do have a 24 hour front desk, so I was able to leave my suitcase and back pack before taking off to the Royal Yacht Britannia.  I thought I would arrive super early for my 9:30 a.m. time slot because it is only about three and a half miles away, but the route, the Water of Leith Walkway,  took quite a bit longer to get there than it should have.  It is a lovely walk: 

but it has breaks where you have to come up to the street and then find the entrance where it continues.  (That made me think of the NYC subway, for some reason.) 

As I approached the destination, Google Maps or Apple Maps or whichever app I was using, directed me here:

For sure that was not the entrance!  You see that bridge high up, way in the background? That is where you have to go!  You enter a large mall, go up a few flights, and there you are.  Everyone is very polite and and quite formal, because this is the Royal Yacht. Now here comes the disappointment.  No photos. If the yacht interests you—and it was a super fun tour—just go to YouTube and search for Royal Yacht Britannia. You will find a number of videos—OK, so I have not watched more than a few minutes, so no guarantees, but likely there will be one or two that are worthwhile. 

I will impart just a few tidbits.  The Queen's schedule while she was on board:

7:30:  Queen Elizabeth II is woken by her personal maid.

8:30 Breakfast is served in the Sun Lounge,  Queen Elizabeth II's favorite part of the yacht.

9:15 Work starts with her Private Secretary

Oops, lost the time table, but after whatever, Queen Elizabeth II goes back to work on the official papers until lunchtime.

Buffet lunch is served in the State Dining Room.

The afternoon is spent working on private correspondence

Afternoon Tea is taken in the Sun Lounge.

A discussion with Queen Elizabeth II's Dresser to decide evening jewelry and dress requirements,

Queen Elizabeth II dresses for dinner in her bedroom.

The Royal Family gathers for drinks in the State Drawing Room Anteroom. (Why they do that is beyond me, given that there is alcohol on display and available in every room and they are drinking all the time.)

8:00  Dinner is served in the State Dining Room.  Queen Elizabeth II sits on the port side of the table.

The Royal Family and their guests retire to the State Drawing Room for coffee and liqueurs.

Queen Elizabeth II retires to bed.  As is Royal custom, no one goes to bed before the monarch.

Does that sound like a jolly good time or what! 

The Queen's bedroom is modest.  It is furnished with a twin bed.  In fact, only one bedroom on the yacht has a double bed, which was used by the now King Charles III and the then Diana on their honeymoon,  The difference between Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom and that of Prince Philip was that he did not want lace trim on his pillow cases, otherwise, the rooms were essentially the same.  

I learned that there was a hilarious game, called wombat tennis, played by officers and guests in the wardroom anteroom, that involved the throwing around of a stuffed wombat (gifted to Queen Elizabeth II by one of her ladies in waiting).  When the wombat got stuck between the blades of the ceiling fan, the game became very competitive to see which team could dislodge it.  The wombat is on display to this very day. 

Remember that scene in Downton Abbey or maybe it was Upstairs Downstairs where they measure the distance that each piece of cutlery has to be from the edge of the table?  It really was exactly like that.  It took a very long time to set the table.

The self-guided tour was well done:  good audio and good directions on how to move from one part of the ship to another, 

Walking back to my VERY NICE little hotel, I saw a man who had a lot of feathered friends:

All I could think was that the dude is going to get a disease!

The most popular area of Edinburgh is Old Town, but I opted to stay in Stockbridge, which is charming, upscale, a little less hectic.  Grocery situation is not the best, but it will have to do!  Take out options are promising!