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:
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