Edinburgh Day 2 - 1 July 2009

1713 02 July, 2009 (Thursday)

Hey all, now we're starting to catch up! We had success with the hunk of crap Toshiba that we bought from Best Buy and got a post from Day #1 update earlier this afternoon from a pub (we also had some beer & cider). No pictures yet as we didn't want to risk taking too long on the computer and having it crash again. We're determined and I am looking forward to speaking with the folks at Best Buy upon our triumphant return.

We're very glad to hear that the boys are doing well - thanks Barb, Callie and Maggie! It is lots of fun reading the comments, Haggis is on the "to do" list and we have been recommended to a good place for it. Perhaps tonight (02.07.09 - I'm trying to write my dates the European way to better fit in!).

Here are notes from Day #2 - 01 July, 2009 (Wednesday)
We had our first traditional Scottish breakfast today. Betty (the housekeeper / cook) served us orange juice, toast, coffee (tea was offered), cereal (granola & corn flakes), a fried egg, two sausages, fried mushrooms, and tomatoes, rashers, and I (Taber) had a slice of black pudding. Beth had some toast, cereal and rashers, but set the egg and sausage aside for me - thanks sweetheart! She ordered scrambled eggs for Thursday. After breakfast we straightened up the room and set out to seek computer help.

We had breakfast with our bed and breakfast mates - a couple from Germany. It sounds like they frequent Edinburgh and are in the area for five days this time.

We walked on Broughton Street to look for a computer repair shop (or is it shoppe?) as Betty thought there might be one nearby. We didn't find one and we headed toward Princes Street, which is a main street in Edinburgh. We talked about the city being a change of pace as everything is much closer and there are lots of people, but the advantage is that everything is right here and we just have to step out to find what we're looking for. After Beth asked in a photo shop, we walked to an electronics shop called Curry Digital. They were very helpful, we tried several things and got the machine up and running, but then it quit on us again. We stowed it in the backpack, got directions to a computer repair shop and headed out for the Royal Mile.

We returned to the tour buses, used our 24-hour pass and rode the bus to the bottom of the Royal Mile - as close as we could get. We were told that the Queen was going to Parliament and consequently much of the Royal Mile was closed to vehicles. We walked down to the area by the Holyrood House and Parliament and we believe we saw the Queen as she left Parliament and went to the Queen's Gallery which was ac cross the street. When we look at the photos, we can try to confirm that we took her picture - we think she was wearing purple! Her presence was a little anti-climactic, I thought the crowd might cheer or clap, but that didn't happen. We said farewell to the Queen and started up the Royal Mile. We stopped at the People's Museum and the Museum of Edinburgh. Both were okay, the People's Museum seemed a little run down and the mannequins looked very tired and their make up was horrible! The museum of Edinburgh was much cleaner, but there were only one or two visitors, we walked around a little. I took a photo of some muskets and a long tool like a pike pole, but with an axe head on top. I knew I should have written down the name, but I didn't!

After the museums, we popped into some tourist shops and then visited Cadenheads. We had heard about Cadenheads Whisky Shop from a Rick Steves podcast and wanted to visit. It was a very small store that was fulled of boxes and bottles. \i learned a little bit and I wish I had asked more questions and admitted ignorance.

We left with a small bottle of whisky from Campbeltown, which is supposed to be a little peaty. We continued up the Royal Mile, checked out several stores; Beth was looking at some jewelry and we had our eyes peeled for souvenirs to bring home. We trekked to the castle, looked around, decided to come back for a full day tomorrow and then headed back down. Our return trip was a little faster. We stopped at a tartan weaver, but this was more of an exhibit mixed with a store; and the displays here were a little tired looking too. We didn't make any purchases here either and we headed back.

We came back to the B&B and played with the computer a bit. It seems to allow us about 15-20 minutes use before it shuts down. We typed up some notes for the blog and then went out on a quest to find the statue of Lincoln that our tour bus guide referenced for "the couple from Minnesota." We found him in a cemetery not far from the B&B. The statue is a memorial for Scottish Americans who died in the Civil War. We took some pictures and found ourselves wandering around in a little drizzle and doing some more exploring of Princes Street and the side streets. We have observed that most businesses close at 6pm; so we did a lot of walking, window shopping and just checking out the various shops.

Then, we came back to the B&B neighborhood and had drinks and dinner at a local pub called Conan Doyle. Beth had a burger and I had fish and chips. We visited a local convenience store on the way back and bought some chocolate treats ("Yum!" says Beth). Back at the B&B, our neighbors were chatting with our hosts and we all discussed our plans for the next day. We then tried to get the computer to work (again!) and we were able to type up some more notes for the blog, ate our treats, watched a little t.v., the computer shut itself down and so we did the same and went to bed.