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Jean Sue's Diary I
Lowlands, Highlands & Inbetween
We started our 16-day trip to Scotland with a week in Edinburgh and an
apartment in the trendy Morningside area.
This allowed us to get to know the city and to save on the food budget;
meals in the UK tend to be twice what they are in Philadelphia.
Although I find I can do less in a day than I used to, we saw most of
the city’s sights, finding our way at first on a double-decker sightseeing bus.
The stands for the Royal Tattoo were being erected so no taxis went up
the hill to Edinburgh Castle; we
walked up a back way, which was steeper but shorter, to see the Crown
Jewels of Scotland, the cannon Mons Meg and other
highlights, We walked down again by
way of the Royal Mile, stopping at a
chocolate shop for pieces of
incredible cake (medicinal energy, you know).
In Edinburgh, the senior discount begins at 60 years of age so I
qualified for this at all the venues. When I asked for the discount for
the tour bus, the conductor asked Bob if he was my "Toy Boy."
Holyrood Palace
was closed for official functions because the Church of Scotland was
having their annual meeting but the Queen's Gallery
was open with a display of Dutch art exhibit from the Royal Collection. It
is always startling to see a Rembrandt painting up close; my breath was
completely taken away by his 1629 portrait
of his mother.
A tour of Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia is
better than I had imagined. Given that the Queen and family live and stay
in palaces and castles furnished for the ages by predecessors, I see the
attraction to have this one "home" done to their exact specifications. It
was cozy, like an upper middle class home afloat… with a staff of 200.
Much of the yacht is open for the tour including the engine room; I highly
recommend this stop; even Bob enjoyed it.
We had both packed two raincoats and assorted sweaters having been
warned about Scottish weather; our rental car had a sunroof, which we took
to be the very definition of Scots’ optimism. However, we only had three
days of partial rain (just enough to experience Scotland) and everyone
remarked on how unseasonably lovely was the weather.
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon sitting in the
Princes Street Garden in the heart of Edinburgh, watching the crowds
go by and another pleasant hour along a canal, sitting in the sun with a
beer waiting for our restaurant to open for dinner. Even with these stops,
I hibernated the last day in the city, resting in the apartment while Bob
checked out the Botanical Gardens.
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