Not quite sure why it's taken the best part of a week to get round to blogging about this but, we went to Edinburgh. Apparently I've been before, when I was a toddler which, obviously, I have no recollection of.
Husband was attending a conference there for a few days. Due to the timing clash with my job, Husband drove up on Wednesday and, straight after school on Friday, I took the train to Gatwick and flew up to meet him.
Managed to get a window seat and spent nearly the whole flight with my nose pressed against the window, even though it was cloudy and there wasn't much of the land below to see, except when the clouds parted over the Lake District. Impressed myself by recognising Lake Windermere and Hawkshead (well, Esthwaite Water, but I couldn't remember its name, just the village at its head where we stayed about ten years ago on a cycling holiday).
I'd never been on a domestic flight before, plus I had no hold baggage to collect (Husband had taken the bulk of it up in the car with him), so I enjoyed the novelty of walking off the plane, out into 'arrivals' and being driven away in our car within five minutes.
DAY 1
Husband was at his conference the next day so, after a full Scottish breakfast (during which he chose to tell me this) I was left to explore Edinburgh alone.
The walk from the B&B into the city centre was about 2 miles (straight up the A7) and there was plenty to look at. I've struggled to think of a way to describe the sound of my amused exclamation, but it's kind of a nasal 'h!'. Edinburgh was full of 'h!'s:
A fishmongers. Then another, about 3 doors away.
A sweet shop, crammed with goodies from floor to ceiling.
The shelf full of haggis in Tesco, vegetarian haggis too.
Buses, lots of 'em, all with tartan seat covers.
A whole row of charity shops with decent window displays.
By-passed the Royal Mile and headed straight for Princes Street.
First stop: Jenners
This is an old-style department store, now in the House of Fraser chain.
First 'h!' at the amazing open space of the Grand Hall. The second came shorty after when 'Never Gonna Give You Up' was the piped music choice. Rickroll!!!!
Their 'Food hall' was rather small and not the kind of place you'd do your weekly shop - more of a place to pick up edible souvenirs. Haggis, shortbread, oatcakes, jam.
Next: M&S. Went to their food hall to get lunch - I have a bit of a thing for their 'made in store' tuna and cucumber baguettes. Yum. Now this is a proper food hall. More haggis (of course) - but M&S own-brand haggis. And Scottish milk (this was turning into a repeat of Cornwall last year. On second thoughts, Cornwall was worse). Ate my baguette in the sunshine on Princes Street.
I was looking at the store guide by the lift in Debenhams, when an old lady spoke and asked me if I'd go in the lift with her. The last time she'd called for the lift it was empty and she didn't like getting in empty lifts alone. While we waited for it to return she told me all about her fear of meeting strange men in lifts. And, shortly after getting in, a 'strange man' did indeed come into the lift, muttered something, and left before the doors closed. She shot me a knowing glance.
Felt warm and fuzzy for doing this good turn. I hope someone does something like that for me when I'm an old lady.
I'm not going to detail every shop I went in (honest!) but I have to say, Edinburgh has the Best Hennes EVER. Big, spacious, well-organised, plenty of stock. Money was spent.
Touristy stuff was done next. Parts of North and South were filmed in Edinburgh, so I was keeping an eye out for locations. As a result, I went up and down a fair few of the wynds and closes on the Royal Mile. Exhausting.
Walked up to the castle at one end, then down to Holyrood at the other. Stopped in a charity shop on the way on a whim and couldn't resist buying 'Jane Austen in Kent'; who couldn't, when one of the chapters in it suggests Jane stayed in a village about a mile from Boblog Towers and may have used the big house there as a model for Rosings Park. Interesting, yet slightly rambling read so far. Which could also apply to this blog post.
Rather tired by this point, so headed back to the B&B for a short nap, then Husband returned.
Took advantage of the decent weather (as snow was forecast) and attempted to 'do' Arthur's Seat, but ended up driving all the way around it, parking by Holyrood and walking up the steep path to Salisbury Crags. Still, some pretty amazing views!
Despite having researched restaurants in advance of the trip, it took an age to find somewhere to eat. Tip: at the weekend, you need to make a reservation to eat anywhere remotely decent.
DAY 2
By myself again, I hit the New Town. Went up Calton Hill, mostly to search for more North and South locations, but got a fine view of Edinburgh. It was a bit breezy, but ate lunch on a bench with a fine view of the Firth of Forth and Leith.
Went along most of the New Town streets, keeping an eye out for somewhere to eat that evening. Made a reservation at Wildfire at the far end of Rose Street.
Sat and watched the world go by in Princes Street Gardens, then nipped into the National Gallery for a bit of (free) culture.
Hadn't been out of the gallery long when the temperature really dropped. Hat, scarf and gloves time. Looked down the Royal Mile and could see a band of white approaching the city from the water. Decided it was time to head back to the B&B, but the sleety snow hit about ten minutes later. Had a wet and windy walk back.
That evening's meal out at Wildfire was very pleasant. It was a small restaurant serving Scottish-styled food. I had (Scottish) steak and chips. Apple crumble for afters was very tasty but too small.
DAY 3
Husband's conference over, we walked to the Greyfriars area to check out the Elephant House Café as part of our Harry Potter pilgrimage. I had a rather bland hot chocolate and a delicious slice of Tiffin. Husband had tea and 'the best soup I've had in ages'. Nicolson's Café has, unfortunately, been turned into a 'Buffet King', cheap-n-nasty type Chinese.
It was rather chilly, so we went back to the B&B for the car, then drove up Calton Hill so I could show him the view. It had snowed a little (a very little) overnight but by the time we got there it had all gone. Then we headed to Leith and looked round the Ocean Terminal. It's just a mall.
That evening we ate out at Sushiya. Delicious chicken yakitori. Glad we booked; the place was busy and tiny.
DAY 4
Left Edinburgh and travelled through blizzard-like conditions to get to the M74. Lovely scenery. We were heading for Manchester as I had a hankering to see the Trafford Centre. Needn't have bothered; it's just a mall, but gilded.
Husband drove from Manchester down to Coventry, where we met as students. Sat-nav on the car sent us through Birmingham to avoid the traffic on the M6.
Birmingham.
Britain's second city.
At rush hour.
Gah!
Eventually got to Coventry and didn't recognise any of it, it had changed that much. Headed to a part we did know and found a hotel.
Husband wanted to visit the take-away place that, in our student days, produced the best chicken tikka masala EVER (his opinion, not mine). We couldn't agree on when it was we'd last visited Coventry, but it was between seven and ten years ago - and we definitely had a take-away then (although I don't recall where we ate it, or where we stayed, but definitely remember ordering it).
Husband phoned them. No answer.
We drove round and... aaargh! They'd gone!
Disappointed, we decided to head into the city centre to our favourite Chinese restaurant.
Also gone.
We wandered round the deserted city centre, marvelling at how much it had changed since our last visit, not all of it for the better (but we are talking about Coventry here, surely one of Britain's ugliest cities. And we can't place all the blame for that on the Germans; they might have bombed it, but who was responsible for rebuilding it, eh?).
After a nostalgic look round the University the following morning, we headed back home via the in-laws.
Felt very refreshed after our few days away.
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