May 9th and 10th - On to Scotland, Edinburgh in the Rain

The drive back to Dublin is uneventful except for a fun lunch at a cafe that just happened to be having their grand opening in the little town of Portlouise. Half the town stopped in and the people were super friendly. We got to participate in their general happiness and excitement, and have a pretty good lunch as well!

We flew from Dublin to Edinburgh in a noisy prop plane. Our first indication that we are in another country is the Taxi driver with a THICK Scotish brogue. Those rolling rrrrr's are a little hard to understand.

Our new b&b, Six Brunton Place, is an old Edinburgh townhouse across from a pretty park. We have a nice room with a view of the garden and a teeny bathroom with the littlest sink I've ever seen, but a roomy shower, fluffy towels and efficient radiated heaters. We get in pretty late but the owner recommends a good nearby restaurant, The Olive Branch, and even drives us there so that we don't get lost. We enjoy a good bottle of wine and I have hake with chorizo. Yum.

We still manage to get lost on the way back to the b&b. There is a rotary between us and our destination and we're not positive which direction to go. Things look unfamiliar walking in the dark, but once we call our hosts they get us straightened out.

In the morning I run in the rain in the park across the street. We have a leisurely breakfast and talk to the other guests, including an interesting man that does things with charities in his retirement and travels all over the world.

We bundle up and head out into the elements. First up Princes Street to the Walter Scott monument, and then Edinburgh castle. Its raining harder, but we check out a few of the exhibits and the views. Now both raining and blowing, we watch the setting off of the 1 pm cannon and decide the heck with this.

We have lunch at a nice Kurdish restaurant around the corner from the castle, why not? Then down the hill we go to an area called The Grasslands. We end up shopping for sweaters and tweed jackets and manage to find some nice stuff. We both buy sweaters in a shop called Bill Baber Sweaters, and Lee buys a tweed jacket from Walker Slater . We are both very pleased with our purchases!

We try to go to the Scottish National Museum but it's closed for an "Industrial Action" whatever that means so we stop into a cafe for a coffee and a cookie and call it a day.