Edinburgh Day 4 - In full bloom

No adventure today, I fear, just colors. People who don't like flowers can jump right off again because this day was dedicated to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. We wouldn't have thought of it, but my online friend Milica recommended it after having seen a report about it on TV. Thanks, Milica, we had a fabulous time!

After breakfast (and still the tall guy was too chicken to go for the "full Scottish" from the menu even if Peter - remember, he was the driver from day 2 - had praised how healthy it was, followed by stats about heart attacks *grin*) we left for the Botanic Garden. The weather was still fine although a few small clouds followed us. We had mostly recovered from the day before, but didn't walk very fast anyway, enjoying the little surprises to the left and right. Ducks on a little brook, some beautiful little gardens (I still wonder about the one with the absolutely impeccable lawn, why would you want to have something like it, but no space left to put a chair and table outside? I doubt anyone was allowed to even come close to this grass with chair legs), a cricket field and a park.
Finally we reached the West Gate. That was the one that was closed, due to construction work. We were too early anyway, but we already got a slight idea of the Garden's size because it took quite a while to get to the North Gate.
Whoa, that would have been an area to have a house! (Later we were told for how much small apartments go in this area and we had to swallow very hard) I don't know if it is stupid of me and I would have loved to show you some of the houses, but I always feel it's not right to take pictures without asking. Not even of the gate with the fox and the hare on top that we loved so much. While we had to wait for the Garden to open up, we at least strolled along the street and admired everything.
Squeaky sound - opening hour!

First we went into the Queen Mother's Memorial Garden. What a pity the labyrinth was not really one yet. The plants didn't even come to our knees, so it wouldn't have been to difficult to find the way out. But the roses were beautiful.




I won't mention every flower bed we went by, but believe me they were amazing and even more amazing was that there were not too many people around yet. A friend living there later told us it is not considered a big tourist attraction.


Now we came into a small wood with typical plants and Bruno, the swimming slug. Don't ask me why, he just looked like a Bruno to me.



Back out of the wood we saw this extraordinary beech hedge, over 100 years old and more than 20 feet high! To show the height I made the tall guy stand in front of it, but he wouldn't let me publish the picture. He mentioned my own obsessive way of staying out of photos, that did convince me ;-) So here is the hedge without him.


Because it started drizzling a bit, we chose to go into the glasshouses entering through this building.

Entering the Garden itself is free, but here you have to pay a small fee, it was more than worth it. Maybe I should mention that I myself am a terrible gardener. I can kill a cactus by saying Hello to him, flowers grow legs just to escape me and instead of a green thumb I have at least ten black ones. Still I love to see what others can do and that is the reason why I might have gone a little overboard taking photos of flowers and plants. As non-botanist I also have no idea what they are called, I really couldn't remember it all. The pictures have names like RedPlantWet or GreenAndHairy. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Picture overload coming ahead!











I love (some ;-)) sculptures in gardens and zoos. My favorites here were a lizard and the meep meep, ehm, the roadrunner.


Funny were also these dino footprints.


Just when we wanted to leave the glasshouses, it showered down, really heavy, but as quickly as it had come, as quickly it went.


We got something to eat and walked around some more. There were rarely tourists around it seemed, only a few German hardcore gardeners passed us by, deeply concentrating on discussing garden themes.


Time went by faster than I thought, so we slowly made our way back, but not before I had checked out the gift shop. I can't help it, whenever I go places I have to go to the gift shop there. It's funny how the tall guy is trying to steer me around it sometimes, even though I don't always buy. I just want to look. This time I would have loved to buy something for my Mom, but I doubt I would have been able to bring the huge plant home safely ;-)
We took the way out through the East Gate.


Feeling that we hadn't walked enough for the day and passing Stockbridge anyway, we decided to hit the charity shops, at least a few of them. No finds, though :-( But I got myself a book at Oxfam at least. And then the tall guy reminded me that the bead shop was open now. Don't you just have to love a guy who tells you stuff like this even if he knows he's going to hate waiting while you play with little beads and try to decide what and if you want something? As the lady in Nuremberg's bead shop put it when I told her I had to hurry because my little brother was waiting outside and already looking very unhappy: "Yes, sometimes I wish there was a hardware store around here for the men!" *lol*
He didn't have to wait long. The bead shop was not that exciting. Mostly seed beads, very small choice of semi-precious stones and no extraordinary findings. I looked at a strand of matte onyx and asked the tall guy if I should buy them. He grinned, said No and I think he was right.

This time going uphill was easier than the day before. We just got back in time for tea. The sandwiches for him, the scones, clotted cream and jam for me. Mmmh, it was so good!!

No adventures in the evening, I am sorry to say. Even if the day didn't seem very long, the walking in all that fresh air had made us tired. We are office people, not used to walking that much. It's a shame, but we decided to hang out at the hotel. At least I finished another pendant. Yes, I did come prepared, I know us *grin*

Edinburgh Day 3 - Festival? What festival?? And - ewww, I am such a tourist!

So we are a little naive. We had never heard about the festivals in Edinburgh and we sure hadn't known there would be some while we were in town. To be honest, this time we didn't even have a guide book with us and came totally unexpecting.
True, the receptionist had mentioned something about festivals when we checked in at the hotel, but even then we didn't ask her what she meant.
We were soon to discover the terrible truth .....

It started harmless enough. After a nice breakfast we started towards the city. Uphill. I hadn't known I would have to walk the Streets of San Francisco! So I took a minute for a photo. Don't ask me which church it is, but it is somewhere between our hotel and city center.


When we reached Prince's Street we were overwhelmed by the beauty of it. The construction work, that is. Edinburgh is building up a tram network, we've been told and we were lucky to take a little part in it. Ah, the noise! Looking for a way to cross to where you want to go! That's adventure!
Nah, really it was ok, we found our way pretty fast and crossed over to find ourselves standing in front of the National Gallery. We marked that for the way back because we thought it smarter to go and see the castle first before it got too crowded. See, not that naive after all ;-)
Here we found the first signs of the Fringe. Sellers were setting up their booths along the way. We made a short stop to look down into the beautiful park. No, I won't make the same mistake again, Kitty. Just see that Scottish lawn! ;-)



This sculpture was made for blind people. Here they can feel Edinburgh. I wonder if anyone really ever does it.


And up the stairs we went, by the Royal Bank of Scotland, uphill, my ankles starting to hurt from walking on cobblestone, falling back behind the tall guy and then it happened. We walked against a wall of people. Or so it seemed. Little did we know. Here we saw the first performers of the festival getting prepared for the day, but we had a goal and that was the castle. When we came to it, we were surprised about the stands set up for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Another part of festival we had never heard about. Travelling sure teaches you stuff you never expected - and sometimes you never wanted to ;-)

Once through the gate the first action required was for somebody to get the tickets. Said somebody got into the queue with remarkable calmness while I checked the first views down into town and up the the castle walls.



We had been lucky, just behind us a wave of people flooded the gate and the queue tripled in no time. Just as I had got myself a seat on a bench that wasn't standing in bright sun, the tall guy came back with the tickets and we entered Edinburgh Castle *insert drum roll here*


I can't tell you much about the castle. We walked through the buildings in a line of tourists which made it a little hard to stop and read some of the information put up on the walls, but I enjoyed the feeling of history. That always happens to me when I am inside an old building. I would like to touch the walls, close my eyes and feel the stories this building has to tell me, but you rarely have a chance to do that with so many people around you.




So we went back outside after a while, got us a bottle of water (and a bottle of malt whiskey liqueur for me, yes, I know it was probably too expensive, but I couldn't help myself after tasting it and after all it came with a pocket bottle!! I know, I know, I am such a tourist *hanging head down*) - it was really hot now - and enjoyed some more great more views of the town.





What I really liked, although you don't see much on the picture really, was the little cemetery for soldiers' dogs. Don't say soldiers can't get mushy.


When a young man came by, I had to follow him, tired feet or not. I was irresistibly drawn towards him - for his kilt. My tourist's instincts welled up inside me like boiling soup and fogged my brain, so I joined the zombie line of others following him. No, you can't compare it with the Pied Piper of Hamelin, he hadn't started to play his bagpipes yet.
You wouldn't think how hard it was to take this picture of him. His picture must be all around the world by now. Japanese, Indians, Italians, Germans, English, Americans - he has been photographed together with all of them, some pointing at him, some showing the victory sign, one lady trying to snuggle up to him while he was playing, he posed with babies, toddlers (I loved the one dancing to his tune, she was too cute), giggly teenagers, even gigglier older women - hm, thinking about it, I didn't notice any guy getting a picture taken together with him.
There was one second he was free of women, though. Here is the proof for it.


Now we made a big mistake and followed the sign saying "crown jewels". We already knew they would not quite compare to the English ones, so we thought it wouldn't take that long. Hahahaaaahahaaaa! Yes, I am laughing madly. We were trapped, I tell you, trapped! There was a guided tour ahead of us and they made a stop as soon as it was impossible for us to get back out. It might have been easier if the elderly Indian gentleman hadn't kicked me several times with his cane to get ahead of me and if the Texan lady behind me had stopped complaining about the rude behavior of people that hold up everybody else. Of course she was right, but she didn't change a thing. I remember vaguely hearing the guide speaking in a foreign tongue and people shoving each other. Then there it was, 30 seconds of sparkle. I remember a necklace that looked nice and there was, wait, let me think, a ring. And a crown. I think. There must have been a crown, right? After all they were the crown jewels. What I remember very well were two German guys and my Indian friend starting to photograph. There had been, well, like three signs forbidding that, even one before you even got into the room. Reading? Nah, never!

After we had escaped this hell of sweat - had I mentioned it was hot? I can assure you that added to the atmosphere of this queue - we decided we had had enough castle for one day.

Out we came and the area had changed. People, masses of people. While we had been fighting for our right to see a crown, outside the festival had started. Fire-eaters, singers, mimes, name it, you got it. And of course the people with the flyers. Plays, songs, cabaret, again, name it, you got it. They were all on my side which made the tall guy grin. In the end I had a handful of flyers, to visit all of these events I would have needed a year, I guess!
We made it to National Gallery without greater damage, wasn't easy, I tell you. We never go to museums at home (don't ask me for the reason, I don't know), but we love museums elsewhere. In London my favorite painting is The execution of Lady Jane Grey. It just speaks to me. Here I could hardly tear myself off Lady Agnew of Lochnaw. I had to go back a few times. The way she looks seems to tell me she knows more than you even can imagine. As the painting was to big to get it off the wall, I thought I'd settle for the postcard. Sold out, grrrrrr!

The way home was long and hard. We had been walking and standing for hours (with just a little Mexican lunch in between ;-)) and I wasn't sure if I would make it back alive. I think I must have looked like an old arthritic dog, head hanging down (I had already made the tall guy carry my bag with the bottle), shuffling along and saying ouch every other minute. Ok, dogs rarely say ouch, but you get the picture. At the hotel I collapsed on the bed and the tall guy in one chair, putting his feet up on another one. We had just come back in time for our favorite antiques' auction show Flog It! And I even managed to finish a pendant because I had known something like that would happen ;-)


Stay tuned if you love flowers, tomorrow will be colorful!

Edinburgh Day 2 - Visiting Nessie

After a good night's rest we were ready to continue our trip with the biggest tour we had planned - going to Loch Ness by bus. I want to apologise in advance for any incorrect informations. I did my best to listen to the thousands of dates our bus driver Peter told us, to names of people and locations, but it was hard. I still wonder how he did it.
We hopped on our bus in Edinburgh city center where shops were just about to prepare for opening hours. I watched a guy polishing the brass plate outside his shop while we were waiting for all our co-travelers to hop on the bus. He did it with such concentration, I just couldn't turn my eyes off him. I lead a boring life, I am fascinated by little things like this. Finally everybody including our driver was on the bus which didn't get full which gave us the chance to stretch a little from time to time without getting in the way of others.
Peter's first question was if anyone understood Scottish. No answer. We sure were a lively troop *lol* One brave guy wanted to save the group's reputation and yelled "Yes". As an answer he got some absolutely incomprehensible sentence in Scottish and a dry "So you understood that, huh?" After that he had mercy on us and spoke English with a heavy, but mostly understandable Scottish accent.

When we got on the road I noticed it first. A squeaking, rattling sound beside my ear. I have no idea where exactly it came from, but it was steady company throughout the day. I wondered if the bus which wasn't too high standard (hey, so we didn't book the VIP tour, after all Swabians are called the Scots of Germany! ;-)) would fall apart, but as you can tell - we made it back.

Our first stop to have some coffee and use the facilities and of course to come down onto the gift shop like a flock of vultures was in the Trossachs area, at Kilmahog to be exact, a little hamlet.


Kilmahog is the home of Hamish McKay Denovan, a beautiful representative of Scottish Highland Cattle, born in 1993. He took our interest with absolute coolness as you can see.


After some of us had tried the limit of their credit cards for the first time this day (not me, I only bought some cookies and not even Walker's!), our trip continued. We heard so many stories, I wish I had taken a tape recorder because it was impossible to memorize them all, stories of highwaymen, kings and queens, battles, politics and they were all most generously seasoned with dates, locations.
The two I remember best are the ones about William Wallace and Rob Roy MacGregor. Both of them are known to us from popular Hollywood movies. That I both haven't seen which is a good thing because they are not historically correct. One result from hearing about Rob Roy was that the tall guy now loves to say MacGrrrrrrregorrr, in any suitable or not suitable moment.

On a bridge over the Water of Leith Peter made a stop of about two seconds to show us Doune Castle which is known to Monty Python fans from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Two seconds are not enough to get a good photo through a bus window as you can see here.


On we went and while some of us took the time to catch up on a little sleep they had missed in the morning, the others admired the gorgeous landscape of the Highlands. Peter named out all the mountains to us, but I have to admit I am not sure anymore which "Ben" this is. Ben Nevis, Ben Ledi, Ben Lomond - sorry, I can't remember. I had the same problem with all the lochs we went by. The only one I remember is Loch Lomond for which of the course the reason is that "On the bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond" is one of my favorite songs.



Our next short photo stop was at Glen Coe.


We got to hear not only the story of the massacre at Glencoe which is one reason for true MacDonalds to still despise the name Campbell, but also Alastair McDonald's song about it, a sad ballad which might have made an even bigger impression if the CD hadn't jumped so much ;-) At this point people started to not take time seriously anymore. Of course it would have been nice to be able and stay longer, maybe sit down in the wonderful summer weather, but after all our goal was Loch Ness. From then on at each stop there were some incorrigible ones that delayed everything which did not make Peter happy at all. We could usually tell by him turning on another Scottish song ...
At Fort William we had a stop for lunch. Peter said he would be back at the bus early to hand out tickets for the ones that wanted to join the Loch Ness Cruise. He told us the price and that he could only take cash. Do you know where I am getting at? Exactly. Two couples wanted to buy tickets on their credit cards after lunch. The next short stop we made was at an ATM ...

Have you already wondered if we ever made it? Yes, we did. The first thing we got to see of Loch Ness. Well, not exactly the loch itself, but the landscape around it. Isn't it beautiful? Actually at first I thought the sheep were just props because they didn't move, but at least one of them was moving after a while.


This is Urquhart Castle or what's left of it. Close to the castle most of the Nessie sightings occurred. It's a breath-taking view.



And here it is - no, not Nessie unfortunately, but Loch Ness. The little something is a boat. I waited quite a while hoping Nessie isn't vegetarian after all and would come up for a little snack, but no chance.


This is the view out on the Loch from a bench in the castle "garden" (yes, English lawns really look as if they have been cut with small scissors!). Despite all the tourists it was very peaceful and I could have stayed there for hours if it hadn't been so hot. I am not allowed to sit in the open sun for long, so we went on strolling around until it was time to go down to the Loch to catch our ship.


This is the view from the upper deck of the ship. Such a gorgeous day, we didn't even need jackets at first. The only drawback were all the other people. You wouldn't think how hard it can be to get a decent picture when you have to stand in queue for it ;-) It could have been so romantic, even with staring at the water as hard as I did, still hoping for the miracle of Nessie turning up *grin*



The house in this picture looks like it could be perfect for the next vacation at Loch Ness, don't you think?


Would you believe me if I told you these aren't waves from the ship, but Nessie just going back down into the water? I guess not, huh?


After getting off the ship we all met at this garden. The main reason for it was probably the friendly terrier that welcomed us, his tail going like crazy. His friendly human talked to us afterwards and obviously appreciated all the praise about his garden. I am not sure how much of that was his merit because while he was entertaining the crowd in the front, I could see his wife in the background, weeding ;-)


Now it was time for the long way back to Edinburgh. Most of us took a nap, even I did although I didn't want to, but we all woke up pretty fast when Peter told us he would join in now.
We had a last stop to get something to eat, over half an hour. Can you believe it? After we had got back on the main road, one lady cried out she had forgotten something at the last place. Without a word the driver turned around. She went into the shop and didn't come back out. Her husband went after her. Slowly. Finally both of them came back. Slooooowly. Whatever it had been she had forgotten, it had not been there anymore. I wonder how many of us felt really sorry for her at that moment after we heard that it had been nothing vital like her purse or money or anything.

We took a different route back, but it started drizzling, so the pictures didn't turn out.
When we crossed the Forth, this was what we saw, though. Now imagine being pleasantly tired, half dozing, listening to Scottish ballads and the driver pointing out some landmark occasionally and enjoying a look like that - and the squeaking in my right ear!


We had left Edinburgh at 8 am and we were back at about 8 pm. It had been a long day, but I still think it was worth it and I would love to come back to Loch Ness and stay longer this time.
That day wasn't much longer for us, though. Our legs hurt and all we could do was look a little TV and dozing off dreaming of Nessie ...