We arrived in Edinburgh safe and sound yesterday, and are very excited to be here although it was really hard to leave our family back in Annan.
Breakfast was the full English Breakfast at the B&B. I know I know. I should know better by now but it was the last day there and I am a master at justification. The fact that it was the last day was all I needed to justify the breakfast.
My Uncle Jock and Aunt Irene picked us up to take us to the Train Station in Lockerbie where we said our final goodbye.
I am determined to return for my 50th birthday though so in just over 2 ½ years we will be back!
Emotionally I think we were fine at the Station but it was hard after the train pulled away. I know I felt teary once we were on our own.
About ten minutes into the ride I looked over at Jamie and his eyes were watery. All he said was “I miss them already”. How true it was.
There was standing room only for the one hour ride to Edinburgh but we were able to sit on our luggage so it wasn’t so bad. Once there we found our friend Catherine’s daughter Joni waiting for us at the train station (such a beautiful girl) and she lead us over to Catherine’s office where we saw Catherine for a bit and dropped our luggage.
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| Catherine Runs a Catering Business These are her cupcakes. I didn't eat any but I will before I go :-) |
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| Shared Lunch |
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| Joni |
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| Catherine |
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| Oops |
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| Catherine's Sister Veronica's Husband He is a Street Performer at the Edinburgh Festival |
Catherine grew up on the same street as me until I was around 10 years old. She was my older sister Sondra’s friend, but we have all stayed in touch over the years. It is so great to be here with her.
Joni then walked us through some of the Craft Exhibits of Edinburgh Festival wile Catherine finished up her work, and then we all met up for a fabulous lunch. We ordered a couple of wonderful platters of food to share that were wonderfully healthy (mostly cooked vegetables) and of course...wine (see pics above). I think Catherine is going to keep me in line while I am here. It’s a good thing.
We walked the streets of Edinburgh some more and Jamie and I were astounded by how beautiful the city is. The buildings and architecture are just incredible. Canada is so new we really have nothing like it.
One of the things people told us to do here if we could was see the Scottish Tatoo., but we didn’t think we would be able to as it would likely be sold out. We met an American couple who had tickets for tonight but were having to fly back home early today. They sold us their tickets at a discount so we are off to the Tatoo tonight!
After our walk we had a coffee and hopped on the bus to our accommodation. We are staying with Catherine’s friend Nadia down by the Ocean and both Nadia and the place we are in are just great.
After a quick shower we went off to dinner at an Italian Restaurant.
Nadia joined us for dinner and we met up with Joni and Catherine again, as well as Catherine’s husband Angelo and two of her kids Dom and Paul.
They knew the chef and we all agreed to simply let the chef determine the meal. I have to tell you that without a lie this is the best meal Jamie and I have ever had. Not this week, not this year or even this decade. It is the best meal we have had in our entire lives.
Between Fish and Mussels, and Mortadella, and Tuna Pasta and what seemed like a million other dishes there was a ton of food but it was actually surprisingly healthy. I think I also had a ton of wine though. Angelo brought us some spectacular wines to taste and I did a lot of tasting.
Angelo said “The Scottish may have good fish but only the Italians know how to cook it”. He may be right.
I am afraid I forgot my iphone so don't have pictures of this spectacular meal but trust me. It WAS spectacular.
I told the chef after dinner it was the best meal we ever had and Jamie, meaning to improve on my comment, said “No, t is the best ITALIAN meal we ever had”. When I pointed out to him as we left the restaurant that what he said was actually more limiting than what I said, he became quite embarrassed that he had narrowed the scope of the meals deliciousness. LOL
We then returned home, chatted for a while with Nadia, and headed for bed. It was a long day.
I have limited access to internet and the process of posting pictures takes quite a while so I suspect the week in Edinburgh will be with fewer pictures on the blog but I promise to post more of them on Facebook as soon as I am able.
We will be meeting a couple who stayed at our B&B before for Brunch today. It should be great!
Be healthy!
Alan
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