Edinburgh day one

This is mostly a note to myself to fill in later. We started the day by walking through the park below the castle. Then we spent hours traversing the nooks and crannies of Edinburgh castle (there are many, some dating back to the 12th century). After the castle (which included lunch), I was peckish. We stopped in a cafe tucked off the royal mile. I hade coffee and a scone with cream AND butter and raspberry jam. When a group of German tourists came in with a tour guide, we all learned that we were somewhere notworthy. After nourishment and cream were ingested, we continued down the royal mile. We stopped at St Giles' church, which dates at least to the 14th century and reminded me of a lot of churches we saw in Spain. Even though it is Protestant rather than catholic. Interestingly, it has lavish stained glass windows. Per Wikipedia: "in the 19th century, stained glass began to be put into the windows which had been largely clear or plain since the Reformation. This was a radical move in a Presbyterian church where such decorations were regarded with great suspicion. They were finally allowed on the basis that they illustrated Bible stories and were as such an aid to teaching, and not flippant decoration, or worse still perceived idolatry. " After St Giles, we continued down towards the sea. We had dinner near the port, then walked the 2.4 miles back, which were now uphill. Dinner was great, and I need to remember to look up cape gooseberries (Physalis).

Safe travels to Scotland

Despite a closed runway in San Francisco (Asiana Airways crash earlier is in the week), and a fire that closed Heathrow the morning of our flight, and that when we tried to check our bags we were told the flight was 'restricted' and 'please hold on...' - we finally boarded our flight and arrive early in London. Once at heathrow, we waited at customs, retrieved my suitcase, and then had some period of panic when S's suitcase wasn't on the carrousel. Eventually we found it (someone had already taken it off and set it aside?!?!). Then off to check in for our flight to Edinburgh. The bus ride into town had wifi, so we could peep that we'd arrived. Our first night was pretty much just showering, walking around, finding a pub for a pint and some food. Now we are off to explore a castle!