Scotland #1

 Our trip started off really good.  Nick picked me up at the house on time and all our luggage fit in the car. We got to Cincinnati airport in plenty of time and got our luggage dropped.  They provided a wheelchair for me, I thought it would help with security with my broken arm.  Our flight to Newark was uneventful and we found our way to the United Polaris lounge to wait.  We had a bite to eat and some drinks but mostly waited in the comfy chairs.  Our gate wasn’t far from the lounge and we made our way there for boarding.  Everyone got on the plane and we left the gate.  Unfortunately, the weather turned before we took off so we sat for about an hour and a half before actually taking off. It was bumpy with rain and lightening.  Aimee and Rory were not happy with it.  It was about 45 minutes before everything smoothed out.  We had dinner and the reclined our seats and tried to sleep.  

We arrived in Edinburgh about an hour late.  I don’t know if that is why we had a weird gate or if we would have gone there anyway.  At the end of the jetway we had to go down stairs then trek over to buses before entering the airport proper.  That was not expected. I had a backpack and a rolling suitcase and was taken aback by the stairs. As we stood there trying to figure out what to do, s very nice young lady picked them both up and carried them down for me!  Saved!  There was no way I was going to get them down with my arm. We made it through customs/passport control and collected our big bags.  I paid an extra fee so that we got to use a special lane and got trough quickly.  Scott, our driver was waiting at the exit and took control of all my bags. Off to our vehicle for the next 10 days. We had a Mercedes van. Scott loaded everything up and took us to our hotel. We are way early for check-in but luckily one of the rooms was ready. We piled into it and ordered room service for lunch. This would be my room. Aimee and Rory had the adjoining room.  We decided to take naps when their room was ready. About 3:00 we ventured out and found the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the city.  Oh yeah, we were supposed to stay at the Waldorf Astoria but they didn’t inform the tour company they were renovating rooms and ours were not ready. We were moved to the Kimpton Charlotte Square.  Very nice hotel. We had adjoining rooms so we opened the door in between. We had dinner reservations at Contini, an Italian restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. Dinner in Scotland is a two hour event.  Servers don’t need to rely on tips they only seat so many people each night at restaurants.  They don’t try to turn tables over like they do in the states, which makes for a much more relaxed meal. We enjoyed it but were tired. Once back at the hotel we all went to bed early. We definitely recommend building an extra day in to accommodate the jet lag 

Day 2 - up early to have breakfast.  It was served as a buffet but they did have items you could order like pancakes. This is the first place I noticed they cook their scrambled eggs in the French style, meaning they are runny.  They had items like fruit, yogurt, porridge, pastries, eggs, sausage, Scottish bacon (ham), black pudding and juices.  After eating we went back upstairs to get ready for the day.  We met our tour guide, Hannah, for the day.  She is giving us a walking tour of Edinburgh.  Last night she and Scott talked and decided to change things up a bit to accommodate me.  Instead of walking the entire way Scott drove us around a bit and she described things to us.  Then we were dropped off at Hoolyrood House and walked up the royal mile to Edinburgh castle.  She gave us information on different buildings and areas of the mile.  As we walked up the Mike we came to an area that Hannah informed us was where royal proclamations and other news were presented.  As she was talking someone opened the door on the building.  She said she had never see that before. It turns out that they were going to present a proclamation today!  We had front row seats.  There were pipers and a military group.  

You may notice that many of my pictures are crooked, it is because it was difficult to hold my phone and take a picture with only one hand. 

After the presentation we continued up the mile to Edinburgh castle.  For you know that a castle is really a fortress and the palace is the fancy place.  When we got to the castle it was smaller than expected it to be. There was a banquet hall but no big room where everyone hung out. We also didn’t see any bedrooms.  At 1:00 pm they shoot off a cannon.  It is a way to let everyone know what time it was before everyone had watched or clocks. They still do it today. Rory too a video and even though he expected it, he still jumped. 

 After we finished exploring the castle we headed done the royal mile to meet up with Scott, our driver.  He took us back to our hotel.  When I was trying to get into the van I was having trouble because of my arm and a stranger came up and helped me get in.  He left without waiting for thanks.  

After resting for a bit we headed out for dinner. Tonight we had reservations at Kyloe, a steakhouse.  The food was really good.  One thing they do is let you choose your steak knife from their collection.  Since I couldn’t cut my steak Aimee was going to.  The waitress said she could have the kitchen slice it for me.  Great idea!  Something I asked for whenever I ordered steak the rest of the trip.  When we got our bill this was the holder - 

It was time to pack up and get ready to move on to our next location.  We would have breakfast in the hotel tomorrow morning and then head out.