Edinburrrrrr

 This morning kicked off with one of the most exceptional walking tours I’ve done in my travels. Our guide John was wonderful- clever, funny and well informed.  If anyone makes it to Edinburgh I highly recommend little fish tours. He brought the Old Town to life and things I walked by the day before without a glance were now interesting and added colour to the picture. I’ve included photos of the gorgeous skyline looking up at the old town from the bottom of the hill and Victoria St, a winding street full of independent shops.  I’ve also put in a photo of Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, wearing a fetching bonnet (it’s a traffic cone)

The tour ended in Greyfriars graveyard, where there are headstones with the names of a number of Harry Potter characters including McGonnigal, Moody and Tom Riddle. The cafe where JK Rowling sat to write the book was across the road, although closed right now due to a fire last week that gutted the inside along with the Australian pub next door. 

After a hasty lunch I joined the Scotch Whiskey experience which included an extremely lame ride in a plastic half barrel through a fake distillery, a scratch and sniff card identifying the different regions (OMG really?) and then a tasting of one whiskey chosen from your favourite one on the card (!), a souvenir glass and a walk though the “Museum” of the largest collection of unopened scotch whiskey in the world. We were then disgorged into the gift shop in the hope that we bought scotch. I would have been better spending my time on the hop on hop off bus, but the nip of scotch warmed me up  enough for the cold walk back to the hotel. 

A very early dinner (Edinburgh completely booked out after 5) delivered some amazing little fried chat potatoes tossed in Indian spices with yoghurt and pomegranate from Dishoom, my favourite Indian restaurant in the UK. As it turned out, my plans for an early night and a good sleep were upset by a fire alarm (again!) requiring going down stairs from the 7th floor, hanging about outside for half an hour in the freezing cold, and then climbing back up all the stairs again. I don’t want to complain too much, as the people next to me were in the hotel bathrobes with bare feet! 

Although it was freezing cold and rainy, I paid a king’s ransom for luggage storage at the train station on Sunday morning to fit in Edinburgh castle, which was good, but would have been better with a guide to bring it to life. I did see the Scottish Crown Jewels and the stone of Scone. There was a rainbow as I walked up the hill to the entrance. 

Finally, I’ve included a photo of the hat I broke down and purchased to keep my head warm. NOT a beanie, as those who know me well would guess I would reject, but a roomy wool beret that fits over my ears. When I arrived back at Leeds this afternoon, the temperature felt positively balmy after Edinburgh. I loved the train trip with the tea trolley and am looking for other destinations next weekend.