Awanna and Daniel were up an hour early. It was a mis-communication from a discussion the night before (when we so very, very tired...I blame Becky). They headed down to the train station walking a bit of the city walls on the way. Becky and I were an hour behind them (at the "correct" time) and took the shortcut though alleys and parking lots reversing the course we had taken when we had arrived. Walking around strange cities early in the morning is a great thing. There were no crowds of people about yet just a few fellow appreciators of the early morn. Our fellow early birds ran the gamut from young skateboarders to old-timey fishermen trying their luck in the Ouse River.

We made our train handily and settled into our seats to watch the British countryside (under more and more snow as we headed north) whisk by. We dozed, read and were entertained by the concessionaire for the for the next 2 1/2 hours. The chap pushed the "goodies cart" up and down the aisle shouting things like, "Jelly Beans!" "Get your Jelly Beans!" To which we would respond "Do you have any Jelly Beans?" Him: "No, we're out...but how about this nice can of Irn-Bru (Iron Brew...a popular Scottish energy drink)...made from real girders you know." Awhile later he would be passing through again advertising "Albatross!" "Get your Albatross!" His foolishness quite appealed to us all.

We arrived at Waverly Station in Edinburgh and immediatly became totally and absolutly lost. We had stepped out of the train onto an island surrounded by tracks with multi-level entrances and exits (something the maps didn't deal with very clearly)...our "24 Hours of Edinburgh" had commenced.

After several false starts and some general wandering about (loaded down with our ever increasing mass of luggage) we finally stumbled onto the local British Tourist Authority (highly recommended, think of them as your "best friend" when travelling Britain...they answer all questions, find lodging, supply maps, etc., etc. and etc.) and loaded up on maps and used their cybercafe to send off some email to friends at home letting them know we had not been done in by snow, train wrecks or foot and mouth...at least not yet.

We like to think of ourselves as seasoned travellers and persons of grit but found downtown Edinburgh to be a most confusing place. I never had a sense of where I was the whole time we were there. We had no idea which direction we should be going to find our pre-booked B & B. We looked so pitiful that we were eventually approached by the gentlemen above (complete with a delightfully thick Scottish brogue and plaid pants) who offered us the hire of his limousine. The other members of our party were somewhat put off by him figuring him to be some kind of street hustler but I found him engaging and we had a great time chatting about Edinburgh...before we parted he had shared with me a photo album of all the limos he's driven throughout his career [and - note from Becky - taken us to the wrong bus stop]. Wonderful! Finally we found the correct, overly crowded even before we got in, city bus. We stowed our gear the best we could (getting annoyed looks and snide remarks from the locals) and asked the driver to please let us know when our stop came up. We disembarked only to find ourselves once again completely lost. Frustrating.

Alrighty then! Life is starting to look a bit brighter to me. We headed off for some site seeing. This time...and this is an idea we had all now embraced, when things get ugly hail a cab. It was getting late in the day so we had the cabbie drop us off so we could walk a bit of the Royal Mile, found some supper, collected my beloved umbrella and head back to Linden House for a much needed rest.

Monday, March 5th

Up early, ate a lovely FEB (technically a FSB...Full "Scottish" Breakfast) and hooked a cab down to the Avis Car Rental place downtown. Here we were to pick up the pre-arranged-for car that we would keep for the rest of our trip. With no explanation offered, we were told by the too young man behind the counter that the car wouldn't be ready for about a half an hour of so. No problem, we wanted to see some more of the town anyway so we left our luggage and told them we would come back later to pick it up.

Edinburgh Castle. I'm just going to have go on record here and say it straight out, Edinburgh Castle is my favorite castle in the world...and believe me I've seen my fair share. It just looks the way a proper castle ought to. It's huge, ancient, in great repair, has a simply stunning view of Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside and they will let you poke in just about every nook and cranny it has. I'll resist droning on about all the details but would like to mention here that the "Stone of Scone" (only recently removed from its place beneath the backsides of the English monarchs and returned to its rightful home in Scotland...devolution, YAY!) and the "Honours of Scotland (the Scottish Crown Jewels)" both reside here and really shouldn't be missed. The only downside and I'm not even sure it's as much a downside as it is "atmosphere" and I don't feel I can impress this upon you too much, it was one cold, made out of cold stone, FREEZING COLD place...and don't even get me started about the wind, OH MY!

We wandered down the Royal Mile (or "Miracle Mile," as I had taken to calling it) again and stopped into some shops eventually coming to a site that Awanna was keen to see...the statue to "Grey Friar Bobby." Officer Gray (also spelled Grey) was an Edinburgh beat cop back in the 1800's who owned a small dog that went with him everywhere. Apparently the police were required to have dogs at the time and being as underpaid as the police traditionally are most of them kept small, low maintence dogs. Officer Gray and and the dog worked, ate and played together. Gray died in his early 20's from tuberculosis and was buried in the cemetary located here. When the mourners left, the dog remained behind "guarding" his master's grave. The townsfolk saw to it that the dog was fed and here he stayed, through wind, rain and COLD (have I mentioned the cold?) for 14 YEARS sleeping on top of his dead master's grave. He, for some reason that escapes me, came to be known as "Grey Friar's Bobby." That's the way the story goes...I personally find the plot to be filled with lots of holes but hey, everyone loves a dog story, right? Anyway that being checked off the list we headed back to Avis. The car was still not ready...sheesh. After hanging about the shop for another half hour we finally get our ride...a silver Fiat station wagon (going for utility here rather than performance...sigh). We loaded it up with our baggage, inserted our "wheel man" (Daniel), passed over the amazing Firth of Forth bridge and then north towards Inverurie and the home of our friends the Nagahiro's.

Edinburgh is a wonderful old town and we didn't get to spend NEARLY enough time there and therefore is VERY high on all our lists for a return engagement (already being talked about for the 2005 trip). My goal is to stay there long enough to not be perpetually lost anymore.