Arrival in Edinburgh: 21 September 2007

Well, I have arrived in Edinburgh. The overnight flight was uneventful. A far cry from our last continental journey. I flew Air Transat and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Not at all the cramped space we had occupied when we travelled to London. I guess Thomas Cook allows plenty of leg room and a personable crew. We apparently made good time and as a result we arrived in Glasgow around 5:30 am. After a short trip through customs I was in the concourse but to my surprise, there was nothing open. Then again, Glasgow Airport wasn't that large so I should not have been surprised.

It had been raining on landing and it was still drizzling. I found transportation to Edinburgh and arrived at my B&B around 7:00 am with some of the hired help. It would seem that the majority of the women who worked here were Polish and perhaps temporary. I was shown to my room. It wasn't much to write home about.

Admittedly, I had been looking for inexpensive; check. Close to Princes Street; check. Atmosphere; well rather damp and mouldy since I was next to a bathroom.

You see; I had reserved what I thought was an ensuite and was soon to be told the owner didn't have them. I could have tried to find other accomodations but this was a huge football weekend and I had trouble finding this.... so here I am. The view from my room was not the greatest but I could see the top of the castle. Mind you, in central Edinburgh, it is hard not to see the castle.

I was tired and needed a few hours sleep but first, since I had paid for the night I decided to have breakfast. Again, not up to my expectations but the girls were nice and once I had introduced myself and got their names... they made me something hot and then off to bed.

Edinburgh Castle

I was staying on Gilmore Place and as I walked to the corner I noticed that there were many guest houses on Gilmore Place. The homes are mostly row houses, Georgian townhouses the brochure said. It was actually a sunny afternoon so I started walking. My goal was to meet up with Wayne and Bill around 6:00 pm.

The area I was staying in is called Tollcross and although we didn't end up spending much time here, it seemed to have plenty of restaurants and shops. My first goal was to buy a Scottish phone number. Ahh, the beauty of the SIM. For 10 pounds, I got a phone number and minutes. Not a bad deal. As you can see from the picture above, Edinburgh Castle really does dominate the city landscape. The walls look pretty imposing from this side. Up on to Princes Street, I was looking for the Tourist Information Centre. As you are walking west on Princes Street, all the stores are on the north side of the street and Castle Park with the monument are on the south side. Although, it was the end of September, the park look quite lush.

This seemed like the main shopping area. Not sure if it was more for the locals or the tourists. There were lots of shops but at the moment, I wasn't interested in browsing the shops.

I stopped to walk a street market. It was a little open air market which was selling all sorts of stuff. Didn't buy any food but did stop to buy a cheap bag to carry my camera, guide book, umbrella..... and stuff. I had decided not to bring my knapsack on this trip.

I took the opportunity to walk along the parkside and relax. I did get some nice brochures from the TI and a good map. I discovered that I was very close to the hotel where I was meeting Wayne and Bill.

So I took a bit more of a walk and then decided to find myself some sustenance. Coffee culture is everywhere. Thank god, I say. Yes, they had Starbucks but I went to Costa Coffee in the St. James Centre Mall. It was a little too brisk for me to be sitting outside. It turns out the mall has an entrance to the Thistle Hotel. Useful for later, I would discover.

Costa made a decent latte and pastries for that matter. Relaxing with my latte, guide book and map, I planned some activities for the three of us once the "Corrie Street" folks went home. The bus arrived and after the guys got settled we went off in search of a restaurant. We hadn't made reservations, so we just walked up into New Town behind Princes Street. Not surprising, it was busy on a Friday night so we walked around until we found a pub that would take us for dinner. I think I was kind of fading, so after a decent dinner I went back to the hotel. I took a cab back to my rooms which I was had decided to call "the grotto" because of the dampness and the polyester blankets (READ: do not keep you warm but rather feeling like you perspired all night). I won't be sorry about moving to the Thistle in a few days.