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.