Edinburgh - 2 great meals and lots of Goths

After a couple of train hops, we ended up in Edinburgh. It's a much smaller and more historic town than Glasgow, and for our particular trip, it ended up being much chillier there than we had experienced yet.

E-burgh and Glasgow are also known for their Goth populations, although having been 'round the first time for it, they aren't that exciting or eye-catching. Most are too corpulent, and it's no longer de rigeuer to use bootblack on your hair and wear black nailpolish and lipstick. Still, good entertainment.


Since we were having personal Goth flashbacks and freezing to death, we headed into KICK ASS, a lovely little store, where we each purchased some more layers, and Marge went total penal colony with vertically striped gray/black trousers and a horizontally striped gray/black jumper (sweater).


Onward up the hill - this town is a modern day archeological wonder - it's layered upon itself, so you are walking along the street, and all the sudden look over an edge and find there is another street some 50 feet below!


Got to the point where I was famished, so we ducked into the Albanach, which was one of the coolest environs to have food in that we've encountered. And, the food was absolutely excellent. Blue Cheese and Mushroom soup, Cullen Skink, Haggis with tatties an' neeps, and local sausage with mash - all washed down with lashings of Belhaven. Sooooo good.

After this we stopped in a kilt shop that offered insight into the weaving of the tartans - this was the single largest retail establishment we've seen in Alba. It went down 3 floors and there was an incredible forced flow that took you through a dozen different halls and down to the bowels of the weaving factory, then all the way back up - with nary a moment that didn't offer a purchase opportunity.


Finally, into the Castle. There was so much to see, lot's of levels and winding paths. The whole thing was built on an outcropping of granite, so they built around the obstacles and stacked buildings on buildings. Some silly highlights were the Cemetary for the Mascots (dogs) of the Regimental Guards, and the Honors of Scotland (these are the Crown, the Sceptre, the Sword with scabbard and belt, and of course, the Stone of Scone a.k.a. the Stone of Destiny. This stone is upon which all the historic Kings of Scotland have been crowned. Purloined by the Anglish for 400 years, it has only recently been returned to the Scots in the last 15 years or so.

After hours in the Castle, we went towards the Surgery Museum - a real pathological highlight - but our timing was poor. We stopped to take a photo of Greyfriar's Bobby - the terrier who purportedly spent 14 years at the graveside of his deceased master and is now a folk legend in Scotland. His little statue had a pub of the same name adjacent, so in we went for refreshment. The food looked incredible, so we hopped across the street to the Royal Museum/Museum of Scotland for a quick tour. The building was incredible, a perfect combination of modernity with intimacy and built to highlight the displays inside - sometimes on the 4th floor, a tiny vista would open that allowed you to see a display on the 1st floor from a whole new light. Like opening a new door every turn.

Back to the pub for Lamb's Rump, and Steak and Ale pie, but both of the greatest quality. Strongly fortified with Ales and meats, we braved the cold again for the station.

2 trains and over 3 hours later, back to our Castle, and some well earned rest.