Edinburgh

Like prior posts involving things that lead to me owing people MAJOR favours, this post will begin with its greatest heroes.

Aunt Irene, for helping us get in contact with her sister Isabel when we couldn't find a place to stay.  I appreciate your patience.  If there is anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask.

Greyfriars Cemetery

Uncle Merv and Aunt Ardell: they were staying with Isabel when we left Dublin, and we missed them in Edinburgh by mere hours.  They also helped to facilitate the arrangement making in Edinburgh, and left us a much needed boost to our finances.  It was very wisely and carefully spent.  You have no idea how much you've helped us.

Though they may be last, they are by far the most important on today's list of heroes in our travels: Isabel Ward and her partner Rab.

They opened their home to us and made us feel welcome from the moment Isabel met us at the train station to the time we all parted ways to go on our respective journeys.  There is so much to recount that it will have to be explained through the progress of our stay here that I will simply have to tell it as I go.  Otherwise this introduction will be incredibly lengthy.  Sufficed to say we are very much indebted to them, and look forward to seeing them when they come to Canada for Merv's birthday in 2016.  Our home is definitely open to they and theirs when we have a home to call our own again.  I'm usually not too bad with words, but this time I lack the eloquence to express the gratitude we both feel and it will not be the last post you'll read that begins this way.

The Journey

I left off my last post as I watched Dublin disappearing behind the ferry.  We arrived back at the ferryport in Holyhead, Wales at midnight and slept there for a few hours while we waited for the train to arrive, which it did at 4 AM.  Yes, we did a lot of traveling at night because it meant not having to pay for accommodation: we could sleep on the bus/ferry to wherever we were going.  In fact, I only remember being awake for maybe two hours on the 6 hour train-ride to Edinburgh -- and only because we had to change platforms at a small town in England that I don't remember the name of (Sarah says it might have been Warrington?).  I don't even remember the full story of the dream that I had between this town and our destination, only that it was a horror movie with the percussion and periodic screeching on the rails beneath me infused it as the soundtrack of a horror film.  It's the only thing I remember before waking up just as the train pulled into Waverly station.  Isabel was already waiting for us at the platform, and I can only imagine the sight we must have been on first impression.


Our Hosts

When we say that Isabel and Rab were magnificent, we mean it.  Seriously.

They helped to feed us, they took us on shopping trips to help us resupply for our stay, and subsequent trip to Paris.  They taught us about Groupon -- which we are going to have to look up in the future (and see if there's an equivalent in Canada).  They gave us some ideas on where to look for English schools to apply at, and showed us around Edinburgh for the small window in which they had time.  They got to explore some new places too.

Isabel and Rab

I suppose that I should explain why we came upon such difficulties trying to find a place to stay in Scotland, since it illuminates how we came to be at the little cottage on the grounds of Stuart's Mellville College and why we went to Paris instead of continuing into the highlands.  If traveling in peak season isn't bad enough, the fact that the Commonwealth Games was going on in Glasgow created the result that every hostel in Scotland that was accessible to someone without a vehicle was jam-packed.  I'm not kidding.  The week that we stayed in Edinburgh was also spent looking for places we could go.  We called a lot of places and could find nothing.  Going to Scotland was a must-do, though.  I have no regrets on the matter whatsoever.  Except for the part where our job interview didn't turn out the way we had hoped.  Same old "we like you, but we don't want to jump through the hurdles of getting your work permits."

Day 1

Fog on the Royal Mile

Isabel took us to get settled at the cottage after meeting us at the train station.  It's actually a rather short commute, but picturesque nonetheless.  Since we arrived at our destination in the morning we still had the whole day in front of us and were excited to see the city.  We stayed at the cottage for tea before the three of us went out to get more supplies for the week.  Isabel told us the best ways to get around while we waited for Rab to finish work, then we all went to an Indian restaurant for supper.  This isn't going to be the last time we offered to pay our own way and got dismissive waves and sly bill stealing tactics in response.  We will repay the favour, I swear it.

Afterward, we let them enjoy a nice evening to themselves at the bowling club while we took the opportunity to explore a very misty Edinburgh (with the parting shot that we brought the bad weather with us from Dublin).  Our meanderings took us through nearby Greyfriar's Cemetery, past the Elephant Café where the first Harry Potter books were penned, and up to the Royal Mile.  Due to a concert happening at the castle, we couldn't go all the way up so we just kept walking downhill instead.  It was well after dark when we began to head back to the cottage, as we had stopped to speak to a few tour guides who had dressed themselves up to conduct their tours of haunted Edinburgh.  They gave us a great deal of information on some of the places they liked to visit in town, and one of them even knew a local armourer who sometimes let people visit his workshop.

Fireworks at Edinburgh Castle on a misty night

As we walked past Princes Gardens on our way back, I noticed that there were lit torches along the castle's battlements and a fireworks show began even as Sarah started taking pictures.  The fog made it difficult to see everything, but it almost looked as though there were a battle taking place there instead of a show for the arts festival.  We planned to walk back to where we were staying because we understood it to be a short trip on foot, but it turned out to be a two hour journey given our tired feet and Sarah's preferred speed of movement.  All future trips to the town centre after this were made on the public transit system, as even I didn't feel entirely comfortable walking around at night.

I think recounting our adventures in and around Edinburgh is going to necessitate multiple posts.  This one is getting pretty long already.