Edinburgh - our experience

Last Friday we said good-bye to York and headed on the train to Edinburgh (Scotland). We loved York and found it to be such an interesting city for both adults and children alike. Our favourite places were the Viking Centre, walking the Roman walls and the Red Lion (which became our 'local'. We were able to enjoy 2 roast beef meals with plenty of vegetables, beef and gravy and this fed the 6 of us, all for 12 pounds. We bacame 'regulars' and were able to enjoy the conversation with the barman who welcomed us back a number of times over our 6 days. It was a very old pub built in the 1600's with 5 small rooms and many fireplaces. The lemonade and beer were very enjoyable too.

Unfortunately it was only on the last morning that we discovered an fantastic park now far from where we were staying which I am sure the children would have enjoyed - never mind - there will be many more on our travels.

We had to make the difficult decision of whether to head straight up to Edinburgh or spend the weekend in Scarborough or Whitby (both seaside townships on the English coast north east of York. In the end we decided to head straight to Edinburgh. The weather was pretty dismal and a train trip to the coast would have meant a few extra hours travel to Scotland later in the week. Sorry to our neighbours Albert and Mary as I know they were keen on us visiting 'their' part of England. Maybe we will still get there at some stage on our travels.

Our train trip to Edinburgh was uneventful. It was interesting looking out at the countryside and as we travelled on we even go to to see the sea. It is certainly very relaxing travelling on the train and having someone else be responsible for directions - when we travel to Italy in a few days and hire a car I sense that it may be a little different ( and the stress levels may rise).

Edinburgh is such a wonderful looking city, especially with the castle rising with such beauty right in the middle of the city. What am impressive sight. You can just imagine sitting in the castle and waiting for the enemy try to attack!

Our arrival in Edinburgh at Waverley Station on a coolish afternoon was overshadowed, on my behalf, by a concern that the accommodation I had booked over the internet may not work out. We had an address to go to so all jumped into a taxi (a 5 seater but they were quite happy to take six plus our luggage) and headed there. It was enjoyable looking out at a new city. We arrived at the address and were let out - onto a fairly busy street with lots of shops, built entirely of 4 story high buildings. I think we all thought that the Novotel up the road was looking pretty good.

We were met by an italian fellow who quickly showed us into the building and up a flight of stairs to our apartment. Scott waited downstairs with our luggage ready for a quick get-away.

Much to our suprise the apartment was really just what we wanted. It had 4 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen equipped with all our needs, and a bathroom. We settled in and then went for a walk to pick up some supplies - food!

Our six days in Edinburgh were filled with lots of walking, visits nearly everyday to the local park with the most fantastic playground we have yet seen, called The Meadows and visiting local tourist attractions. We managed to be in Edinburgh on one of the three days of the year when Edinburgh Castle is open free to all visitors. We made the most of this and went along. We spent the money we saved on a great little Italian Restaurant in the Royal Mile called Gordon's Trattoria. We couldn't resist going to this place!

The Royal Mile a road a mile long, built of cobble stones, which links Edinburgh Castle to Hollyrood Castle.

Edinburgh's most famous street is probably Princess Street. Many landmarks are built on the street including Scott's Monument, built in honour of Sir Walter Scott (we didn't quite work out who he actually was), the Art Gallery which is actually made of of two galleries, one with modern works and one with old works including works by Monet, Rubens and Titans. We asked the guard which was the most expensive painting and he pointed to a $100 million (AUS) Titian's painting of some nude women. William thought it was disgusting. I am sure in time to come his opinion will change!

We took a bus out to Ocean Terminal which is where the Britannica is docked, enjoyed a tourist attraction called Camera Obscura, which has lots of optical illusions, a great demonstration of a camera obscura which, through a mirror and a couple of lenses, reflects with amazing clarity the views of outside onto a table. This was great.

We have taken lots of photos of Edinburgh, here are some of them.

One of the highlights of our visit to Edinburgj was our visit to a family who used to live in Warrnambool - Laurie and Brioney Lee. Laurie grew up in Warrnambool and married a girl from Edinburgh about 12 years ago. They now live in Edinburgh with their 2 children Annie and Angus. We really enjoyed our day spent with them and the children very much enjoyed a day playing with other children (and their toys).

We are now headed on the train back down toward London, to Stanstead Airport. We will stay near the airport for Thursday and Friday nights before heading off to Italy early Saturday morning.