Days 20-22 Edinburgh
After a sleep-deprived night on the Caledonian Sleeper, I arrived in Auld Reekie.
If you were expecting this account of my Edinburgh jaunt to be filled with snaps of its many and varied photo opportunities, you’d be disappointed. Best to try last year’s posts instead.
I was up in Edinburgh primarily to see Ms Eliza for the first time in a year, to wish her a happy birthday and to meet her friends and flatmates in her current student flat.
Arriving on the train from London at 7am, I’d booked an early hotel check in, so dropped my bags, changed and hit the gym for a reinvigorating run. I met Eliza and friends for the best sashimi I’ve had outside Asia and joined by her lovely French boyf, we walked through the pretty suburb of Stockbridge, which she compares with West Dulwich. (You’ll only really understand this if you are familiar with those two parts of their respective capital cities but essentially they are bon chic bon genre.)
In the blazing sunshine on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year we wandered through the pretty rows of cobbled streets and sandstone terraces up to the Royal Botanic Garden, where we took time to view an exhibition The Hidden Beauty of Seeds and Fruits, which consisted of beautiful super macro photographs of clever seeds and descriptions of their wit and guile. It’s on for another week or so, so I’d recommend it profusely if you’re around.
We caught up on our latest news on a bench in the sunshine before wandering back for a drink in my hotel bar. I did like the Kimpton Hotel. It’s decor of rich, inviting colours is stylish and cosy and my room, though a small chambre de bonne, was well appointed and comfortable even though I never received the fruit plate I’d ordered. Oh well.
The next day showed a marked contrast in the weather. It was chilly and murky all day with intermittent rain and I was glad of my substantial leather leggings and boots. I joined Eliza at her flat and met one of her flatmates, Dominic who has a fledgling couture business (@slaney.couture) and is, I hope, currently making me a travel hat from a British Wool fabric lined with purple silk purchased from a local fabric emporium.
We visited a costume exhibit at the National Museum of Scotland and paused to see a taxidermised Dolly the Sheep complete with taxidermised poo then queued for our slot at the cat cafe. As we ate cake and drank tea, the cats enjoyed their nap time. A vegan supper and a walk back to the hotel through dismal mist rounded off my visit to Embra.
The next morning I boarded a packed train down to London. I stupidly had not made a reservation and my hopes of avoiding the crowds with an expensive first class ticket were dashed. There is little difference in between first and standard classes except that you don’t pay for your refreshments. You’re just subjected to Covidiocies from older, wealthier, more entitled Covidiots. Cowering in a corner, I somehow managed to avoid catching the virus.
A quick supper of frozen bolognaise originally made and frozen to take to my mother in law, thawed in the steam oven (it pays to be organised) and to bed and a deep sleep, though the constant chirping of the smoke alarm battery, which failed at 11pm.
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