Things That Go Bump In the Night

(Randy)

Our transatlantic flight was definitely the bumpiest I've ever encountered meaning that both of us woke up numerous times throughout the night.  That isn't an all together bad thing because that means we were absolutely wretchedly tired on Friday night and were able to sleep somewhat on local time!  Upon arrival in London, we were some of the last people off the plane, leaving us to race through immigration and security in a flash.

Neither of us realized that we'd be going through security again until the last moment and we both had full Nalgene bottles of water (32oz)!  It was either guzzle it or lose the bottles.  So, we definitely drank around 32 ounces of water apiece in a matter of minutes!  And on top of that, when we did finally reach our gate the plane was boarding.  No time for a bathroom break, so we were left going to the toilet two or three times apiece on an hour flight.  The flight attendant thought that was quite funny and made tons of jokes with us about it.

That leads me to my initial impression of the people here;  for the most part, they are extremely, extremely cheery and nice.  Katie made a great observation after stopping a woman for directions on the street:  in Boston the woman probably would have kept walking and ignored the hapless wanderers!  The people have been fairly gentle with our few cultural ignorances so far;  for example, I ordered toast at a cafe on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh Friday and asked what type they served.  The young girl looked at me quizzically and said, "We have....toast." So, then I asked if they had wheat and got an even more quizzical look.  After going to the grocery store, we realized that they call wheat bread either "wholemeal" or "brown."  And when we left a few pounds tip for our bus driver from the airport, he actually asked us why we were giving him money!  Obviously he didn't complain, but he did share a laugh with a fellow bus driver standing there when we tipped.


Two other quick observations and then I'll leave Katie to update you on the sites we've visited a little later.  Edinburgh is a walking town for tourists, especially as most of the major sites are located on the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile is a stretch that is just over a hard and fast mile, that runs from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyrood (the Queen's residence in Scotland and a place where some unsavory events in the life of Mary Queen of the Scot's took place).  Our hotel is a street off the Royal Mile, in between the Castle and the Palace;  the entire mile is a hill because the castle is located on an extinct volcano.  This means that wherever we go, we're sure to encounter part of the hill!  At the end of yesterday, both of us had sore feet and were ready to call it quits at around five o'clock local time.  Which is just fine...

Because everything here shuts down, even on Saturday around five!  Most of the major tourists sites, including the museums close for the day at five.  What's more, even the mall and lots of the stores close by six thirty, although the Tesco grocery store we visited did not close that early. The pubs and various restaurants are open late and I'm thinking it is either the room or a pub for us the rest of our trip at night.

So far, we've chose the room and have watched lots of BBC (British Broadcasting Corp) both nights.  The first night, we watched like two or three episodes of their version of Cops called Road Warriors.  And last night we watched The X Factor with the ever beloved Simon Cowell.  Well, that is probably enough for now and sorry for no pictures.  Katie will take care of that.  As you guys are sleeping, we are off to breakfast and another day of soaking in the sights and sounds of the beautiful Scottish capital.