Past two and half days in Edinburgh has been... Well, cold. In fact, for the 1st time in my life, well as far as my memory goes, I had snow down on me in a city. I have been to ski slope where it did snow, but never in a city and, I had experience it in Edinburgh. So, I don't have to remind you how I felt... COLD! BLOODY COLD!!
So, what have I been doing for the past few days. well, we arrived in Edinburgh Waverly station at about 15:16 on Fri afternoon. It was to Albyn Townhouse, where it will be our "home" for the next few days. It was quite an eye opener as we were "stuck" at the front door and being me, a novice, in this area, trying to find the door bell so as to get out of the cold into the house. Took a while as they were also do some renovation in their private area, but once she, Lydie, appeared, it was a breeze. We had a lovely large room, which I was told was previously a drawing room, in a Georgian house. This house previously belongs to the priest who was serving in the church which was diagonally across the house. Looks like priest at that time were rather rich.
I have to say this. This is my first time where I travel and stayed in a B&B setting. I don't really know what to expect, but this is a quite nice experience. I have to say this though, maybe it's the size of the room we had, but boy, it's a little cold in the morning when we wake up. The other is... it's very, very quiet... Nice if you like it and if you had not heard the sound of silence before, you would in the quiet night, without any noise and sounds (especially not from your ipods and mp3 players!) The sound can be deafening, that's how I felt anyway. But of course it was broken by some snoring, courtesy of my coz... *Grin*
Just a reminder, as I look out of the window and see the snow/fog that currently lit the scenery as I travel down to Oxenholme then to Windermere for my next part of my travel. It was unbelievable, it's snowing outside of the train, but I am sitting in the train, wearing just a t-shirt. Of course, my thick and heavy jacket is right beside me and hooked onto the side of the train, which I will be wearing once destination is on sight...
Oh where was I, yes Edinburgh. Well, we had a short trip on Friday, since it was already late when we reach Edinburgh, and first thing we see there is HMV. Yeap, went in a bought another 2 DVDs - Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence and some DVD on ABBA (which is not a official release from their production company, but well, you can't get it in Singapore).
Sat was spent on a 1 day tour to the Loch Ness and highlands. We took this Grey Line tour which Lydie has helped us in getting the tickets to. Was actually planned for this Rabbies Tour one, but since she has recommended this one and that they do pick you up from your accommodation area, it was good. The tour cost £36, without meals of course, starting at 8 am and back in Edinburgh at 8 pm. The driver/guide was Ross, and he's quite a funny guy, although I have to say, with different countries represented in the bus, some of his joke could fall quite flat if they had not known some of the background to it.
Had my first fish and chips from one of the stops we had in this tour. Not sure if it's the location but the fish was good, the chips, was, not very that great. Maybe I am not a chips person, more of a mash potato person... My chips had to be really fried right for me to enjoy it... As the bus journeyed on, the beauty of the landscape and views that we encountered reminds me how much that there has to be a creator. There has to be God in this world to provide us with such wonderful and magnificent mountains and vales. It's impossible for it to be a random big bang and then mass appears and it happened quite unexpectedly such views and scenery which had not changed much since its creation. Of course, there were slightly more population or industrialization in some tiny pockets, but still, the vast majority of these lands are not changed, and occupied and modernized like what we would see in Singapore.
Call me a cynic, but I doubt those pictures I see in the person's mobile phone is real. Maybe I am one of those that when I see it I believe it clan, but seriously, it does not look real. We had this cruise in Loch Ness, yes, remember Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster? Yeah, we had this cruise and this guy were telling us about the 18 of this mammal/creatures in the Loch Ness and the latest sighting by him was late last year where he was kayaking in the Loch and it appears about 25 seconds in between him and the shore. This cruise ship that we were in has this sonar thingy which allows you to create 3D of the Loch as well as some statistic of the depth of the bottom bed, etc. It was quite interesting to view those "live" feed of the Loch and the location we were at. And get this, there is a school of fish that is carnivores that swims at a certain depth and is rather large. If you happened to be swimming and it's their cycle where they would appear above the normal depth to feed on salmon and trout that can be found nearer to the surface till they breed to a certain sustainable level before they goes down into their usual depth and then cannibalized their own breed till the cycle starts again. If you happen to be swim then, well, you might just become fish food!
Then it was a nice drive back to Edinburgh with a pit stop at Pitlochy where we had the fish and chips. That was our dinner (and shared too).
Sun was supposed to be another day trip to St Andrews and the Kingdom of Fife. However, since it's funny that we are at Edinburgh and yet have not really gone round Edinburgh, so we had to drop the day tour. The day started with a Full Scottish breakfast but without the black pudding. I have yet to find out what is in this black pudding but I heard one of the ingredient is lamb's or pig's blood. This was a no-no for me, so no black pudding please. Oh, you want to know what is in this Full Scottish breakfast? It's Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, mushrooms, baked beans, and of course, if you want, black pudding. I am sure toast is somewhere in there, but already had a bowl of cereal, so no toast please!
Once we are "fatten" up, we left the b&b heading towards the Old Town area. It was a good 15-18 mins walk and this time, we stop at the bus stop opposite Sheraton to hop onto this Edinburgh tour bus. You pay £10 for a day, and you could hop on & off to the different sights/places of interest, like Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, The Dynamic Earth, Scottish Parliament House, etc. We even pass the house (17 Heriot Row) which Robert L Stevenson who wrote Robinson Crusoe, etc was born and stayed. There was also a place where JK Rowling was supposed to be sitting and writing Harry Potter stories as well. Then there was a school along the route where the school in Harry Potter was inspired from.
It was then headed for Edinburgh Castle. It was not the right day to visit it, with an hour waiting in line for the tickets, in the (very) cold, and strong wind! Wanted to head toward Holyrood Palace but by the time we finished the Castle, it was rather late and my coz wants to head to Princes St to get her stuff. So, we had to skip that location. Anyway, I had seen that place about 12 years ago, when I first landed in Edinburgh and had about half a day before heading for Dundee, so it was not all that bad. Funny thing is that she could not find her stuff at £1 at M&S, instead we bought ingredients to fix up a sandwich dinner. It was lovely, and at £3.785 for dinner. One of the cheapest meals we had.
So, now that we had hit Carlise, the scenery has changed, it's sunny, no longer snowing. In another hours time, we should be reaching Oxenholme and well, Lake district here we come!
Till then... Will write more.
Oh, did I mention Lydie has a hound dog name is Maya.
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