Our adventure begins

 Planes and Trains

Our adventure started with an automobile - we caught a ride to the VRE from our daughter. 

We took the VRE from Fredericksburg to L'Enfant metro station in DC, then took the metro to Dulles International Airport.

On arrival at Dulles we did not realize the Aer Lingus check-in counter did not open till 1:40. We had to wait several hours to check our luggage. Fortunately, there was a man already waiting to check-in there. He had traveled to DC from Belfast to attend the funeral of a friend in Arlington and we had a pleasant conversation with him and he provided many practical tips for driving in the UK. Unfortunately, we did not catch his name. Once we were able to check our bags we were able to use the lounge to relax before our flight.

Our first leg was overnight to Dublin. We were in business class so we had a nice dinner and were able to lay back and relax. A couple of questions arose though: what, exactly, are "drinks biscuits" and WHY would we want to eat them with onion jam?  It turns out that "drinks biscuits" are basically very small cookies, and onion jam is unusual, but not too bad.

Our flight from Dublin to Edinburgh was on a two engine propeller plane with limited service. Jeff slept for most of it while Gina...was annoyed, because Jeff slept through most of it. Though we had fully reclining seats on the overnight flight, sleeping on an airplane is NOT comfortable. Jeff made up for it on the short-haul flight, but Gina was unable to catch any shut-eye.

Once we arrived in Edinburgh we made our way to our accommodations. We stayed in a delightful place in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh. Our accommodations were down what Gina calls "hidey holes" - small alleys called "close," "wynd" or "end," that can either be dead ends or pass-through walkways or small streets. Ours had a gate, so it was not a pass-through.  Then we had to unlock a big, black door then walk up a small, circular staircase to our 1st floor accommodations.

From our living room window we could see the Edinburgh Castle. The view made up for any shortcomings our accommodations may have had. It was fabulous to wake up and see 1,000 years of history outside our window each morning!

Our first day was just trying to stay awake and roaming around the city. As we said above, sleep deprivation is a real thing on an overnight flight. Our day was spent wandering around the city in order to NOT fall asleep at 2:00. As it was, Gina managed to stay awake until about 8:15 and Jeff stayed up an hour or two more....

Victoria Street with Colorful Businesses

A Unicorn with a Scottish Flag...we didn't ask why

The Scott Monument

Edinburgh Castle from the backside

Saint Cuthbert's Church Cemetary with Edinburgh Castle in the background

Saint Giles Cathedral

The Scott Monument is in honor of Sir Walter Scott, who is probably Scotland's most famous author. We more or less stumbled upon St Cuthberth's Church. Walking through the cemetery, which is in the middle of the city, was a very peaceful and calming experience. A lot of the stones in the cemetery are to commemorate some who passed and were buried someplace else. A lot of the stones date to the 18th and early 19th centuries. 

Saint Giles Cathedral is ancient. It was founded in 1124 by Scotland's King David I and is still an active church. It has been in existence, on this same spot, for almost 900 years. It was the primary church of John Knox who led the Reformation in Scotland. John Knox called for the removal of Scotland's Queen Mary from the throne as she was Catholic.

Our apologies for not having videos on this blog. Our focus was mostly to stay awake for the day and get to sleep on a "local schedule," so we just took pictures. Our next blog will have some video of our first full day in Scotland. 

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