Friday, May 6, 2011

I’m sitting in the hotel room with the window (it must be 8’ tall) open and the church bells are chiming, chiming, chiming in the background. It’s been going on for 20 minutes now – so wonderful. Not sure if this is an everyday occurrence, but what a nice way to announce the end of the day!

As our FB friends may have read, we had some trouble getting here – delay in RIC, delay on RIC and Newark tarmacs, missed the Edinburgh flight by 2 minutes – but amazingly enough, there was another Continental Edinburgh flight 2 hours later. We ducked into an airport wine bar and sampled a red & white flight while we waited. Nice enough way to pass the time.

Flight was as good as a 6+ hour flight can be, but thankfully it was only the two of us in a 3-seat emergency row block. The extra leg room helps tall Farley so much and being able to spread out sure made sleeping easier. We both managed a couple of cat naps.

Arrival at Edinburgh airport was quick and easy. We lucked into a chatty, friendly cabbie and in no time at all we were delivered to the Royal Caledonian Hilton. What a fantastic place! It reminds me of The Jefferson or The Homestead – it is that posh and elegant but feels even more

historic than those two do. Farley has oodles of points on his Hilton Club card so we ended up with the Sir Walter Scott suite. Here is a pic of our living room and bedroom and then a pic of the view out the living room window. That is Edinburgh Castle on the hill – I guess the most famous site in the city. It’s magical to see that so close.

Due to our late arrival, poor Farley did not have much down time before he hustled off to the conference. I was able to start right in on sightseeing, caught a bus out to tour the Royal Britannia yacht. It was in service for the Windsor family from 1953-1997. It was fascinating. Of course, it looked old, but it had a lot of charm and if those decks could talk about the places they’ve been and the dignitaries they’ve hosted, it would be enthralling. This is a pic of the sitting room on board; it was all designed to look like a country house (on the ocean). I’ve also attached a pic of the Queen’s stateroom, pretty simple accommodations for her royal highness. Had a nice cup of tea at the tea room on board when my tour was over. Did I mention that I almost fell asleep on the bus during the drive out and then again during the drive back? I admit, I’m pretty tired.

Tomorrow will be a full day, starting with breakfast with Farley before he heads back to the conference. I hope to work out briefly (2 ergs in the cardio room!! Scotland is a big rowing country.), then castle tour and walk the Royal Mile and surrounding streets per detailed instructions from my new friend Ross M. Thanks for the info Ross! Tomorrow night, courtesy of Farley’s conference, we will be bused to a dinner at a beautiful (the pic is anyway) country home called Hopetoun House.

I’ll close this first blog posting with the bells STILL pealing outside and a shot of the bell on board Brittania today. Loving this seranade as we wrap up the day!