The overnight train from London to Edinburgh was quite an experience. I knew sleeper cars were small, but we could barely fit our luggage and ourselves in the berth at the same time. But we managed to get settled in and get to sleep.
The next morning we were awakened with some hot tea, as we pulled into Edinburgh. We jumped off the train and made our way to the rental car facility.
We got our Mitsubishi Colt and jumped into UK driving with both feet. It was pretty nerve wracking, but I got used to it fairly quick.
We arrived at the Marriot Dalmahoy at about 10:30 am local time and were pleased to find put we could check in early. It was really bice to finally have a place to settle in to.
After getting set up in the room and taking a few minutes to relax, we jumped back into the car and drove back into Edinburgh to check out the castle and get some lunch. We ended up parking a fair walk from the “Royal Mile” but after a quick hike, we were touring the most quinticential castle. It was a really neat place, especially because of its location on top of a huge rocky crag. We ate lunch at the castle in the cafe overlooking the city. The cafe had some pretty good food. We had pea & ham soup with tuna & cucumber sandwiches.
After finishing our tour of the castle we walked down the Royal Mile and looked at all the amazing old stone buildings. There was so much to look at and so much great archtecture. Near the end, we stopped in Clarinda’s Tea Shop and had a pot of tea and some treats.
It was getting dark as we left, so we started hiking back to the car, which at this point was about 45m walk. We headed back to the car a different route and saw a whole bunch more of the city.
For dinner tonight we decided to trek to another nearby town to go to a grocery store and get some cheap grub. Getting there was a bit of an experience, driving in Scitland is one thing, driving in Scotland at night is a whole different experience. But after a…..interesting & stressful journey, we hit the grocery store, only to find out – it’s a Walmart. Years and years of avoiding Walmart, only to be forced into one in the last place we would have expected.
Cheese, bread, salami, some apples, and rice pudding for treat, and it was time to take our first showers in 72 hours. Yeck! But boy did that feel nice. And then we get to sleep in a real bed. It’s about time!
