Edinburgh #1

We had a charming breakfast in our hotel. Guests from the wedding that was held there last night wandered in, looking a little the worse for wear but still in high good spirits. The young lad, who was straight out of a Dickens novel, was serving. Anne asked for Earl Grey Tea. He looked panic striken for a moment then vanished, to return triumphantly bearing a pot of green tea. But we were well fed and ready for the day.

We discovered as we were leaving that our train tickets were at the right time, to the right station, but for the wrong day. Dunkeld is not a staffed station, so we tried calling the number listed if you wanted to alter a booking, to be told that we needed to go to a station. Anne pointed out that we were at a station but there was noone there. Go to another station was the helpful response.

We decided to get on the train and buy another ticket if we had to. When the train appeared, I carried over some heavy wooden steps so Anne could climb up the three foot gap to the first Step of the train. It proved to be a popular piece of temporary infrastructure - most of the people waiting on the platform rushed over to use it.

The train conductor was a nice gentleman who didn't charge us, "a mistake, ye didna mean to do, did ye, and ye will nae do it again", and the trip was pleasant except for the two girls talking animated nonsense in the seat behind us. But you can't have everything.

We have been in small idyllic places for the last week, so the gritty surrounds of Edinburgh train station were a bit of a shock. And the slog up the stairs to the plateau on which much of the city is built didn't help. I got a tad geographically challenged, but a kindly if rather rough looking older chap gave us clear directions, apologized for the steepness of the stairs, and sent me on my way up the disturbingly named Fleshmarket   Close with an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

We decided today was the day to catch up on our washing, I identified a laundromat in the vicinity, and we bundled up the laundry and headed down there, only to find that laundromats here close at 4 on Sundays and we would not have time to complete wash and dry cycles. Given that exactly the same thing happened to us a week ago in Glasgow, you might think we would learn.

We found a great Italian restaurant, complete with the most over the top Italianate murals. Italian food is closest to what we mostly eat at home, and seems to agree with us, and Caio Roma is cheerful, unpretentious, and very good.

Restored by some good food, we went for a stroll through the remarkable city of Edinburgh. The abundance of amazing buildings and vistas around every corner is head spinning. And the levels are disconcerting - you are walking along a street and suddenly there is a street at right angles but 100 feet below. Rather like being in an Escher painting. And there are lots of interesting monuments and carvings. I liked the rampant stags on the Walter Scott monument outside St Giles.

We are glad to be staying in one place for a while, and it looks like there is plenty to explore here.