Piries Edinburgh

We are visiting the UK and Norway at the end of May and first part of June in 2010. I have never been to Europe and am very excited about it.

Our daughter has been attending Kingston University this past year so we are going to see her, travel and pack her up to come home. We have family in Stavanger so we don't need hotels and ...

... is screaming for mercy. Found some very nice cookies though, yum!

Time for some wandering! We didn't hit the Royal Mile unfortunately, but we did get a good wander up and down Princes Street. Waiting around in Pizza Hut for some food, just having a general laugh.. who needs to be touristy when you get the full-on local effect?

And the best part was.. SNOW! Very random and very light, but it was there :)

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom kilgiraffe

Fun trip to Murrayfield for Scotland v Fiji.....lots of happy Scottish faces after the win, boys in fancydress, stag parties galore, chuc-chucs ferrying folks home in the rain, great cocktails in an Italian Jazz bar and running to catch last train back home on a busy busy Saturday night train heading South.

... compound where they conduct top secret research on such important issues as traveler weariness, which oversized carry-on bag can be squashed down enough to fit in the overhead bins, and how airlines can pinch every last euro from unsuspecting passengers. In reality, “area 14” is the check-in for Aer Lingus flights to the UK, Italy, and Germany. I had no trouble finding it since there were signs posted at the terminal entrance (yay!) and I had the good sense to ...

... driving us across the local housing estate (and telling us we probably should walk through there on our own) the taxi driver drops us at our inn, which is lovely and has an honor bar (which we'll be visiting shortly). We freshen up, then grab a glass of Tennents (brewed in Glasgow, essentially by Anheuser-Busch ) downstairs while we read brochures and examine maps. There are 2 bus lines that pass directly in front of our ...

What was supposed to start out as a 3 day tour of Scotland, a day in Dublin, a 3 day tour of Ireland, and a day in Belfast quickly had to be adapted. As I arrived at the train station to catch my train from London to Edinburgh, I was not allowed to get on the train. Apparently purchasing a ticket on the internet is not good enough to get onto a train. I was without a seat ...

... at the hostel and we have hiked and walked and seen so much of this place. We saw a burial ground where John Knox's family is buried, hiked to the top of King Arthur's Seat, and walked miles and miles through the streets and eaten some incredible kabobs and now it's about time for a nap. I've only got 3 minutes left of internet time so I have to wrap it up, but I'll try to post more details tomorrow. Love you all! See you in a week! -D

... good. Let's just keep it simple, there is no reason to attempt to serve curry at 30,000 feet. (Just a note to airlines everywhere!). Not that I really cared though, my clocks were all screwed up at this point. There weren't really any other movies I wanted to watch afterwards, so I proceeded to sleep fitfully for a few hours. Ugh, no sleep would have likely been better than the discomfort of upright, cold airplane seating. Finally in Amsterdam where I again had to kill ...

... Jack, (mums dad)according to Oma my grandmother. Think I found it, so took some photos anyway? Never having met my grandpa Jack all I could go by was if he resembled my brother Dave or uncles....maybe kinda did?...who knows really...good story though?! Anyway, Met up with Olly when she had finished work and she took me to a pub in the old town. People in Ireland and Scotland are so much friendlier than London. As soon as we walked in I had this crazy little Irish man asking ...

... dancing with and innocent and now stuttering Australian visitor, who was getting his work trousers unbuttoned - the following 3 minutes an unrepenting display of exhibitionism, courstey of your friendly Edinburgh Karaoke MC. I wasn't particularly embarrassed and had a great laugh and it was another example of always expecting the unexpected in a place like Edinburgh. Retreating to the chair to recoup I sat back as Brendan took the stage for a frighteningly accurate Sinatra ...