Nic
Strata Poster
So, this weekend, Sara and I put an end to 7 years of talking about going to Edinburgh, and actually got on with it!
Friday
We had hours until we could check into the hotel, so just kinda wandered round.
We went up to the Castle
The view from up there is lovely
Then we went for some lunch. What is not clear, is that the purple painting of a flower really, really looks like a Vadge
3pm arrived, so we went and checked into our hotel... the ever sexy Travelodge. But what's this???
It's all sideways!
Also had a shower instead of a bath. Freaked me out for a while.
But wait, I spy something familiar.....
Yes, I did check. No, neither of these ones say "U R GAY <3" on the back
We had a kip, then went to a couple of pubs in the evening. Nothing interesting.
Saturday
The lodge is on a sidestreet, halfway along the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a road, just longer than a mile, with the castle at one end, and Hollyrood/Parliament at the other. We'd done the Castle end, so decided to see what laid in store down the other end of the road.
The Scottish Parliament building is amazing
(sadly, the pics don't do it justice)
There wasn't much else to do, so we went inside. There were metal detectors and scary men everywhere, so I didn't take any photos, even though I probably could've done. All I know is that it's a million times sexier than the council chamber at work. Although the carpet is hideous.
You have to pay to get into Hollyrood Palace, and we're cheapskates, so I just took some pics through the fence
If you've ever in Edinburgh, go here for lunch.
Best toastie I've ever had with crisps and homemade coleslaw, and a bargain at £2.75. Oh, and anywhere that has Weston's Scrumpy on tap can't be bad. Plus, they have this awesome ceiling
Next up was The Scotch Whisky Experience. We wanted to go to a real distillery instead, but just couldn't arrange it for various reasons, so settled for going here instead. It's got a real kind of Merlin air about it. Basically, it's a bit of a rip off, and there's not much there... but it's aimed at foreign tourists, so they get away with it.
I didn't care though... at least, not by the time we left. We went for the more expensive ticket, which included 5 shots of Whisky to taste
Yeah, that didn't end well.
Sunday
We were booked onto a coach tour for the day, so had to be up bright and early to get there on time. We had breakfast, boarded the coach, and off we went.
This wasn't any ordinary coach tour though. It's called The Hairy Coo. Basically, they don't charge a set price, you pay at the end however much you feel it was worth. It's run by two local guys and they currently only have the one bus (called Irene!), but are hoping to get a 2nd one soon. If you're ever in Edinburgh, book yourself on there for the day - I can't recommend it highly enough. There's a reason why they're rated number 1 on Trip Advisor for things to do in Edinburgh. Our tour guide/driver for the day, Donald was utterly awesome. Very knowledgeable and very funny. Anyhoo...
The first stop was at the Forth Bridge(s)
Next up was Wallace Monument
Then onto the place I was most looking forward to...
Doune Castle
Why was I so excited about this? Here's a clue...
COCONUTS!
No? I fart in your general direction!
Just imagine livestock cascading down and a cow landing on someone's head...
Yes, that's right, it's the castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail <3
Anyway, yes, talking of cows... Or, well, Hairy Coos! This one's called Hamish
He's got a girlfriend called Heather. She's up the duff.
As mentioned earlier, this one's called Irene...
From there, we headed up into the mountains. We stopped of at Loch Katrine
Fed some more hairy coos
Then went up into the Trossachs National Park
Last stop was the very peaceful (and very frozen) Lake of Menteith.
In the evening we went to The Stand comedy club. It was generally very funny. Hurrah!
Monday
Got up late and went to The Real Mary King's Close. It was basically a couple of streets with a ton of houses that the council concreted over to build the City Hall. You're led through what is essentially an underground warren of low ceilinged brick rooms whilst being fed increasingly unbelievable tales of what apparently happened in there.
After that we went to the National Gallery to kill a few minutes. It was almost entirely portraits, and therefore really not my thing. They've got a couple of Turner's that are alright, but apart from that, a bit dull.
They've got this cool map thing outside though
Then that was it, we came home. The end.
Friday
We had hours until we could check into the hotel, so just kinda wandered round.
We went up to the Castle
The view from up there is lovely
Then we went for some lunch. What is not clear, is that the purple painting of a flower really, really looks like a Vadge
3pm arrived, so we went and checked into our hotel... the ever sexy Travelodge. But what's this???
It's all sideways!
Also had a shower instead of a bath. Freaked me out for a while.
But wait, I spy something familiar.....
Yes, I did check. No, neither of these ones say "U R GAY <3" on the back
We had a kip, then went to a couple of pubs in the evening. Nothing interesting.
Saturday
The lodge is on a sidestreet, halfway along the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a road, just longer than a mile, with the castle at one end, and Hollyrood/Parliament at the other. We'd done the Castle end, so decided to see what laid in store down the other end of the road.
The Scottish Parliament building is amazing
(sadly, the pics don't do it justice)
There wasn't much else to do, so we went inside. There were metal detectors and scary men everywhere, so I didn't take any photos, even though I probably could've done. All I know is that it's a million times sexier than the council chamber at work. Although the carpet is hideous.
You have to pay to get into Hollyrood Palace, and we're cheapskates, so I just took some pics through the fence
If you've ever in Edinburgh, go here for lunch.
Best toastie I've ever had with crisps and homemade coleslaw, and a bargain at £2.75. Oh, and anywhere that has Weston's Scrumpy on tap can't be bad. Plus, they have this awesome ceiling
Next up was The Scotch Whisky Experience. We wanted to go to a real distillery instead, but just couldn't arrange it for various reasons, so settled for going here instead. It's got a real kind of Merlin air about it. Basically, it's a bit of a rip off, and there's not much there... but it's aimed at foreign tourists, so they get away with it.
I didn't care though... at least, not by the time we left. We went for the more expensive ticket, which included 5 shots of Whisky to taste
Yeah, that didn't end well.
Sunday
We were booked onto a coach tour for the day, so had to be up bright and early to get there on time. We had breakfast, boarded the coach, and off we went.
This wasn't any ordinary coach tour though. It's called The Hairy Coo. Basically, they don't charge a set price, you pay at the end however much you feel it was worth. It's run by two local guys and they currently only have the one bus (called Irene!), but are hoping to get a 2nd one soon. If you're ever in Edinburgh, book yourself on there for the day - I can't recommend it highly enough. There's a reason why they're rated number 1 on Trip Advisor for things to do in Edinburgh. Our tour guide/driver for the day, Donald was utterly awesome. Very knowledgeable and very funny. Anyhoo...
The first stop was at the Forth Bridge(s)
Next up was Wallace Monument
Then onto the place I was most looking forward to...
Doune Castle
Why was I so excited about this? Here's a clue...
COCONUTS!
No? I fart in your general direction!
Just imagine livestock cascading down and a cow landing on someone's head...
Yes, that's right, it's the castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail <3
Anyway, yes, talking of cows... Or, well, Hairy Coos! This one's called Hamish
He's got a girlfriend called Heather. She's up the duff.
As mentioned earlier, this one's called Irene...
From there, we headed up into the mountains. We stopped of at Loch Katrine
Fed some more hairy coos
Then went up into the Trossachs National Park
Last stop was the very peaceful (and very frozen) Lake of Menteith.
In the evening we went to The Stand comedy club. It was generally very funny. Hurrah!
Monday
Got up late and went to The Real Mary King's Close. It was basically a couple of streets with a ton of houses that the council concreted over to build the City Hall. You're led through what is essentially an underground warren of low ceilinged brick rooms whilst being fed increasingly unbelievable tales of what apparently happened in there.
After that we went to the National Gallery to kill a few minutes. It was almost entirely portraits, and therefore really not my thing. They've got a couple of Turner's that are alright, but apart from that, a bit dull.
They've got this cool map thing outside though
Then that was it, we came home. The end.
