On our way up the Royal Mile we took in the ridiculous amount of touristy tartan trash and the equally ridiculously beautiful stretches of seriously old style...and then just happened to bump into the Tarbottons on the corner and had tea. Of course.
The next day, we headed to the island of Lismore for a couple of nights of slow and cosy farm living. We joined Archie, his daugher Ann, her husband John, and her sons. Archie's other daughter Sarah was there as well, with her sons, for lunch, and the moment we walked in we felt like part of the family. Bread, cheese and tea on the table, sheep and furry cows wandering around outside the window. Absolutely perfect. It felt like more than just a day and a half, but we managed to cover a good part of the island...having a tour of Sarah's lovely studio on the sea (during which I happily adopted one Lavinia), taking in the one general store and the one cafe on our travels (of course), along with most of the sights (which are surprisingly plentiful for such a small island, I might add).
Despite hearing that the airports might close again (go volcano go!), we did have to head back on Tuesday, but we took a meandering route to allow for a tour of the Oban distillery, a scenic drive through the highland moors, lunch and a charity shop in Callender, a drive-by wave at two of the castles that appear in the Monty Python movies, and a self-guided tour of the Falkirk Wheel. Jaya was a road-tripping star, which was really what made it all possible.
That night was one of the much-anticipated highlights. An evening out. Even though we didn't get out of the house until 9pm and only managed dinner, it was still everything I had hoped and dreamed. We went to the recommended David Bann (thanks Zoe!) and were suitably thrilled by everything. Super yummy flavours, awesome combinations, gorgeous looking plates. We had wine, we talked, we canoodled. It was like a real date. With a curfew and guaranteed middle-of-the-night wakings by small screaming child, but still.
On our last day in Edinburgh, we managed to combine quite a number of city highlights with a leisurely pace, which was just right for a last day. We headed up Arthur's Seat with Lois and Archie, romped on the grass in the gorgeous sun (our first really warm day the entire trip), had lunch at the Sheep's Heed (just the oldest pub in Scotland, don'cha know), took a tour of Edinburgh's secret garden (I'd tell you where it is, but then I'd have to, you know, kill you), went downtown to one of the national galleries, wandered through Princess Gardens, took a double decker bus home, ate dinner, packed our bags, and crashed.
No comments:
Post a Comment