Edinburgh and back

We're back from Edinburgh.  Actually we're already gone again, to Washington DC for a little while, but we're so delinquent in our postings that let's put aside that inconvenient truth for now.

Allie kicked her fever and runny nose on our 3rd or 4th day in Edinburgh, so the trip could be salvaged. However, the weather was unrelentingly...well, Scottish. It rained at least some everyday, usually accompanied by winds that the local weatherpeople referred to as "a bit blustery."  We were soon to learn that "a bit blustery" is the Scottish (or is it Scotch?) euphemism for "gale force winds."  You know, the kind where you have to lean into them just to stop from being blown over? I expected to see old women blowing by like tumbleweeds in a Western, but I didn't. Maybe they got rolled into the bus stop shelters and piled up.

Anyway, my conference successfully concluded, we walked up to Edinburgh Castle during a break in the rain. We lured Allie there by telling her we could look for the King and the Queen, but of course they weren't there that day. However, we did get some nice views of the city and a little bit of Scotland's history.  Kind of neat to be in a place where people have lived, worked and fought for the better part of 2,000 years. Most of the castle only dates back to the 16th century, if I remember correctly, but it's still pretty nifty.

After that we walked the Royal Mile (the stretch between the Castle and Holyrood Palace where the royal family still stays when they come to Edinburgh) and back again, ducking into pubs to warm up and have a pint. That was where we discovered a horrible law in the U.K. that requires "kid licenses" in establishments where alcohol is served or children can't come in. How ridiculous is that? Few places have knuckled under to this asinine government scheme, so as a result we got turned away from more places than we got in. This would never happen in Ireland.

Later, Allie was well enough to go in the hotel pool with Papa, her first swim in nearly 6 months. Magic! as the French like to say in English.  Pretty sweet hotel, if we haven't already mentioned. The Roxburghe in Charlotte Square. It's especially sweet at the government rate.

So our Scotland adventure is over, and not a single sheep. If we come back (and we'd like to) we'll hit the highlands. Plenty of 'em there!