Bridget's Edinburgh Fail
Hi all, hope you are enjoying Paul and Sairey’s blogs, they’re doing an amazing job. And from the non-mac member of the band, here is my Edinburgh experience. (Sorry about the time backtrack!)
Firstly, I missed breakfast. Fail one. Oops... but it was for a very good reason, sleep and phone calls home just seemed more important at the time. So eventually I wandered out of the room around 10.30ish and thought I would just pick a direction and start walking. Surely I would hit the town eventually. Well instead I hit a motorway... after about half an hour of walking... not exactly the start I’d planned but I was enjoyed the walk so wasn’t too worried. Fail two. After breaking my own pact and asking at a post office for directions, I walked back exactly the way I had come and turned down the other street to head towards town.
I love looking at all the buildings and stopped endlessly to take photos (unfortunately which are stuck on my camera so you’ll just have to imagine it). After another half an hour or so I seemed to hit a town-like area and saw a street name that I recognised - Princes Street. So off I trotted in search of some good shopping (funnily enough Paul doesn’t care for waiting around while I try on clothes so I thought my solo mission was the perfect shopping excuse). Except that I didn’t buy anything. Fail three.
Princes Street was a mess of roadworks, but after heading down the shop side and not finding much I decided to head for the park. That was beautiful and I had a lovely time strolling along, finding the odd monument or two, and in full view of the spectacular looking Edinburgh Castle. I could also see a beautiful bridge which i decided would be my next target... and finally a win, it lead to the Royal Mile. Woohoo!! More seriously old buildings, photos and some great kitch touristy shops. Oh and I wandered past about 5 be-kilted bagpipers on my travels, and always seemed to catch them playing Amazing Grace.
My next win, finding the MacIntosh jewelry store and my only purchase of the day, a beautiful ring. I have loved MacIntosh jewelry for years - he used to be an architect then turned his expertise to jewelry so it’s really unusual.
At this point I had been walking for about 4 hours. Remembering that I had not eaten breakfast, I thought that I would start to walk back in the direction of the hotel and pick up some food one the way. Fail four. I found myself standing under the bridge i needed to be on top of, with a giant stair mountain laughing at me as the only way to the top.
Back over the bridge, a brief pause for another phone call to Tom, telling him that I could see no less than 4 clock towers from where I was sitting. Then miraculously found Leith Walk again which would take me back towards the hotel. Or so I thought. What had been a 30 minute walk in, ended up taking close to 2 hours of me wandering in circles around the back streets of Edinburgh - cold, tired and still foodless (and might I add in fairly severe need of a loo!). Fail five!! I finally spotted the park that I thought was in front of the hotel, and wandered down a little alley way. I then discovered how big the park was, and how many navy blue cars seemed to be on the outskirts. I finally made it back to my room, kicked my shoes off, only to discover that my entire little toe had become a giant red blister. Fail six!! The sight of it earned a half disgusted/half impressed ‘OH MY GOD’ from Sarah and some good hikers advice from Paul.
So that was my day in Edinburgh. It looked up immediately after that with a gig and meeting up with Bec so don’t worry!!
Until next time...
Firstly, I missed breakfast. Fail one. Oops... but it was for a very good reason, sleep and phone calls home just seemed more important at the time. So eventually I wandered out of the room around 10.30ish and thought I would just pick a direction and start walking. Surely I would hit the town eventually. Well instead I hit a motorway... after about half an hour of walking... not exactly the start I’d planned but I was enjoyed the walk so wasn’t too worried. Fail two. After breaking my own pact and asking at a post office for directions, I walked back exactly the way I had come and turned down the other street to head towards town.
I love looking at all the buildings and stopped endlessly to take photos (unfortunately which are stuck on my camera so you’ll just have to imagine it). After another half an hour or so I seemed to hit a town-like area and saw a street name that I recognised - Princes Street. So off I trotted in search of some good shopping (funnily enough Paul doesn’t care for waiting around while I try on clothes so I thought my solo mission was the perfect shopping excuse). Except that I didn’t buy anything. Fail three.
Princes Street was a mess of roadworks, but after heading down the shop side and not finding much I decided to head for the park. That was beautiful and I had a lovely time strolling along, finding the odd monument or two, and in full view of the spectacular looking Edinburgh Castle. I could also see a beautiful bridge which i decided would be my next target... and finally a win, it lead to the Royal Mile. Woohoo!! More seriously old buildings, photos and some great kitch touristy shops. Oh and I wandered past about 5 be-kilted bagpipers on my travels, and always seemed to catch them playing Amazing Grace.
My next win, finding the MacIntosh jewelry store and my only purchase of the day, a beautiful ring. I have loved MacIntosh jewelry for years - he used to be an architect then turned his expertise to jewelry so it’s really unusual.
At this point I had been walking for about 4 hours. Remembering that I had not eaten breakfast, I thought that I would start to walk back in the direction of the hotel and pick up some food one the way. Fail four. I found myself standing under the bridge i needed to be on top of, with a giant stair mountain laughing at me as the only way to the top.
Back over the bridge, a brief pause for another phone call to Tom, telling him that I could see no less than 4 clock towers from where I was sitting. Then miraculously found Leith Walk again which would take me back towards the hotel. Or so I thought. What had been a 30 minute walk in, ended up taking close to 2 hours of me wandering in circles around the back streets of Edinburgh - cold, tired and still foodless (and might I add in fairly severe need of a loo!). Fail five!! I finally spotted the park that I thought was in front of the hotel, and wandered down a little alley way. I then discovered how big the park was, and how many navy blue cars seemed to be on the outskirts. I finally made it back to my room, kicked my shoes off, only to discover that my entire little toe had become a giant red blister. Fail six!! The sight of it earned a half disgusted/half impressed ‘OH MY GOD’ from Sarah and some good hikers advice from Paul.
So that was my day in Edinburgh. It looked up immediately after that with a gig and meeting up with Bec so don’t worry!!
Until next time...
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Castles and turrets and moats… Oh my!
Coming into this tour I had two non-musical aims… to try as many different types of cider as possible (which is going very well!) and to visit some castles. My first castle experience was certainly a good one, with a visit to Hever Castle in Kent satisfying my desire to wander around some seriously old beautiful buildings and gardens… and of course meeting the requirements of Sarah’s Henry VIII obsession.
Hever castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, one of Henry’s less fortunate wives, and the history behind it all was thoroughly interesting. Of course in true Súnas style we found ourselves singing very inappropriate songs that Paul assures me would get me stoned if heard by the wrong people.
The castle itself though is on the most amazing grounds, with gardens that stretch for miles, complete with a giant man-made (or dug) lake, two mazes and a few interestingly positioned statues. And of course, an essential for any good castle, there was a moat with some arm-sized man-eating gold fish!
We spent hours wandering the grounds, inside and out of the castle and just generally enjoying this amazing place. And being the sentimental fool that I am, I came out of Ye Olde Castle Gift Shop with a copy of the love letters between Henry and Anne, the last of which was written as she sat in the Tower of London awaiting execution… and still signed off ‘your ever faithful servant and wife, Anne’.
One final thought to take away… Water mazes are not fun and it gets pretty cold after having cold water sprayed down your back!
Hever castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, one of Henry’s less fortunate wives, and the history behind it all was thoroughly interesting. Of course in true Súnas style we found ourselves singing very inappropriate songs that Paul assures me would get me stoned if heard by the wrong people.
The castle itself though is on the most amazing grounds, with gardens that stretch for miles, complete with a giant man-made (or dug) lake, two mazes and a few interestingly positioned statues. And of course, an essential for any good castle, there was a moat with some arm-sized man-eating gold fish!
We spent hours wandering the grounds, inside and out of the castle and just generally enjoying this amazing place. And being the sentimental fool that I am, I came out of Ye Olde Castle Gift Shop with a copy of the love letters between Henry and Anne, the last of which was written as she sat in the Tower of London awaiting execution… and still signed off ‘your ever faithful servant and wife, Anne’.
One final thought to take away… Water mazes are not fun and it gets pretty cold after having cold water sprayed down your back!
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