Scotland Day 2: An American Restaurant

  It was not my morning.  I woke up and got the salmon with scrambled eggs.  That list I read before also mentioned that Scottish salmon was better than from everyone else.  It tasted a lot like the others I have had.

  I then went to upload pictures on the last post and found it hasn't saved what I had typed out...for the second time.  So while sitting on a bus I tried to re-retype it.  All of this while my right contact was doing weird things in my eye.  I, of course, forgot my glasses as well.

  It was a cool walk to Edinburgh castle.  While wandering around I got separated and did most of the castle on my own.  It seems I missed being in most if the crowds, so that was nice.  But I also missed the changing of the guards.

  We then headed to The Whiskey Shop and the boys tried a few.  Heather and I tried some as well and we found one that I thought wasn't bad.  Bill was shocked.  My contact also decided to settle down at that point.

  Lunch was fish ‘n chips and mushy peas at The Red Squirrel.  How English of me.  The tartar sauce was better than I was used to, I think there was lemon in it or something.

  We also had haggis balls.  They were bits of haggis that had been breaded and fried.  Odd, but good.

  On the way to the bus we stopped by a statue of a bear.  He unloaded artillery shells for the Polish Army.

  We then took the bus to another castle.  We like castles.  Craingmillar didn’t have many roofs left, but there were labeled rooms.  There was a prison with a toilet, a grand hall, a basement, and a wine cellar.  While that wasn't all of the rooms, those were some of the more interesting ones.

  We then hopped back on the bus because Bill and I were going for a tour in The Real Mary King’s Close.  It was a really good tour.  There was a ghost story, but they don't let you lick the green arsenic walls.  I highly recommend it, especially since you aren't allowed to take pictures so I can't show you here.  There are also some Hogwarts-talking picture shenanigans.

  I saw a fabric shop along the bus route and wanted to stop in.  I also wanted to take a break in the hotel because my feet still hurt from yesterday.  We got back and I was going to just drop off my bag and head back out.  Unfortunately they close at 7pm and I found this out at 7:05pm.  If I had gotten off right after we left from Mary’s Close I could have looked around.  I saw some yarn in their window and was curious.  Luckily we have some yarn shops in mind for the trip or I would have been bummed out.

  I also saw a charity thrift store called Cat's Protection.  The money goes to help cats find a loving home and to also help spay the neuter cats so the problem doesn't get worse.

  The other half of our group tried the Italian food while we were looking around Mary’s Close.  I was told there might have been curry.  So it seems that while Germany leans towards Italy when making Italian food, Scotland leans towards India.  They at least start with the same letter.

  When I was more ready for dinner, I wanted to go to The Pie Maker.  They were closed so we kept walking.  We ended up at The Filling Station, which claimed to be an American restaurant.  The universe seemed to want us to go there.  It was starting to rain a little as we neared, then a bit harder, and as I walked under the awning it started to pour out.

  I got haggis cake and a key lime martini.  While haggis is not American, I want to get it when I can.  We also got the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.  The cake was awesome and had dates in it!

  After we got back we had some of the sherry and shortbread the hotel provided.  Another late night with an early morning to come.