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My football pub watching experience last night was a success. Manchester City won 1-0 and I chatted with the two other City fans in the pub (the rest where watching the Liverpool match on at the same time). When I mentioned that I was from MInneapolis, one of them immediately brought up Prince. He was a big Prince fan. I also put two bets on the match, one that City would tie and one that they would lose. I figured no matter what happened I would get something out of the game.
This morning Ellie and I headed to the train station for our trip north to Edinburgh. While on the train, we sat next to young man who was having quite the conversation on his phone with a friend. A lot of swear words and explaining how tough he is. I think he was also trying to pull a fast one on the train steward as he was insisting he was 13 so still he could get a child’s ticket. I don’t think he was 13. He got off at Newcastle.
We made to Edinburgh around noon and dropped our luggage off at the train station because we were going hiking! Ellie suggested we tackle Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano that towers over Edinburgh. It was quite a hike! It took us about an hour to walk up the rocky and uneven path and it was worth it. The views were spectacular (see the photos!). The wind at the top was gail force. I thought it would knock us down. Someone brought their dog up there and I thought it would blow away! The walk down was a breeze (no pun intended). We walked back to the station, picked up our luggage, and headed south toward our hotel. We stopped at a cafe and got some lunch (we were very hungry after that hike). We made it to our hotel around 4:00 and checked in. One of my goals in Edinburgh was to go to Tynecastle Park, home of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. When we were here in 1999 we saw a match. Ellie stayed in the hotel room and I walked down to the stadium and had a half pint of Tennent’s at the Tynecastle Arms, the pub right next to the stadium. It is a shrine to Hearts. There are photos and signed jerseys all over the walls. I would imagine this place is packed on match days!
On the way back I stopped at this cool old rundown cemetery. It was overgrown and many of the headstones were knocked over. I was struck by one headstone of a young soldier who died in 1916 at age 19 1/2.
Ellie had rested while I was gone and was ready to head out when I got back. After a quick FaceTime with Amy we walked over to Dean’s Village, a peaceful and quaint area of the city. Walking through it you forget you are still in a major metropolitan area. A stream runs through it and there are old buildings surrounding the stream. It started to rain as we began our walk there and continued for about 20 minutes. We got drenched. We were wet and hungry and found a nice pub not too far away. I went full on Scottish for my meal. I ordered a whiskey with a Scottish ale for drinks and haggis, neeps, and tatties for dinner (haggis a type of pudding composed of the liver, heart, and lungs of a sheep (or other animal), minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper, and other spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep's stomach and boiled. Neeps are mashed turnips. Tatties are mashed potatoes.)
Ellie had Mac and cheese and a cider. We ate in the pub’s basement where it was warm an cozy and we could dry off. We went back to the hotel and went to bed.
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Birgitta Bolling Rob, true Viking DNA coming through I'd say! Quite an explorer!! I loved that you stopped by the young soldier; 1st WW I guess? Love from us, Birgitta