Edinburgh Day #2
[Photos from 24 September 2016, posted online 7 January 2017. Two posts in one day? No way!]
On the Saturday we walked around downtown some more, did some more shopping, then ventured up to the castle hill, but didn’t stay there very long. In the evening we took a taxi to an opulent restaurant in an old manor. It was delightful! (47 images total)
Totally awake, waiting for breakfast. (I’m amazed we made it there by 10 am!)
We again hunted for stuff on Princes Street, and the next time the camera came up was when we stopped for lunch at this scenic restaurant.
The place turned out to be at the top floor of a big fancy department store, and it was very busy. We managed to get two 2-person tables, and only after haggling for a bit with the waiter were we allowed to push them together!
Finnur steeling himself for eating lunch just with the wifey. (No, he’s just ordering stuff… I hope!)
The food arrived, and was sadly not very fantastic.
After lunch we decided we’d had enough of shopping, and went hiking towards the castle. That’s not it!
That backdrop is what’s to the left of the castle.
Totally still teenagers.
Take two, now with a more impressive backdrop.
Adda and Halli, looking dapper.
Walking past a crowd listening to a rock band…
… with a bag-pipe player.
That dark tower looks ominous!
Finally at the hill!
Looking back to where we’d come from.
Tunnels! These must have been fun to navigate in the old days.
On the castle hill, but still away from the castle. We didn’t really go there, somebody had told us it’s a lot more impressive from outside.
In tourist shop land.
Yup.
We walked a little ways to visit the cafe where Harry Potter was written, and found…
… a long line, so we didn’t enter. At this point in time, both Adda and Finnur had run out of walking batteries, so they took a taxi home.
Halli and I decided to implement plan “Introverts Unite!” which means we split up, and each made our way back to the hotel, solo. I stopped at this cafe, mostly to secretly charge my Pokemon-drained phone.
Excellent excuse for sitting down by a power outlet, and charging a phone.
The entry to the cafe was all medieval.
A theatrical-looking tour-guide.
Lots of stately houses!
Time to walk back.
The classic floating beggars.
Now, what was this? We’d heard loud techno-music throughout the day as we’d been shopping. Turns out it was an actual music festival, held under the castle hill.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!
I made it to the hotel just in time to get ready for dinner. We took a taxi to Prestonfield house/hotel.
Finnur at the Rhubarb restaurant.
Opulence, and Halli!
Halli’s revenge.
All of us ended up taking photos of the restrooms when we went there!
Feeling faint?
The guy-side. Not very faint-y!
Adda floating on a happy cloud.
Mmmmm…
Looking into one of two dining rooms. Our only complaint was that it got a bit warm in there, before a couple vacated a window seat, and the waiter could open the window.
Once we were done eating, we had a hard time leaving the place. So we wandered around a bit, and found these impressive drawings, from what appeared to be the Edinburgh of old.
One example.
I tried out a weird chair.
Eventually we stumbled into a lounge of sorts, where we ordered some cocktails.
Not minimalism!
Impossible to resist chilling out!
At long last we decided it was time to go, but we left with some very nice memories.
