Odd translations and weird sayings

Base = pizza crust
Mind the step = Watch your step
Toilets = restrooms
Hair appliance = hair straightener
Chips = French fries
Rape = a type of vegetable oil
Surveyor = real estate agent
Flat = house
Solicitor = attorney
Crack = fun

Tow-MAAAA-tow = tomato.  If you say it like we do in California, they misunderstand you and think you said potato.  The ma part is verrrryyy, drawn out.

Edinburgh Castle

Whew, long day.  The weather has been perfect, so the city is bustling with city folk and tourists. 

To remedy our constant time question, we purchased a Swatch watch.   Grace is in charge of  answering, "So, what time is it now?"

This morning, we spared our feet and caught a cab over to the Waverly Bridge tour bus hub, where we hopped on the Edinburgh city tour bus.  For a mere14 pounds you can hop on and off for the next 24 hours.  After a 20 minute ride, we hopped off at Edinburgh Castle.  The Castle was a busy, busy place.  It is spread out and you can spend about a week walking from one end to the other trying to see it all.

For two hours, we dodged other site-seers and took in the Castle.  From ramparts to cannon balls.  Unfortunately, the Crown Jewels are in a special vaulted room and no picture taking is allowed.  We fully expected a bejewelled crown and found the pearl, gold and red velvet a bit disappointing.  Certainly, the Queen deserves better.

From the Castle we got back on the tour bus and saw the new Parliment Building.  Enric Miralles, one of the world's premier architects, developed a design that he said was a building "growing out of the land".  I'm not sure about it growing out of the land, but it definitely stands out from the surrounding buildings.  It is a purely modern design.

The tour bus swung by the coffee shop where J. K. Rowling began to write the Harry Potter series and her former apartment, as we are certain she has taken her millions and moved to more luxurious accomodations.

Cafe Rouge

Yesterday, we found a great French cafe for lunch.  The Cafe Rouge.  We were delighted find Croque Monsieur on the menu and order it in honor of Jessica.  The lightly toasted ham sandwich is topped with gruyere cheese melted in the broiler.  The skinny chips (French fries) are the perfect accompaniment.  At first we think it will be a gooey mess to eat, but find the French have concocted the perfect combination of cheese and bread and it is a one napkin sandwich.  Food rating:  8.5  the best so far.

Hector's Pub

Last night, we decided to hit a local pub and toss back a few pints.  Jill suggested we walk down the hill to Hector's, where she says she hung out when she was in college.  So, inspite of tired feet, we set off in search of Hector's.  Jill says not to go in Baillie Pub, but as we pass it, it looks inviting and we wonder what she knows that we don't. 

Hector's is busy on this Thursday night with people stopping to meet up with friends.  We walk through to the back in search of a seat and find the temperature gets warmer and warmer.  The table we find against the back wall is surrounded on two sides by a padded bench and throw pillows.  We sit and wait, but there is no table service, so we move up to the front and find 2 seats at the bar and order a couple of Stella Artois beers.  It is cold and refreshing in this warm pub. 

One of the bartenders in a Raca Wear shirt, has the most unusual dreadlocks.  They are culivated in a most fascinating way.  The hair from the crown of his head sprouts out in dreads, while the bottom is long and flows into dreads down his back.  Grace tries to secretly get his picture, but the flash gives her away.  We notice he is one of the few black people we have seen, and find that odd.

We order a Sharing Menu of mini beef burgers, lamb burgers, crudites (cut up vegetables), chips (French fries), calamari, and hummuus.  It is plenty of food and we like the lamb burgers best.  The chips come chrispy, which is good because in the U.S. I have to specially order them that way.  Food rating:  6....good, but not over the top good.

Soon, two fellas walk in carrying a large aluminium suitcase.  We guess it is a keyboard.  But no, it is a mixing board with two turntables.  Grace and I have a conversation about records and are eager to hear what he will play.  We wait and I comment, "I wonder when he is going to start playing?"  Gracy says, "He already has."  We find that hilarious.  Mr. DJ never does put a record on those turntables and before long we see the sky is turning and we set off to end our day.

Just what time is it any way?

The one thing we lack is a watch.  Back home, Grace and I both use our cellphones to check the time, but our Verizon phones do not work here...at all.  We are constantly looking for a clock or watch on some stranger's arm to tell the time.  8:05PM in the U.S., but the middle of the night here.  If you look outside, you can tell it is just before sunrise, which comes around 4:30AM.  Birds are chirping, giving further proof sunrise is near.  I am up with the birds.

The front of Jill's house (our second floor...their first floor, as they count the actual first floor as the ground floor) has two large windows overlooking the street.  An ancient ivy vine grows up from the street level, its truck thick and gnarled.  It frames the bottom half of the large windows.  In front of one window, right up close to it and where we would call the window ledge, is a duck's nest.  No ordinary duck, no sir.  A nesting duck with 2 large eggs.  Mrs. Duck is not on her nest at this moment, she is out and about.  Possibly she is in the park down the street or in the small creek near by in search of breakfast.  Her eggs are covered in duck down, warm I'm sure.  She won't be gone long and when she returns she will stand over eggs and roll them between her feet before giving a little duck butt wiggle and setting down on them.  Mrs Duck and I have something in common.  We are not asleep in the early dawn.

Yesterday, Grace and I went in search of an electric outlet adapter plug.  The one we brought met with an unfortunate fuse blowout when Grace plugged in her hair straightener.  At first it seemed no big deal, but then we realized that without it, we cannot charge computers, camera batteries, or ipods.  Disaster.  The whole electric outlet thing is a pain, but so far our only challenge of note.

We walked down to Princes Street to Curries Electronic store to find a new plug adapter.  We found that unlike our Fashion Fair Mall Apple store, they have the ipad in stock and ready to sell.  Adam (the young clerk) explained that we could replace the UK plug and SIM card once we got back to the U.S.  Poor Adam did not realize that our morning had included the electric plug disaster and anything that required taking the UK plug home with us was a complete deal breaker.

Mrs. Duck has returned.  She is disturbed by the light coming from this laptop and stood for a few moments giving me the stink eye before settling on her nest.  She knows I should be in bed asleep.

Princes Street runs along a large park in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle.  It is huge and runs along the hill for what seems like a mile or two.  The Queen's flag is not flying, so we know she is not home.

We come to Scott's Memorial, which is an imposing tribute to Sir Walter Scott and his stories.  That is it in the photo above on the left.  Grace and I pay 3 pounds each for the honor of climbing 287 stairs to the top.  I should note here that Grace climbed the entire 287 stairs, I made it up about 200 of the tiny, winding stone steps to the area at the top of the spires that circle it about 2/3s of the way up, but no further.  Youth is on her side.  From here, we see amazing views of the city and Edinburgh Castle.

Getting Ready to Start Day2

Aww, so the trip is going awesome so far. we are getting ready to start our 2nd day here, after a wonderful night of  some much needed sleep. Things are so different here and I'm loving it! Being here makes me Really see how Fat, lazy, wasteful and unhealthy we really are in America. the weather today is gorgeous i would say its about mid 70's. We are going to ride an open top bus today I'm so pumped I have never been on one! Then we are headed to a Castle not to far from where we are staying.  And the picture are coming out great I feel like every way I look it's a great shot, it's Amazing! I love it here. I may not go home ~Grace~

Edinburgh finally

10:25AM Edinburgh, Scotland
Although it is 3:25AM back in the good ol' US of A, it is the beginning of a new day here in Edinburgh. 

Yesterday, we arrived in London at 12:30PM and took another local plane into Edinburgh.  (Yes, the knitting needles made it through the security check, after a quick dismanteling and stashing along side my pens and pencils.)  We didn't see much on the flight between London and Edinburgh as it was a good chance to catch a quick nap. 

We caught a taxi to our Bed and Breakfast, where we were met by our hostess, Jill.  The accomodations are quite lovely and cozy.  Jill is a wealth of knowledge about Edinburgh, as she is a "surveyor" (local speak for real estate agent).

80 Great King Street

We dropped our bags in the bedroom and headed out to explore and stretch our airline travel-cramped bodies.  The streets are all cobblestones, cut into 3"x5" squares and quite difficult to walk on.  The cars make a funny wop-wop sound as their tires run across them.  We quickly learned to place each foot squarely on a cobblestone to negotiate without turning an ankle.

Along the way, we had our first kilt siting.  Whoot!

Jill suggested an Italian restaurant down the way.  We ordered the chicken cacciatore (slices of chicken breast mixed with penne pasta, tomatoes, capers and a light red sauce) and a small pizza (artichoke hearts, tomatoes, , watercress, and mozzarella on a hand tossed base, they don't call it a crust), along with a couple of Italian beers.  Rating on the food:  5...not the worse we have had and not the best.  Tomorrow we will be on the lookout for traditional Scottish food.

After dinner, we took a stroll around the block and marveled at the incredible light in the sky.  The clouds were back lit by the sun in a most surreal way.  Grace quickly pulled out her camera and got to work capturing a few of the old buildings: a school, The Salvation Army, and St. Vincent's Episcopal Church.

St. Vincent's Espiscopal Church

The days in Edinburgh are very long.  The sun rises about 5:30AM and sets around 10:30-11PM.  This is excellent as it will give us long, long days for exploring.