8/1/2016 Arthur's Seat,Edinburgh, Dalwhinnie, & Inverness

After another great night's sleep, we packed up to leave.  I highly recommend this guest house ( 16 Pilrig), they did a load of laundry for free during the night and didn't charge for the children's breakfast.  It was cheaper, quiet,and clean and pretty convenient to things.

We drove to the trail head for Arthur's seat.  The rest were climbing to the top - I decided that I didn't need to.  I had walked 7 miles and climbed 10 flights of stairs the day before.

Instead, I walked up the Royal Mile toward our lunch reservation.  On the way I made a slight detour to buy the new "Harry Potter" and found an Asterix that we didn't own in English.  A large Starbucks was on the corner so I bought a latte and sat down to knit.  I shared a table with a man from Denver.  He had been in Edinburgh for 5 weeks deciding what he was going to do with the rest of his life.  He had left the day after he retired.  His wife was joining him the next day.

Continuing up the Mile, I met my family at Angels and Bagpipes. (In case you are wondering, Jef discovered that Open Table worked here and had a fine time looking for places to eat.)

Angels & Bagpipes symbol.  Their bathrooms were labeled Angeles and Bagpipers, which was carrying the theme a little far.

Starters: Salmon Paté and Mussels 

Mains: Fish & Chips, Pork with a swoop of blood sausage sauce, 12 hour roasted beef.

Desserts: 3 kinds of chocolate mousse and panacotta.

There were many little alleys from the Mile: this was Advocates' Close.

The Scottish Parliament building was finished since Alec and I were here last.

On our way to Inverness, we stopped at the Dalwhinnie Whiskey distillery for a tour and tasting.

This was Alec's deluxe tasting with the chocolate that went best with each type.  The kids got juice and shared the chocolate.  I "only" had 3 tastes.  Jef drove the rest of the way to Inverness.

We got to our apartment a little late and had a hard time finding out how to get in the car park, but finally managed - thank god for cell phones.  We have a lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment which is lovely.  Unfortunately, it is on the 3rd floor of a building with very high ceilings and no elevator.

Without reservations for dinner and being a little late, we had a hard time finding a place for dinner.  Luckily, we walked into one a block away that had room.

We just ordered a bunch of stuff: crab cakes, assorted smoked fish platter, Cullum skink (fish chowder), haggis balls, garlic bread, fish & chips, and pork.  Surprisingly yummy.

Climb, climb, cliiiiiiiimmmmmmbbbbb, and off to bed.