Day 10: Bonus Day!
Queueing for Hours and One Final, Final Meal in Edinburgh
Sad to leave but ready to be home, we split a cab with Carolyn, Frank and Jean, the original crew from the Tattoo. Funny enough, Frank and Jean were on the same connecting flight as we were. We boarded the plane and while there was a short delay due to mechanical issues I was already listening to "Land Below the Waves," missing Scotland and already dreaming about a way to come back. The delay was taking longer than usual but in my mind I was in the Hebrides, thinking about the beautiful white sand beaches, the warm sea air and lovely - *record scratch*
“Attention passengers: this is the director of the airline in Scotland and we are officially going to cancel this flight.” Oh. The good news was we somehow we lucked into one extra day in Edinburgh. The bad news was we spent most of the day in the airport getting our vouchers for the hotel and meals. Eight hours after departing for the airport we arrived at the hotel the airline assigned us. Starving and crabby that our bonus day was wasted standing in line we sent a quick text to the people at home expecting us, connected with Frank and Jean who were put up in the same hotel then set out, determined to have a little fun on Bonus Day. We walked the quarter mile to the Bonham Hotel to get our bearings then another quarter mile further until we started to see restaurants lining the streets. We saw a pub advertising £3 pints and said, “how about here?” We sat down and ordered beers and burgers. I don’t know if we were just so ravenous that anything would have tasted amazing but to us that food was simply divine. After dinner, we went to another hidden bar called Panda and Sons, the sister bar to the one we went to with Billy. We had cocktails which were good but the real star was the strawberry cider Mike recommend earlier on the tour. Imagine the best strawberry soda you’ve ever had, the perfect balance of sweet and tart with just a hint of alcohol. Delicious and a little dangerous because it goes down so easy! We finished our drinks and wandered back to our hotel, admiring the way the setting sun hits the buildings and fell a little deeper in love with this beautiful city. Once we made it home and got settled I went on a shopping date with my good friend. I regaled her with story after story from Scotland and after listening for a while she said, "I love that you got so much out of a place I think of as being so small." I'll admit we felt similarly before this trip but now we see Scotland as just as rich and dynamic and full of treasures as anywhere else in Europe. Matt and I have the whole world to see, but the siren call of Scotland temps us to return and discover more sometime very soon. |