Scotland Day Two - The Proclaimers
I have analysed the proclaimers most famous hit in some detail in an earlier blog post so no need to go over old ground, however another of their oeuvre is relevant to today's activities.
Today was set aside for seeing the sights of Edinburgh and generally doing tourist stuff. To prepare for this we went for breakfast in the hotel which some reviewers have described as 'disappointing.' In particular the coffee was particularly poor.
The first thing any tourists have to do in Scotland's capital city is visit the castle, which dominates the city from its hilltop home. The walk up to the summit provides more questions than answers, specifically:
i) how can it be possible for 400 adjacent cashmere shops to survive and thrive
ii) why did Keith agree to pose for the following picture.
Other highlights included spotting Fleshmarket close, not much remarkable about this other than it is the title of an Ian Rankin book about detective Rebus. I can't remember the exact plot as they all sort of merge into one long journey through Edinburgh's dark underbelly. At the summit we took a quick tour of the castle car park but not the castle itself, at £17 per person that was beyond our budget and more importantly attention span.
The car park features this statue of the Grand old Duke of York:
Whilst the statue contained a lot of important information about the duke it was missing some vital detail about the precise number of men he had under his command. Furthermore it didn't really say what he did with said men marching wise. If anyone knows can they message me?
One tradition of these Rugby tours is Brenda usually insists we take an open top bus tour, the other tradition is we fall for it and they are rubbish. Today was no exception with the added bonus of it being really really cold.
That said I did learn a few interesting facts, chiefly that Scotchman in chief Sean Connery once worked as a coffin polisher and that everything in Edinburgh / Scotland is the best example of its type in the United Kingdom, if not the world. The latter point was quite laboured at times, for example "If you categorise theaters by number of stalls in the ladies toilets the Edinburgh playhouse is the largest in the United Kingdom, far exceeding any London theater," and similarly tenuous point scoring in a game where only the bus narrator knew the rules.
The second half of the bus journey (following a stop to see the former Royal yacht Britannia) was saved by travelling through Leith, which brought to mind the Proclaimers classic "sunshine on Leith," both the song and the film. The other saving grace was you could play breakout (the arcade game, not the Swing Out Sister hit) on the touch screen controller. Up until that point the most fun you could have with the touch screen was changing Patricia's language setting to Japanese when she wasn't looking.
Post bus tour I had had quite enough of everyone else so went for a walk round the city by myself. I walked from the bus stop to the hotel via an ice cream parlour. I enjoyed my 8 minutes of solitude before feeling quite lonely and joining the others in the hotel bar.
Following a three hour disco nap it was time for dinner at the Dome restaurant. This was rather a nice eatery which we were nearly thrown out of before even being shown a table due to a misunderstanding with a revolving door and a doorman with a poor sense of humour. He found it even less funny when the whole incident was repeated on the way out. BTW if you are ever in Edinburgh do make a visit to the dome, the door is amazing, it was like watching a Clark Kent / Superman transformation such was the speed you could achieve.
Following dinner there was a quick visit to a bar which was showing midget wrestling on television. Next an early night because tomorrow we watch Rugby!
Today was set aside for seeing the sights of Edinburgh and generally doing tourist stuff. To prepare for this we went for breakfast in the hotel which some reviewers have described as 'disappointing.' In particular the coffee was particularly poor.
The first thing any tourists have to do in Scotland's capital city is visit the castle, which dominates the city from its hilltop home. The walk up to the summit provides more questions than answers, specifically:
i) how can it be possible for 400 adjacent cashmere shops to survive and thrive
ii) why did Keith agree to pose for the following picture.
 |
| Keith this morning |
The car park features this statue of the Grand old Duke of York:
 |
| The 1800s duke of York, not the more recent friend o'the *beast one (*beast is Scottish slang for nonce) |
One tradition of these Rugby tours is Brenda usually insists we take an open top bus tour, the other tradition is we fall for it and they are rubbish. Today was no exception with the added bonus of it being really really cold.
 |
| bus tour - freezing |
The second half of the bus journey (following a stop to see the former Royal yacht Britannia) was saved by travelling through Leith, which brought to mind the Proclaimers classic "sunshine on Leith," both the song and the film. The other saving grace was you could play breakout (the arcade game, not the Swing Out Sister hit) on the touch screen controller. Up until that point the most fun you could have with the touch screen was changing Patricia's language setting to Japanese when she wasn't looking.
Post bus tour I had had quite enough of everyone else so went for a walk round the city by myself. I walked from the bus stop to the hotel via an ice cream parlour. I enjoyed my 8 minutes of solitude before feeling quite lonely and joining the others in the hotel bar.
Following a three hour disco nap it was time for dinner at the Dome restaurant. This was rather a nice eatery which we were nearly thrown out of before even being shown a table due to a misunderstanding with a revolving door and a doorman with a poor sense of humour. He found it even less funny when the whole incident was repeated on the way out. BTW if you are ever in Edinburgh do make a visit to the dome, the door is amazing, it was like watching a Clark Kent / Superman transformation such was the speed you could achieve.
Following dinner there was a quick visit to a bar which was showing midget wrestling on television. Next an early night because tomorrow we watch Rugby!
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