Scotland - Day Five

Friday we got back on the train going in the opposite direction - back to Edinburgh.  

We started getting some facebook posts from people asking if we were alright?  We did not know why they were asking, until we saw the news.  A helicopter crash landing on the roof of a pub.  While this is a very terrible thing, I did wonder if everyone thought we spent all our time in pubs and then I thought about our last trip to Scotland and how most of the pictures did get taken inside a pub.

Anyway, we got back to Edinburgh and walked up the hill to this:

Yup, Edinburgh Castle.  It sits right up on top of an extinct volcano and overlooks all of Edinburgh.  Get there and see it.

We wandered about for a while and I will tell you that sightseeing in Scotland in November is a lot different than during the height of the tourist season.  We were the only ones in some parts of the castle.  It was great in a lot of ways.

Next we walked a bit down the hill to the Scottish Whiskey Experience, where they say they have the biggest collection of whiskey in the world.  They had a lot of whiskey and they also have lovely restaurant.  We sat down to a wonderful lunch and about half way through the fire alarm went off and they herded everyone out of the place.  We grabbed our coats and bags, but left other stuff sitting there, which was really stupid since what if the place burned to the ground - that would have been just lots of pounds up in smoke.  It would probably smell really good while it was burning, but a lot of t-shirts would have been lost.  So they had everyone wait out side until the OK was given by these guys:

Looking at this truck and knowing the roads in Old Town I just don't know how they do it.  But they did  and they let us all back in after about 15 minutes.  So we go back in and down to the same table we were at and our food is gone.  We are then told they are re-cooking our meal?  We get a brand new meal.  A table of 5 that was a couple of tables over from us don't come back.  The staff chats about how when something like this happens - some people don't come back.  I will admit the thought crossed my mind, but we did have t-shirts in there.  

This place had a menu for whiskey that I wondered if they hired a poet to write the descriptions.  They were that beautiful.  On this menu was Cardhu, the distillery we had been to on our previous trip to Scotland.

We went back down the hill to our apartment and bundled up for another wait in line.  Yup, seeing Texas again on Friday night.  We get down to the venue and yes, there are people waiting already.  People that we know - well, kind of.  We had met most of them the night before.  As we are standing, more that we met come into the line.  It was like old home week.

There were also a group of old ladies sitting in folder chairs, they were waiting for tickets for a Irish tenor, whose tickets were going on sale at 9:00 the next morning.  Yes, they were going to spend the night in the cold to get tickets.  They had chairs, sleeping bags, hats, gloves, themoses and knitting.  They equivilant of the Red Cross would be checking on them during the night.

Anyway, doors opened about 7:00 and in we go.  Yes, we were back on the front line.  One of our new friends saved us a space.  It was on the opposite side of the stage as the night before, so we were able to see the show from two sides.  They sang the same songs, in the same order.  They were the same, but different.  I guess each show is different, based on how the band feels and the feedback from the crowd.   At some point some woman threw herself across me and into the no space next to my beloved, she spoke to her, put her arm around her and gazed at Charlene with love in her eyes.  My beloved confessed that she really had no idea what the woman was saying to her.  

I do wonder if Ms. Spiteri knows that she is an awful lot of lesbians wet dream.

The encore was different, a great rendition of "Jackson".  

All in all, it was worth the trip.

Then there was the walk home.  Went right when we should have gone left.  Walked way out of our way.  Finally grabbed a cab that took us part of the way, when the driver turned right on the Royal Mile instead of left I had to say - hey, I think you are going the wrong way.  He was and he turned around.  The Royal Mile is closed to vehicle traffic at some points, so he could only let us out and we walked the rest of the way.

Think of it, walking around all day, standing in line for two hours, standing in the concert for three hours, would your feet hurt?  

Ours did.  We both layed in bed that night telling each other how much our feet hurt.  I swear my feet would have killed me if they could.  Aleve was our friend.