Edinburgh, day 2

Another good day.

We began with mass at St. Patrick's down the street, round the block, up a tiny close. Interesting. They kneel from the Preface to the end of mass with the exception of the sign of peace and communion itself. They kneel when being dismissed!!!!! And no homily! Very odd - and hard on the old knees. Lots of "Protestant slouch" going on. But funny, because when Brian stood up for the Euch. Prayer, the Scottish biddies behind us whispered that this wasn't England or Ireland, they do things differently here!

Then a nice affordable brekkie at the Youth Hostel Cafe we found yesterday.

We spent the morning hiking around the New Town.


We explored the Georgian House at 7 Charlotte Square -- Mum you would have loved this! They even had a chamber pot in the sideboard and a silver dish for making toasted cheese (Light along the toasted cheese, there, Killick!).

The shops in this area were excellent - Moss Bros., Church's, Brooks Brothers, Topshop, Cruise, Harvey Nichols, Jenners, places for bespoke suits and hand made shoes. Luscious window shopping.

My feet were dying by this time, so we had a nice lunch at a cafe called Spoon -- trendy, healthy, yummy,. I had the smoked salmon sandwich with creme fraiche and chives.

AFter lunch we took a city bus (Lothian 15) out to Roslin, which is in the country, about 40 minutes from the center of town. We did a quick tour of Rosslyn Chapel and bussed home.

Dinner was at Deacon Brodie's -- a place famous for real traditional pub food. Brian had the steak pie, I had the bangers and mash (cumberland sausage -- divine!). Banoffee pie for dessert -- hey, that's a tradition! -- and Tennant's ale to quench our thirst.

We're having a horrible time trying to upload photos -- maybe we'll have a better connection at Kirkwall. We fly out tomorrow morning.

Also, coffee in Edinburgh is delicious! Not sure why -- but white coffee is really good! Better than a latte, better than coffee with milk. Not quite certain how they make it, but it is fabulous.

More later,

Meg