The “Wild” End

SONG - I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan

Day 36 - Tue. June 4

On our final morning in London we met with friends in Notting Hill for breakfast at Wild. I had ordered a Wild Mushroom Omelette with a side of bacon - totally delicious!

Then we took a walk on Portobello Road to do some shopping and look for the Blue Door from the movie Notting Hill.

Found the Book Shop…

And the door….but what else might appear?

Mr. B posing as Spike in front of the iconic blue door

We shopped until we had to leave to meet our taxi for the airport.

To England & Scotland

And to all of the lovely people we meet along the way

Thank You 

for a lifetime of memories

The Grand Old Duke of York

 SONG - English Folk Music   https://youtu.be/-6ada8ZSSxM?si=98JUomatA_2F8OiZ

(Like I said yesterday - sometimes I can link it with the title and sometimes it just doesn’t cooperate)

Day 26 - Sat. May 25

We got on the road fairly early Saturday morning driving South towards York along the coastal route.  

A castle on an island through my car window while Mr. B was whizzing us by……

We drove into Berick-upon-tweed along the North Sea and drove through this little hole in the wall…..

And found a nice place to eat breakfast/lunch and to sit outside in the sunshine and feel the salt air. Quiches & salad. Perfect. 

Our next stop was the Home of Hardy Fishing Museum in Alnwick. Guess whose pick that was?  Nope, we had to pass it by as we were both ready to get to our hotel in York. 

Pulled up around 5 and a doorman met us in full dress - plus check out those top hat topiaries!

Did I mention that the English love to put cucumber in their Gin & Tonics?  

It was interesting to do some people watching in the hotels bar “1906”….my lips are sealed….

Our room here looks out over the city walls built by the Romans & Vikings!

Hello York!

Old Town

SONG -  I Can’t Stand the Rain by Tina Turner

https://youtu.be/X9bSL2S4POg?si=dHTBPT_MkdWKXeew

(So sorry - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but if you click the link above it will take you to Tina Turner singing “I Can’t Stand the Rain”

Day 25 - May 24

Another rainy day in paradise. What a surprise. So many Scottish people we have spoken with say they can’t wait for the cold, rainy weather. They are uncomfortable with warmer weather.  And that must be why they live in Scotland!

 I didn’t feel well at all this morning but Mr. B gave me a “Get-out-of-Jail-Free” card so I took some meds & went back to sleep and woke at 1 pm feeling better and up for going into Edinburgh proper. After an hour of trying to figure out a garage near city central where we could drive & then take a taxi into Old Town was proving difficult. I was trying to talk Mr. B into taking a break from driving and take a cab into town but no way. Mr. B was sure it would all work out (he’s like that)! On our way to our car, I stopped at the front desk to ask if there was a safe, clean place to park and the cute young girl suggested a taxi or a bus into town to which Mr. B said it would be perfect. Go figure!

Delightful ride into town and we were dropped off at St. Giles Cathedral. Pouring rain, so many people & so very many umbrellas but we jumped out of the cab and ran into St. Giles (after taking my heart photo! See above)

Amazing cathedral made even more incredible by luring me in with Vivaldi music being played inside.  

They are having a concert tonight and the ensemble that is playing was practicing to the delightful of all. 

I got to go into the Thistle Chapel which was on my list and found the angel playing bagpipes because everyone should be welcomed to heaven with bagpipes!

We started looking for a place to eat and after walking a bit settled on Deacon Brodie’s Tavern right on the Royal Mile. 

It was warm, welcoming and full of happy people. We ordered Steak & Ale pies for lunch/dinner. There was a couple next to us from Minnesota who we talked to for a while. I had never had a meat pie before (other than a chicken pot pie) and this exceeded my expectations. It was amazing!

After lunch, we went “waistcoat” shopping for Mr. B.  Originally I had him talked into a kilt but we finally settled on a vest.  He found a right, proper one too!

Goodbye Scotland for now…..

The Sassenach

 SONG - Clare/Jamie Suite from Outlander

Day 24 - May 23

I woke up with a sore throat & head cold and so Mr. B let me sleep in while he brought me back breakfast.  So sweet!  Today it’s raining quite a bit so instead of walking around the Royal Mile we thought we might go to a garden Mr. B discovered and Midhope Castle which I have been wanting to go to for 8 years. 

We decided to go to Midhope first which is near the Firth & Forth Bridge. Midhope Castle was used as the stand in for Lallybroch Castle in the TV series Outlander.  I got us tickets online and off we went in the pouring rain but by the time we arrived the rain had turned into a mist and then stopped altogether.

 We walked up to the castle, which is just a ruin inside and took some photos.  Walked around the to the back & explored a bit. 

Mr. B hamming it up a little with his “air sword” 

He looks just like Jamie right?  (Wink)

It was perfect without any crowds. We even had a few moments alone there. 

We then headed for Mallory Gardens but it was pouring by then and the parking lot was quite a bit away so we scratched that idea and headed to the Sheep Heid Inn for a late lunch/early dinner. 

Sheep Heid Inn - Established in the 14th Century 

We were both quite happy with our front door parking spot!

The Sheep Heid Inn is a great little gastro pub with a skittle alley (bowling) and even the Queen of England has dined there too in 2016. We enjoyed it in 2017 for my birthday and it oozes atmosphere. 

That bright thing above the chairs is a plaque stating that the Queen had been there but it’s got a spotlight on it so it glows…..

I remembered that Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish (both from Outlander) had been here recently and sat in big chairs like these. 

I just had to do it!

However as we headed home we hit a lot of traffic. They had closed down parts of the freeway due to flooding and everyone was trying to get through on surface streets. We made it back to our hotel several hours later and headed to the bar - but it was closed for a wedding. A very nice man who was affiliated with the hotel told us that the wedding wasn’t yet and the band was just warming up and to come on in. Wonderful one bagpipe player and three drummers. Got some shots and a video while Mr. B was getting our drinks.

Perfect end to a great day……

Well it wasn’t really “the end” as we were siting in one of the “sitting rooms”, the fire alarm went off and I thought it was someone near us with an obnoxious ring tone. But no, the staff came through telling us it was a real alarm and we needed to proceed outside. It was pouring outside but they handed us silver protective blankets and told us to go away from the building to the meeting spot.  

We went to our car and finished our glass of wine and watched people coming out in workout clothes, wedding attire, bathrobes and lots of silver blankets. The entire bridal party & the band we just heard inside were outside too.  Finally the fire department came and we got the “all clear” signal from the staff to go back inside.  Well done by the staff and all of the people here who were so calm. We visited with a few people from Texas and Glasgow and then came back to our room. 

An hour later I realized that the sun protector  on my camera lens had fallen off somewhere along the way. Mr. B went out to search and came back in about 10 minutes chuckling and saying “you won’t believe what just happened “   He searched our route through two elevators and down several halls, the table we were sitting at earlier and then went to the reception desk to ask if anyone had turned one in. A woman sitting nearby overheard the conversation and said a friend of hers picked one up on the floor and it was in her room. She came back within minutes and gave Mr. B my hood!  Hooray for today!

Sassenach = an outsider, especially one of English decent 

Uphill All of the Way

 SONG - I’m Walkin’ by Fats Dominio

The view from our hotel of the National Wallace Monument 

Day 22 - May 21

In the morning we hoofed it on up the hill to Stirling Castle. A lot of uphill walking as well as many stairs.  It was a beautiful day with mostly blue skies but a definite nip in the air. There is a storm approaching.  

There isn’t any great way to take a photo of approaching the castle as there are lots of people and walls and more walls but here you can get a hint.

And this is what it looked like beneath the wall in the photo above and I cropped out a lot of busses  

First entry on my list was Queen Anne’s garden which was small but well tended

Of course I found two little boys playing airplane in the garden and it made me miss my two grandsons so much!

We then took a tour of the royal palace of King James V

Unfortunately they had not been refurbished well.  Everything looked new and in poor taste.  Not a lick of old furniture except the four poster bed.  It was painted in loud colors which apparently was as it used to be but felt more like Disneyland to me.

Enough for me as I tend to like more subtle colors and authentic decorations of which I found a few.

The thistle is the flower of Scotland 

Fireplace ornamentations 

And of course Mr. B wanted to check out the boy toys - canons

Great views from the top of the hill but after viewing several more rooms we decided to head cross country through the massive graveyard of Holy Rude and visit the 15th century church which was peaceful and quite lovely. Nice docents inside that gave us maps and were so enthusiastic about telling us about their church.  

 Returned to our hotel for lunch & I had a G & T with a side of Motrin because both of my knees were hurting. For lunch we shared a sandwich but it was awful with slivers of cheese and pickle chutney. Uggh. Thank goodness we ordered chips (fries). Went to our room to rest for a bit. Jim made us a dinner reservation at Portcullis which we passed by on the way to the castle. Looks promising. It’s starting to get cold and looks like rain. Yes it rained but we got a parking spot right in front and we were cozy and had a great dinner. Mr B got to talking with the owner, Jamie who knows of lots of Baird’s in Stirling. 

It used to be a grammar school in 1787 and then it became a munitions warehouse and now it’s a wonderful restaurant 

Mr. B said it was the best steak pie he has ever had!