Averagely Adventurous

Today we had nothing planned but tea and pastries, and Pedro got to come along for the ride since it was Sunday.  We had our order in at Beefcake (which doesn't open until 10a), so we had a nice lie in to start the day.  Since we were having tea and cakes later, we had most of our pastries to go and enjoyed some coffee and hot breakfast there. We went back to the flat, where my mom checked into her flight and ordered a taxi for the morning. I reserved us a spot for afternoon tea at the Hidden Lane Tearoom at 1p.  It was aptly named, as it took us a couple wrong turns to find it, but it was a very cute spot.  We had our choice of loose-leaf tea and were brought one of each of assorted desserts and mini sandwiched. It was very good, and the whole aesthetic was delightful.   Leaving the tearoom, we had our little takeaway boxes in hand as we window shopped on the way back to the train station. One more souvenir for my mom and a new dress for me, and we headed ...

 Today we'd finally get a day with Pedro along for the adventure! We started early, because we already knew the rail strikes may cause disruptions, getting to the Anniesland station in the hopes of getting on an earlier train to Queen Street. Funny enough, the earlier train was cancelled, and ours was late so we got an earlier train that arrived when our should have. Either way we made it to our Edinburgh train in time. Throughout the journey, it was steadily getting foggier and foggier. At the Edinburgh Waverly Station, we all grabbed coffee and headed to the first stop, Calton Hill. Pedro and I kept saying things like, "Here is where you would see ___" because the fog was so dense you couldn't see the famous structures in the distance.  Unfortunately, that also meant the views from Calton Hill were a bust. Pedro did pull up his photos from when his brother was here for comparison, and I feel like I need to do the same here for effect.  This raven kept cawing at us...

Today was another chill and relaxed day, since we had such a long day yesterday and will have a lot of walking to do in Edinburgh tomorrow.  We got up around 9am and got ready to go out for breakfast.  Pedro and I had planned to take my mom to Beefcake Cafe, but they were closed! We were so sad until I saw they would be open Saturday and Sunday.  So, we put in our order for Sunday and decided to go to Annie's Coffee House instead.  We could see the tattoo shop across the street where we got our tattoos and decided to pop in to see if they could fix my mom's tattoo before she had to leave for The States.  She had bled so much that the artist missed a little line on her design, so she just needed a tiny touch up, and they were kind enough to do it really quick.   We took the train to High St, heading for the Necropolis, enjoying a bit of rare sunshine (though it doesn't look it in the photos).   When we entered the Cathedral, the organ was play...

 This morning we gave ourselves plenty of time to get up, eat breakfast, and walk to the station.  Didn't matter though, since the train was late.  Luckily, another train came in earlier, so we hopped on that one to make it to Queen St.  We made it to the tour in time, and wouldn't ya know, I see G.  The same tour guide Pedro and I had with his brother. I had to relay this to Pedro immediately, thinking it was funny.  We almost had a full bus and were just turning out of the bus station when 2 more people flagged down the driver.  Our guide G was very gracious and let them on, after a bit of admonishing.  This is a tour they need people to be on time for since we drive 400 miles up the west coast of Scotland. After those 2 got on, we set off for the first stop, Loch Lomond.  Last time I was there with Pedro and Luis, it was sunny one day and cloudy the next.  This time it was stormy .   Glencoe was still as beautiful as ever....

 I think by now I have the local tours memorized for our visitors. From adventures with Pedro, to showing our visitors around, I know my way around and can easily plan out the day for the best parts of the city.  We figured today could be more relaxed, have a lie in, and just go about our day however we felt. Whenever we woke up, we took our time to get ready and head to the bus.  I knew our first stop would be the Botanic Gardens, which meant we could have brunch at the Tearoom as a little preview for our official afternoon tea on Sunday.   I had joked that we could sit on the top deck of a double-decker bus on the way to West End (since most of the city buses are double-decker) but the first bus we caught just happened to be a single.  It's just as well though, because it's a pain to get down at your stop.   Got off at the gardens, and I walked us up to the main gates to get the full experience.  It did look a bit different from the norm th...

Well, if anything, my mom got one beautiful and sunny day. Today was our first big tour, travelling southeast to the Ayrshire Coast.  This tour was a first for me, especially since Pedro and I tend to travel north. My mom chose this one, wanting to see some castles and the beach.   This morning the walk to the train station had me thinking we need to get up a bit earlier.  Pedro and I basically power walk everywhere, shaving off 5 mins compared to whatever google estimates. We just made it to the train station, but luckily the pick-up point for the tour wasn't far from there and we had time to spare.  The rest of the day would be an easy-going bus ride.  Our first stop was Whitelee, a windfarm that reminded us of Indiana, covered in wind turbines. It is the UK's largest windfarm, with 215 turbines.  Supposedly, they create enough energy to help lower our power bill (we'll see this winter). We got some much-needed coffee and sipped it while listening to...