With Colin for Christmas--Dec. 10-24, 2022

Sometime in November, I had a FaceTime call with Colin, our friend whose wife, Margaret, my very best friend, died last year of Covid.  This is the coupole that we traveled with for over 30 years.  Christmas always hits Colin & me hard now because Margaret isn't there.  He looked so sad and I got the idea that we could cheer him up a bit with a visit this Christmas.  Ray was already going to DisneyWorld with Christy & her family the first week of December, but somehow, Ray worked a miracle and planned us a two week trip that began the day after he got back from his trip!

Also during this time, Laura & Maeve were invited to attend the White House signing of the Marriage Equality Act--and they got to meet President Biden & Jill and Cyndi Lauper!

AND Katie, Russ, & Henry went to see Laura for Christmas with Henry getting to meet the co-pilot in the cockpit!

But back to our trip---

We let Colin know we were coming over, and he was very happy.  At several points, I was afraid we'd have to cancel the trip:  There were TWO 3.9 earthquakes here at the house while Ray was gone to DisneyWorld--and the next day, the whole plumbing system was causing problems, so he came home to that repair job to be done.  Then came the news---UK Rail Strikes on the very days we needed to use the trains, mail strikes, nurses strikes, and ambulance workers strikes--Tis the Season, I guess.

With those delays and a possible delay caused by the plumbing ALSO GOING ON STRIKE, I kept my fingers crossed while Ray determined if it would be okay to patch the lines until we could get back.  Him determining that was possible, we continued with our quick turn around for him.  

So we flew over on Dec. 10 --saw some really good movies on these flights--and landed in London and went directly to the rental car that we drove to Hinckley to Colin's house.  It was so very good to see him again!  Here is snow on the way to Hinckley:

Colin got his real fire roaring and with the cold weather and jet lag, it wasn't long before I was sound asleep on his sofa.  I must've been extremely tired and comfy for I never do this anywhere.  We stayed at the Premier Inn nearby so that we could test ourselves for Covid in case we picked up the dreaded illness on our way over and we didn't want to give it to Colin.  

For dinner we went to the Longshoot Carvery, but none of us was that hungry so we just ordered off the menu rather than do the Meat Feast, as it should've been called.  We watched people walk by after visiting the buffet with their plates piled 3 times higher than this one!

Reconnecting with the sweet giraffe I gave Margaret once:

and talking over old memories of trips taken:

On Monday, we had breakfast at Morrison's with Colin--my favorite Scrambled Eggs on toast--and we spent the day relaxing again. Colin gave me some of Margaret's special possessions to keep--so very dear to me.   That afternoon, Jane & Bob arrived from their drive up from Berkshire.  After much catching up, we all went to the Miller & Carter Pub and had such a wonderful time!

On Tuesday, we were supposed to be up early to have breakfast with Colin at Morrison's, but we accidentally slept late and woke up just as he arrived to pick us up!  We dressed quickly and were out the door.  Afterwards we said our goodbyes--so sorry to say bye to him--and headed to Edinburgh in our rental car.  

                                                                                 

Crystally trees:

We dropped off the car and the rental agent flagged us down a passing taxi which saved us tons of time walking in the rainy cold weather.  During our stay in Edinburgh, we were in the Old Waverley Hotel right on Princes Street.  We thought this would be a cool place to stay.  And it was--it was clean, and comfy, and adorably old fashioned.  But there was no elevator from the ground floor up to the lobby to check in, so we carried our luggage up.  We were given a large room facing directly onto Princes Street with a view of Uncle Walter's monument--The Scott Monument.  

At the Old Waverley Hotel on Princes Street, surprised to find no elevator from ground floor at street up to lobby on first floor:

Our room with very high ceilings and alcoves inside the curtains:

Sadly, we had forgotten about this being the time of the Christmas Markets--which had been mentioned as the best in the whole world for years running--up until this year, that is, when the company that usually does it didn't and a German company took over.  That wouldn't be a problem, but I had forgotten that the Christmas Market was more than just cute little booths to get hot cocoa and buy little crafty gifts.  It has rides.  Loud rides.  Rides that play music VERY LOUDLY and an announcer trying to get people to ride their rides who YELLED everything he said through a microphone!  And the two noisiest rides in Edinburgh were situated right beside Scott's Monument and directly across from our lovely old arched picture windows!!!  Thank goodness all the ride noise stopped at 10pm each night, but then it was the drunk teens rambling down the street til all hours.  

And there is just a peek of the white marble statue of a seated Sir Walter in his monumentg:

Ok, now here comes the unexplainable part--imagine this:  I am standing inside the curtains looking through the big picture window out towards Sir Walter Scott's Monument and taking photos.  SOMEHOW, these next photos come out showing the BACK side of the curtains with a reflection of the monument---wait for it--now enlarge these photos and blur your eyes and see if you don't see an image of a well-dressed Sir Walter near the top of the monument.  There were no images being screened onto the monument.  I didn't see it then but I can't certainly see it now:

But I didn't realize that we would be visited by the ghost of Sir Walter Scott (an ancestor with whom I share a great grandfather).  And I didn't fully realize we had been visited until I got home and uploaded these pics of tthe Scott Monument!  

I forget every time we come over about the wonderful accents and the lovely way the people in England & Scotland pronounce some words:   capsule is pronounced "cap-shool,"  person is "pair-sun,"  Quinine is "Qwee-neen,"  and cervical is "ser-vi-ick-uhl."  All heard on the television.  

We visited the National Museum of Scotland, as we must do on every trip, and Ray bought me some goodies for Christmas AND we found the Ballachulish Lady & the Walston Ball.  

The Ballachulish Lady was a fertility figure or Iron Age goddess of the straits.  This carved sculpture of a female dates from around 600 BC, but its origins remain unknown.  It was found in 1880 in Ballachulish, Scotland and is made from Alder with quartzite pebbles for eyes & stands almost 55 inches tall.

I loved these perfume/scent bottles.  In 1971, over 300 beautiful scent bottles were donated to National Museums Scotland. The scent bottles were collected by Ida Pappenheim. Most of the bottles were made during the late 19th and early 20th century.  The bottles come from all over the world, although most were made in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) or Germany. Others come from England, France, Italy, Holland, Russia and China. during the 19th century.  Some of the bottles are made from uranium glass, a radioactive substance.

This is the Walston Ball.  The Walston Ball is a decorated copper-alloy ball from Walston, Lanarkshire, made in two halves, with decoration which suggests a 3rd-5th c AD date, but its use is unknown.  However, one use that I read about was to inspire J. K. Rowling to use it as sort of a model for the Golden Snitch ball used in Quidditch.  

Love the word "dreich."

This is an amazing model of the museum done in Legos!

We had accidentally taken this sign from our table in the museum cafe when we had breakfast, so I sent Ray back up to return it.  He left it beside a display of an ancient ship, implying that the boat was clean and ready to use!

Our whole time here in Edinburgh, it was cold, rainy, and snowing--in other words, very dreich..  We still enjoyed our selves, doing some shopping and walking around in my favorite city.  I bought 2 Oreo cupcakes from Mimi's Bakehouse, but they were totally different from the ones before and I was disappointed.  The only thing that madde them "Oreo" was the iced Oreo on top.  

St. Giles:

Warriston's Close:

Bar on Rose Street:

Tiny popcorn chicken package!

Love the choices for children on this menu:

Fun to watch one of my favorite game shows, Tipping Point:

Then we heard about the super low temps about to happen at home, so we had to draw a map to help Charles, nephew of friend Ben who lives behind us, to go unplug the fountain:

Beautiful sunrise on our day of shopping:

The manhole cover that prevented me from getting sleep each night:

Part of the Christmas Market:

Scott Monument:

with Sir Walter visible from this angle:

Edinburgh Castle:

We ate at the  Bella Italia on Hanover Street twice because we liked the atmosphere and the waitress, and at the Bella Italia on the Royal Mile once.  

We found out for sure that the train strikes would affect our trip to Oban, so we cancelled that & are so happy that we did for on our train trip back from there, there would've been a landslide that would've prevented our return by train to Edinburgh!  The landslide near the Falls of Cruachan on Loch Awe ended up with over 100 tons of debris including boulders, trees, and waterlogged soil that covered 30 feet of the railway track and landed on the nearby A85 road.

So we went out to Leith instead to the Premier Inn Waterfront.  Our room had a lovely view of the lighthouse and was only a short walk--but in the snow and on slippery roads-- to Ocean Terminal Mall.  There is construction going on everywhere around Leith because of the tram they are extending to here.  This meant longer taxi rides and walking routes and many closures of favorite places in the mall--M&S, Debenham's, and other stores.

This is a photo from newspaper of what roads to Oban looked like:

Pretty, but no thank you.

While in Leith we had lunch at Frankie & Benny's in the Mall, dinner at The Fishmarket Restaurant right by our hotel, and in the Premier Inn's Brewer's Fayre.  Then it was back to Edinburgh for one night at the Hub near Waverley for our train back to London.  We tried to eat at one of our favorite Witherspoons--The Booking Office--but the first try they didn't have scrambled eggs "because of an egg shortage"--I think they just didn't have someone willing to make anything other than fried eggs.  The next try, it was SO VERY crowded with no tables available that we didn't even wait around.  

Views out our room's window:

At Ocean Terminal Mall:

Views from our table at Frankie & Benny's:

Debenham's Department Store is being used as a community center while the tram constructions are underway.  Cool spider hanging from ceiling:

and pianos melting into floor:

The Fish Market beside our hotel where we got the most delicious fish and chips and MUSHY PEAS!

Love this but it was more like 3pm while we were there:

We also took the train ride down to the Tweedbank station from Platform 10 (with stops at Brunstane, Newcraighall, Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels, and Tweedbank Station) and hiked just over 1 1/2 miles to Abbotsford House in the rain--Uncle Walter's abode--where we had a delicious lunch at the Ochiltree's Cafe, and I, who usually hates soup, tried Ray's tomato soup and LOVED it!  I wish I knew what they put in it.  It was a Tomato Vegetable--which the veggies unrecobnizable because they were pureed so finely, and it tasted like it had cream in it.  It was amazing along with my Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese sandwich!  On the hike over & back we walked through a neighborhood and beside the Gun Knowe Loch that was filled with floating swans!!!  We couldn't visit Abbotsford House this time because it was closed.  There was a lovely tower house just before Stow, which, by the way, is pronounced "St-OW!" like someone just kicked you in the shins.

Ray at bus stop across from our hotel in Leith, waiting for bus to Waverley Station:

Ceiling of Waverley:

Quotes by Sir Walter all over the station:

Comfy seats:

Views on our way to Abbostford:

This is Borthwick Castle seen from the train--it's one of the largest and best preserved surviving Scottish fortifications.  It's protected on 3 sides by a steep fall into the ground.  It was built in 1430 for Sir William Borthwick, and Mary, Queen of Scots, visited here in 1563 & 1566.  Today it provides luxurious hotel accommodations.  

We arrived and then took a mile and a half hike in the rain to get to Abbotsford, but it was such a nice walk.  

Love this sign:

tunnel on our route:

Hundreds of swans on the loch:

Road up to Abbotsford with resident Heilin' Coos (Highland Cattle) who usually run to meet me, but it was raining, so I didn't fault them at all for staying in place.

Sir Walter Scott:

Although at one time reduced to just one individual, Mary Monica Hope-Scott, Sir Walter Scott now has many direct descendants in the UK, Australia, and Canada and the United States.

This bust of him always reminds me of my Uncle Frank:

His amazing house, Abbotsford:

and its brilliant library:

in the Visitor's Centre:

As close as we could get to Abbotsford today--AS IT WAS CLOSED FOR THE SEASON!  But it was worth the train trip anyway and....

for the incredibly delicious food in the cafe:

I had Smoked Salmon sandwich with cream cheese and a Ginger Beer:

and I stole some of Rays' delicious Tomato Veggie Soup:

Sir Walter that I bobught for our tree:

and some Scottish Tablet (fudge):

then it was back into the rain for the return hike to the Tweedbank station:

then back to Waverley Station by train then finding a bus to take us back to Leith amid all the bus stop changes because of the trams.

In Edinburgh the next day, this is Mary Magdalene Church on Cow Market, seen here from George IV Bridge:

The Diner on South Bridge where we usually eat, but it has changed so much since last time and was TOTALLY packed this time, so we went to Bella Italia instead:

Sign at Bella Italia that kind of summarized out trip--we were handed lots of "lemons"=glitches, in our plans, but we made the best of it all and had a great time:

On corner of the Royal Mile and South Bridge

Stayed one nite in the Hub on South Market St. before leaving Edinburgh:

The train to London was wonderful as it goes down the east coast of Scotland with lovely views. 

 There was a lovely Pele tower at the beginning of the trip that I have Google driven the roads to find again with no success: 

Bass Rock as we pass by:

Barns Ness Lighthouse--machine-gunned in WWII, but no damage:

the Torness Nuclear Power plant: 

a beautiful mansion--also Google-driven but with no success of finding t so I could identify it:

down the gorgeous cliffy coast.... 

through Berwick upon Tweed (pronounced as "Berrick on Twee")...:

past a war bunker: 

and in the distance--Lindisfarne Castle on its high hill on Holy Island:

Amble by the Sea (gorgeous village right by the sea and near Innerwick Castle): 

Morpeth (our first stop),:

Newcastle (2nd stop): 

York (3rd stop), then into King's cross station in London.   And here are the only reasons that this trip wasn't blissful:

All would've been perfect, but we had the most unruly 4 children who sat with their mother in the row behind us.  I would've thought she was just another disinterested passenger on this trip had not the children called her "Mom" occasionally.  They were play fighting and tossing all around the seats and bumping into our seats.  Screaming & yelling.  At one point the mother did temporarily "wake up" to the situation and ask them to stop since "the nice gentleman & lady" (us) had paid for a nice trip and they were making that it impossible for us, but the kids didn't care and continued the entire trip with her saying over and over--Lawrence, please be quiet.  Henrietta, stop that.  Their names--Lawrence, Henrietta, Mabel, & Carmella--will be forever etched in my mind as she would half-heartedly beg them to calm down over & over again.  Once she even said for them to calm down as they were going to go to the Billie Eilish party right after getting off the train--did this help?  Absolutely not!  For me, it was a practice in how to meditate in the midst of extreme turmoil.

We arrived in London to very rainy weather and stayed 2 nights in the Hub hotel at Kings' Cross.  I really liked this one and they had lovely breakfasts.  But it rained the entire time we were there.  Pouring cold rain.  Ray took the Piccadilly line over to Harrod's to do some shipping, but the LINE to get into the store was so long, he gave up.  

Then it was time for our return flight home.  While talking about the flights--which had us staying over in the Renaissance Hotel in Atlanta one night then taking the trip to Asheville Christmas Eve morning--I asked if there was any way to do the "to Asheville" flight later the same night and cut out the hotel--nobody was able to meet us at the hotel anyway so Ray began checking.  He spent over 3 hours texting with Delta but finally we got the flight changed.

I don't know if the hassle caused Delta to look upon us kindly OR if we had a guardian angel looking over us, but when we checked in for our flight to Atlanta, we were told we could go to Lounge H.  Lounge? What was this?  As it turns out, Delta is in league with Virgin Atlantic in London, and we were invited to use the Virgin Atlantic Lounge while we waited for our flight instead of having to wait in shoulder to shoulder seats in the big Heathrow lobby, which I hate.  

I was so excited!  This lounge was gorgeous and had a viewing platform, big sofa/beds you could sleep on, showers you could take, very clean restrooms with their own sinks, etc., and wait staff who came to your little nest you could create of your very own and asked if you'd like something to drink or eat.  You could also order over the website.  We had lovely snacks and drinks, and of course Ray got Champagne, and a delicious lunch of salmon and veggies and dessert of Cheesecake for me.  

Didn't make use of the big sofa/beds, but they were available:

Then we put on our N95 masks and went to the gate where we used the Priority line and were told that we had been upgraded from Comfort + to Comfort + with reclining seats and footrests, which actually made a huge differencce in comfort level.  The only propblem--while waiting the short period of time before we boarded, a family of 4 came into the room and the mother and their 2 children were obviously sick--coughing and looking generally miserable and like they must have fevers--the children were crying occasionally and just looked so miserable.  I felt sorry for them--they had reservations and had to get home, but I did wish that they wore N95 masks.  They only wore the flimsy surgical masks and the kids just kept them tucked under their chins as did their mother.  I don't think any of them had had any sleep for days.  

Anyway, so yes, my heart went out to them, but I prayed that they were seated nowhere near us on the plane.  We boarded the plane and were getting all settled in when I see them coming down the aisle.  TO TAKE THEIR SEATS IN THE ROW RIGHT BEHIND US!!!  Still coughing their heads off.  Still crying.  Still miserable.  Our flight to Atlanta took 8 1/2 hours, and there wasn't a single moment of it that one or another of them wasn't crying, coughing, or going to the restroom and passing right beside my seat to do so--and I mean to cough--right on me.  

Ray angled the air vent to blow onto and away from me and towards them, and we kept our masks on the whole time.  I managed to only have to make one trip to the restroom, and I had to wait in a line to use it because one of the restrooms in the back of the plane was out of order and the other was being taken over by a little girl who'd gotten sick and was throwing up in it.  I was never so glad to get off a plane.  

I hope everyone is feeling better and I hope that we continue to be free of whatever illnesses the other passengers had.  So far we only have a bit of congestion--probably from weather and changing temps, etc.--and we continue to test negative for Covid, but we will see.

Article I saw online, but of course at the hour we arrived, they would certainly not still be singing:

We boarded our flight to Asheville after numerous delays adding up to over two extra hours--gate changes, crew shortages, and weather delays--and finally landed in Asheville at 2:30am to bitterly cold temps of MINUS 1 degrees with windchill of MINUS 15!!!  Needle weather, as I call it--feels like needles piercing you all over!

It was an ever-changing but wonderful trip, all because I got to make Colin happy for just a bit of this holiday.  Happy Christmas! (as they wish you in Scotland!)