Schuetz Family

Day 13 – May 27 (Thursday)

Now it’s time for us to do some travelling with our hosts. We had our usual breakfast (sausage rolls and yum-yums), and walked over to the train station. Turns out the train’s late. Twelve minutes late. They gave us a “pass” to use at York, that’ll get us onto another train, in case we miss our connection, but we ended up not needing that, as we just barely made it in York (thankfully the Edinburgh train was on the same platform as ours). Once in our seats, we relaxed, did some journaling, and tried to add some cache information to the GPS. After a couple hours of very beautiful countryside and ocean views (fortunately, we were on the east side of the train), we pulled into Edinburgh, and found our way to the hotel.

After checking in (and determining that it’s not nearly as nice as the London hotel was), we walked to the castle. First, though, we stopped into an old cemetery, looking for a cache, but gave up as we think we ended up in the wrong spot. Still, it was quite an impressive visit, and didn’t really take us out of our way. We trudged up and around the castle, which is perched on the end of a high ridge. It turns out we arrived just in time for a half-hour tour, which was terrific. The castle is incredible, built on volcanic slag, and sort of winds higher and higher. At the highest level of the castle are the Scottish Crown Jewels, ruins of a much older tower, old prison spaces, and a massive cannon known as “Mons Meg.” The cannon was to be used for sieges, but it was so heavy that it was almost impossible to drag to battle (plus, it was pretty easy for your enemy to spot you way off). It was only actually fired once, at which point the barrel cracked. After exploring (and searching for a very well hidden cache we never did find), we ate lunch at the Red Coat Cafe. This was especially amusing for us, since almost exactly a year before we were walking Boston’s Freedom Trail!

After the castle, we walked on down the Royal Mile, and ended up at a hilltop park with a greek temple, an observatory, and one of England’s countless monuments to Nelson. In the rocks below the monument was a micro-cache that we all spent some time searching for (after a bit, Lauren and Andrea went off to enjoy the park). Then, it was back to the hotel to change and get some jackets, as it was starting to get cold. We walked about a while, trying to find a good place to eat, and ended up at a pub called Milne’s. It had a Lord of the Rings themed slot machine &emdash; very odd. Anyway, dinner was great, but we still weren’t done for the day.

We’d heard about “Ghost Tours,” and headed back to the Royal Mile to pick one up. At this point, perhaps I should remind the reader that the castle was located on the end of a high ridge. I haven’t mentioned that the hotel (and the pub) is on another ridge. So we went down, across, and back up. Again. There are a lot of hills in Edinburgh. Fortunately, we found a shortcut. Unfortunately, it was up about a thousand stairs.

Once we got back to the top, we hung out near St. Giles Kirk, and waited for it to get dark. And waited. And when we were tired of waiting, we waited some more. Ever the geek, David pulled out his Palm and fired up an astronomy program, which told him that, in Edinburg, sunrise for May 27 was at 4:40 in the morning, and sunset at 9:39 in the evening. A 17-hour day. And that’s not even counting twilight! Civil twilight (when you can still see the horizon and a few of the brightest stars have come out) stretches until 10:35 (and begins again at 3:45 in the morning). Nautical twilight (you can still see general outlines of things on the ground) goes until 12:23 the next day and begins again at 2:00 in the morning. There is no Astronomical twilight (the point at which the sky is absolutely free of even the faintest sunlight). What all this tells us (aside from that David needs a new hobby) is that it doesn’t really get dark until after 10:30, and even then it isn’t very dark until after midnight. (By contrast, back home in Chantilly for May 27, twilight times are at 8:52, 9:30, and 10:13, so really we were about 3 hours beyond when it would have been really dark at home.)

Anyway, this gave us all something to talk about while we waited for the tour to begin. Finally, it was dark enough, and they took us around to various locations telling great ghost stories and such. The best place was in a series of underground vaults. At one point, one of the major bridges that climbed the side of the ridge had buildings tucked into its arches. Over time, all these buildings were buried as land was filled in to “smooth” out the side of the ridge. Eventually, the buildings were completely buried and used by squatters, kidnappers, and other sorts of unsavory characters.

Eventually, we found ourselves in a graveyard, wondering where we could pick up a cab back to the hotel, where we all desperately wanted to be.

Day 14 – May 28 (Friday)

We woke up and headed across the street for breakfast (included in our hotel fee) at a place called “Rick’s.” Didn’t really like it. Food was passable, service was slow, and generally it wasn’t worth it. Then, we had to find an internet cafe (so Matt could fill out his timesheet). We didn’t know where one was, but Matt did know that there was a cafe “around the corner” from a webcam cache and, naturally, David had that mapped on his palm. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find either. Eventually, we gave up, asked for directions, and were pointed towards an internet cafe several blocks away.

So Matt filled out his timesheet, we checked email, and looked for information on “Scottish Nights” dinner / theater shows. We also searched for information on busses to Roslin, but couldn’t get much. So we wandered back to the tourist information center near the train station, fought with the crowds, broke up to visit restrooms in the neighboring mall, finally figured out where the bus stops, deciphered which schedule to look at (multiple bus companies, and two routes with very similar designations), and finally got on the bus, which was a bit cramped in the upstairs front seat. All in all, we arrived in Roslin feeling a little, well, cranky. We figured the best remedy for that was, naturally, food, and got burgers (with stilton cheese &emdash; yum!) at a pub next to the bus stop.

After lunch, we walked a block or two down a country lane to Rosslyn Chapel. It’s a relatvely small chapel, built in the 1400s, but is famous for two things. It’s home to incredibly detailed and rich decorations, and it’s a key location in The da Vinci Code, which we’d all read and enjoyed (prior to coming to believe it’s all a lot of bunk). When we arrived, we found a large hangar-like structure built around and above the chapel, as major roof work is underway. Still, that didn’t stop the visit, and we all went in to see what all the fuss was about. We really can’t describe it well &emdash; an incredible amount of carvings, but all so old as to be difficult to really see. Outside, on the catwalks around the roof, you could see the buttresses and finials up close, but they too were very worn. Which is all about what you’d expect for a 600-year-old structure, but still

The bus trip back to the city was much better (the front seats had more legroom). After getting back, we visited Jenners for an hour or so (Jenners is a big, fancy department store, sort of Edinburgh’s answer to Harrods), and then back to the hotel for a nap. We were so tired that Matt had to call on the hotel phone to wake us up for dinner. After some meandering, we ended up at a place called “Brown’s.” It was a little modern and euro-trendy, but had very good food. After that, there was nothing to do but sleep.

Day 15 – May 29 (Saturday)

Our last morning in Edinburgh. Up at 7:30, packed, cleaned, and to the bakery (for, you guessed it, sausage rolls. And beef pastie. Just to be different.) We walked down into the big park between Princes Street and the castle, and found a nice place to sit and eat (where we wouldn’t get wet, since it just started to rain a bit). Then, we split up for some shopping. Andrea and I ended up in a bookstore, and bought a couple of Scottish children’s books like “A Moose in the Hoose” (about a “Mouse in the House,” naturally). Then back to the hotel for our bags, walk to the train station, and figure out where the platform is (we ended up going up an elevator, only to find a more informative sign that sent us right back where we’d started. Great beginning.)

After returning to Harrogate and unpacking, Matt dropped us off at a train store on the other side of town. But they didn’t sell any O-Gauge cars, either. On our way walking back, we dropped into a baby store (their strollers seemed different than ours), and popped by Betty’s for some chocolate.

Dinner was difficult, too, since there was a convention in town and all the good pubs were booked solid. We wound up at the Hogs Head, which was bad for conversation but was kind of cool to see a real English sports bar, with rugby on all the TVs. Later, we burned all our pictures to DVD (over a gig!), and watched some Kingdom Hospital. After that, we played some Flux, drank a bit, and when we were done David, slightly drunk, went back upstairs to fight with a puzzle cache (“Resistance is Futile”) some more. The alcohol must’ve helped, because he finally figured out the trick (turns out it’s got nothing to do with either the Borg or Microsoft), sent off his answer, and so bagged his third tough puzzle cache for the trip.

Then, time for bed. Our trip is over, we gotta go home. *sob*

Day 16 – May 30 (Sunday)

Breakfast. No, no sausage rolls, yum-yums, or pasties. We had oatmeal. And it was actually kinda nice. It also turned out that we’re going home with more than we came over, so we had to borrow a suitcase from Matt. Hopefully, we’ll remember to give it back to him when he next comes to the States. It’s another long drive to Manchester, and though we’re sad to be leaving, it’ll be nice to get home. If only there weren’t that long plane flight in the middle…

In the airport, security seems much easier than at home. We’re not sure how to take that, but given how much of a pain Dulles was on our way out, it’s a relief. We find some lunch (Andrea’s caprese sandwich was horribly lacking), mailed ourselves a postcard, and got on the plane. The flight was uneventful, though it might have been nicer to get some sleep (David spent most of the flight reading and watching movies). We got back to the house, spent some time unwinding with our cats (who seemed very happy to see us), and crashed. Fortunately, the next day was a holiday, so we had plenty of time to sleep in and relax.

All in all, we had an incredible time. We’d definitely go back in a heartbeat. Hell, we’d even consider moving there for a couple years (on the Conner plan), if we could both find work and if we could afford to keep our house here. England was quiet and beautiful, the food was fantastic, the people were friendly, and the sights were astounding. If you have a chance to spend a couple of weeks there, we highly recommend it!