New Newport News News 141: Edinburgh (first day)

Realizing they they have not stressed out nearly enough in the last 2 years, the Buckitts [4 Buckles, 1 Prewitt] decided to spend less that 2 weeks in 4 cities in the UK, using all forms of transit possible [no horses].  Oh yes, and using only carry-on luggage.

Tuesday 8-5, the Buckles’ Big Blue Van picked up Theresa at work at 4 pm and drove to DC.  They got a hotel until 3 am, when they went over to Dulles Airport.  This scheme was considered less stressful that driving to DC in the middle of the night.

Surprisingly—and this held for all the air travel for this trip—nothing went wrong in security, gate changes and even customs!  None of us could remember a smoother time in the airports.

Arriving in Heathrow Airport at 8:40 pm, the plucky party got the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station, across town on the Underground to St. Pancras Station and, from thence, to the waiting room for the Caledonian Express sleeper train. ⁴    Our 2 males opted to shower in the lounge.  We ladies drank from the nice open stock of soft drinks and ate lots of treats.

Sometime around 11 pm, the 5 boarded the train.  Zoe had her own room, while the older ladies slept in the upper bunks of 2 other cabins.  The men wandered off to the bar car to imbibe in nerve suppressants while the ladies explored the joys of the tiniest shower / toilet ever invented.

British trains are very smooth, since the rails are set on concrete rather than wood.  So, some form of sleep was achieved by the exhausted exotics.

The next morning…. Edinburgh, Scotland.  Despite exquisite planning, we arrived in the middle of Edinburgh’s festival, so the city was unsightly with provocative show posters and crowded streets.  After stashing the luggage in a handy convenience store [prearranged, prepaid by Ron], the Buckitts hiked to the Museum of Scotland.  Ron and Carol remembered this museum with great fondness, but they visited well over 20 years ago.  It still had many wonders, including interactive displays of major industrial and science breakthroughs made by Scots.  And the museum and its displays recreated in Legos.  We were disappointed in the History of Scotland exhibits, which were very dimly lit and grouped by type of object rather than timeframe.  Carol whined a lot because she could not make out the objects in the dark, let alone read the small print.  And, note, she is still whining. [In Britain, whining is “whinging” = whin-jing]

After realizing the level of fatigue was hampering their enjoyment, the miserable museum-goers took a double decker bus to pick up the luggage and go to their flat across town, picking up a few groceries on the way.

Ron had done wonders in booking their rooms.  This one, though 3 flights up [a charming spiral staircase] had 3 bedrooms, a dining room, a living room / kitchen with a clothes washer.

And so, the weary wanderers went to unpack and rest.  After a meal, the 3 young folks went out for a ghost tour in Mary King’s Close, a recently uncovered Victorian era alley-turned-living space. 

They must have come home at some time, because the seniors saw them the next day.

¹ Cousin Vinny’s: a stop on a bus tour that involves a store, often with a demo of what they make there and a long opportunity to purchase.  Always includes restrooms. 
² Trough: an all–you-can-eat buffet.  Always looks more delicious than it is.
³ CTC is Cheap Tourist Crap.  It is not necessarily inexpensive.  Often to be found in Cousin Vinny stores.
⁴ Buckitts [4 Buckles, 1 Prewitt]
⁵ Former is a term usually used in connection with trains, and means one who loves locomotives and knows all about them personally, by name and number, and are foaming mad for trains in general. [ Ron and Carol like trains very much and love to ride them, but we are not foamers.]