Dairsie to Edinburgh August 26th

Left Leslie’s just before ten in the morning.  It was smooth sailing all the way to Edinburgh.  Thank god for the GPS.  We would never have found the hotel on our own.  It was too early to check in so we just left our luggage and took a taxi to the airport.  There we took the tram into city centre.  What a slick operation that was.  The trip took about half an hour. So this is festival week in Edinburgh and the crowds were unbelievable.  Monday was the last day so there were fireworks going to happen at 10:00 at night. So we jostled our way through the crowds to get a few pictures.  Scotland is having a mini heatwave at the moment so it was nice to be in the warmth.  Neither of us could stand the crowds of people and all the noise so we went into the Grassmarket area of the city.  It was a bit better there.  We found and old pub (surprise!) that was called The Last Drop.  Just like in Mexico.  Anyway, this pub is on the site where executions used to take place.  People used to come to watch and presumably have a pint.  Pretty gruesome! After our pint we walked around the castle from below so got some pretty good pictures from different angles.  Then we made our way over to New Town in search of a pub called the Oxford.  “The Ox” for short. For anyone who is a fan of Ian Rankin’s books or the t.v. series Rebus this is the pub featured in both.  It’s where the Edinburgh police went to drink.  It is also the pub where Ian Rankin does in fact go to drink. It’s a very old pub, not fancy at all.  Looks like it needs a good clean.  But you can get a good chat with some locals.  They are not accustomed to seeing many tourists.  On our way to the pub I spotted a hair salon.  I was in dire need of a trim.  I went into the shop and was lucky enough to be fit in after only a ten minute wait.  The prices looked a bit scary but I was desperate.  The only one who could do my hair was a senior stylist.  No......that does not mean I get a seniors discount.  The lowest price for a haircut was £42 but with a senior stylist it was £58.  With a £3 tip that works out to be about $95.00.  Never in my life have I spent that on a haircut!  But the stylist was worth the price of admission.  We chatted the whole way through.  I think she did a great job and she took almost an hour to cut my little head of hair.  Anyway,  we shared a few stories and had a few laughs. But before I got my haircut we found the “Ox” and I left Ian in their capable hands.  When I went o join him I apologized to him for the long wait but he didn’t seem to mind at all.  He told me that when he first got there a quiet came over the room.  But after a bit they started to chat once more.  When I arrived we began to speak to the bar girl (lovely) and a few of the patrons.  I guess I just can’t keep my mouth shut.  Apparently we just missed Ian Rankin who was in earlier in the day.  Damn! We made our way back to our hotel by 9:30 before the fireworks were over and the mad rush to get out of town began.  We had a lovely day. More to come I hope.