April 14, 2009

Edinburgh, Scotland Part 1

Our journey began on a Thursday evening with hours to spare in driving time and pounds to spare in the suitcases, two rare events that we were fortunate enough to have occur simultaneously on our first plane travel within Europe. I should have known that something wasn't right. It was just too easy!

Rhi Waiting to Fly

We traveled to the airport in 3 cars, successfully losing the lead vehicle almost immediately, which was not a big deal as we all have gps. Unbeknownst to the us and the other car, we were heading to the wrong airport while the lead car was headed to the right airport. Upon arrival at Dusseldorf Int. we called our friends who promptly informed us of our mistake. No worries, we needed Dusseldorf Weeze airport. Same city right? Wrong! We had to drive another 80 km north which under defensive driving conditions will take just about an hour. Under offensive driving conditions it takes 35 minutes. We had 40 minutes before the check in desk closed. Blessedly, Germany has no speed limit and we had a team of great friends ready and waiting to help us haul ass into the airport and valet part the car for us! We made it just in time and then guess what?!...the plane got delayed about 45 minutes. Totally figures. But we were never happier for a delay I tell you.

Our first day in Edinburgh we got right down to walking around the city and the Royal Mile. It was really difficult navigating the traffic because they do drive on the left side there. There are beautiful gardens and parks, closes (which are really narrow streets, alleys by our standards, that all travel down towards the city center at a very steep angle) lots of shops and pubs (poobs), and places to eat. One thing that surprised me was that some restaurants that have bars would not allow us to eat there with the kids, even for lunch! Obviously we saw some bagpipers and took pictures of the kids with them. We hopped on a double decker bus tour and heard a little about the history of the city.

Playground at the Base of the Castle

Cemetery-Only the Wealthy Could Afford Headstones...the Rest are in Mass Graves

Jim stayed in for the night with the kids and the rest of us went on a ghost tour of the city. We toured these rooms that are built under ground within the structure of one of the bridges and heard tales of ghosts, torture, and body snatchers and other questionable activities that took place there. In one of the rooms, a woman in the back began hyperventilating and had to leave the tour. After it was over, we found a disembodied face on one of our pictures from that room. That wasn't the only one either. We found several faces and many orbs throughout our collected photographs.

Look Closely in the Top Center for the Face

Orb on the Black Cloak

Orb in the Dirt on the Right Side

Ghostly Face-The original photo is not on my disk but this is way zoomed in.

More Orbs

If she had been moving the candle, her arm and hand should be in a trail as well.

Huddled in a Close

We topped off the first night with a few drinks at the Bank Bar and a successful attempt at stuffing 5 people into a phone booth.