Tuesday, 18 July, 2017 – weather: great
It is time to leave York and our great apartment for the last 4 days.
Our Airbnb apartment inside the city walls
Julie has gone out early to arrange a taxi from the nearby stand. She also goes to Marks and Spencer for Orange Juice, Coffee and presumably some food.
Our taxi to take us to the station shows up at the allotted time. There is an updated trip out of the city as construction has closed the main road. Our driver is very friendly and talkative. The station is nowhere near as crowded as last Friday’s racing day. We have a bit of a wait for the train but it eventually turns up.
Last night I had Googled the first class service on our route to Edinburgh. It looked very promising with new leather seats and a comprehensive menu including Duck in wraps with Hoisin sauce, a full bar etc. We were bitterly disappointed when we boarded the train. First of all, these were old cloth seats. Then our seats were in use a double booking had occurred, we find some others. Finally the menu was extremely disappointing:
There were a few soft drinks offered but booze and a few other snacks were extra cost items so we did not partake. The trip was around 1:45 in duration on a fast train. There were four stops along the way. Some of the scenery was stunning especially when we got quite close to the Coast, presumably of the North Sea.
When we finally arrive in Edinburgh we are in a very large train station which takes a while to get out of.
Our Airbnb contact, Uksana, said we should walk to her office to pick up the keys. There was the usual missing directions error – for the first decision do we turn left or right when we exit the train station? Julie asked someone and initially they weren’t sure but guided us the right way. The contact said it was a short trip, hah! – it was a Capo 5-7 minutes. First thing I noticed is that Edinburgh is very hilly and we have to go uphill most of the way. Then the footpaths are not suited for hauling large suitcases with lots of brick or cobblestone parts or just broken concrete. It is hot too. Finally, after some missteps we reach her office and get the keys, more like 30 minutes than 5.
Uksana gives us a map and directions to the apartment – another Capo 5 minute walk. A good thing is that it was mostly downhill although the streets are crowded with people and there is the usual construction going on everywhere which makes progress slow.
Finally we reach the apartment. We are staying in Edinburgh’s “New Town” which isn’t that new but presumably newer than the old town. We are in a group of apartments which look like most of them are used for short term rentals. The apartment is quite functional and clean.
To no surprise of my regular readers, Julie goes out prancing. Apparently she walked all over town and it is a big place. A few of her photos along the way.
Julie returns at around 5:30 and says she has made a booking for a restaurant and that we should head out to it shortly. I notice on her Google Maps that it is supposed to be a 15 minute walk, even they have the Capo disease. The main issue is that it is uphill virtually the whole way. I take a couple of photos along the way.
Finally, after a walk that seemed like it was all the way back to York, we arrive at our restaurant.
I had studied this place in some depth while in Melbourne a few months ago. We had walked by another Whiski place on High Street on our walk here. One of the highlights of Whiski is they provide Whiskey tastings.
The whiskey on the right of Flight 2 was very “peaty”. I helped Julie finish Flight 3 but she kept the remaining Flight 2 for her dinner.
I did not feel up to the walk back, even though most of it would have been down hill so we order a taxi to get back home.