from Austin to Manchester to Edinburgh

Well, we have made it to Edinburgh, Scotland. We left Austin on Thursday, June 26, around 2:30 p.m. for Chicago. After scrambling to make our connection in Chicago (for Manchester), we sat in the plane on the ground for a couple of hours, after which we had a pretty pleasant, uneventful flight to Manchester. It was our first flight on British Midland, and we have all decided we like this airline. Some of us like them because the televisions in every seatback have built-in GameBoys. Most of us like them because they had a lot of empty seats and we were able to spread out. All of us like them because they got us here safely.

After arriving at Manchester International Airport on Friday morning, we made our way by taxi to our hotel (Express by Holiday Inn at Salford Quays), dropped our bags, and walked straight over to Old Trafford for a tour of the Manchester United Football Club Museum and grounds. It was very exciting and interesting! Did you know that in 1958, the Busby Babes, as the young, successful team was known, was returning home from Yugoslavia when their plane crashed in Munich and killed 23 of the 44 passengers on board (players, club staff and journalists)? There is a section of the museum which memorializes this tragedy. The tour of Old Trafford helped to stave off crashing from jet lag until late afternoon; but everyone's Friday night sleeping schedule was "out-of-sorts". We were only in Manchester for a short time, but liked the city. Our hotel was right by the river -- the Mersey, of Gerry and the,Pacemakers' "Ferry Cross the Mersey" fame -- and it seemed as though there was a lot of new construction and development happening in downtown Manchester.

Saturday morning, we walked to the nearby metro, rode to Piccadilly, where we caught the train to Edinburgh. (Maria's research and choices in terms of hotel, and transportation options were very well planned, if she does say so herself. ) By early afternoon, we arrived at our rental flat in Edinburgh. We are in a new neighborhood for us, this our 7th summer, but are renting again from our dear landlady of 5 years, Mandy Logan. The apartment is "awesome;" it is bigger than our previous flats, and BONUS!! is across the street from a good-sized park. You can see the flat for yourself at http://www.edinburghholidayflats.com (the Harrison Park flat). The neighborhood is near Haymarket Station and is located farther west of Prince's St. than we have ever been before, and we are looking forward to exploring this part of Edinburgh. The temperature has been great since we arrived in the UK. It's cool and sunny, then not sunny, then spritzes, then sunny, then not sunny, etc. Just like always...
Dave

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