Today has all the hallmarks of the pick day in Edinburgh, early time slot to visit Edinburgh Castle, then a quick taxi ride to lunch with Anne. After breakfast in the our room, we headed out up the 200 meters to the entrance of Edinburgh Castle . As you walked into the temporary stadium which has been built for the Military Tattoo on the 4th to 26th August was as intimidating as walking into the Colosseum or MCG. After checking in we started the walk up to the Argyle Battery which also has 3 x 105mm Field Guns are position to fire a salute at 1pm each day. After the walk up we saw the cafe and decided it was time for our morning coffee, good thing we did as when we were leaving, the queue ... read more

Today was all about getting around as much of the Tourist spots we can. We defaulted back to the Hop on Hop off Bus and their red line. We chose this for expedience, but tomorrow we had different choices. But before that there was Edinburgh Farmers Market just down the hill from our accommodations. We walked down to see some of their farm produce and maybe get breakfast. Our breakfast was a tale of two cities with Rose selecting a Falafel wrap and the Falafel's were cooked to order. She loved it and it was very good. On the other hand, I was seduced by the whole pig on the spit, but that is where it ended, the pork was bland and soggy, the milk bun fell apart from the moister and I picked the filling ... read more

We started the day quietly and midmorning decided to find the William Wallace memorial tower in Sterling and while we took a bus to the bottom of tower, we did walk the 16 stories (over 400 steep steps) to the top viewing platform. The view was spectacular if not windy and cold. The walk down was the same stairs as the way up, so there was frequent encounters with other climbers. After what feels like abseiling back down the tower, we decided to have lunch at Friend of Mine in Bridge of Allan. This was recommended by our host, we loved this lunch. After lunch we drove down to find Andy Murray's Hotel, but instead found the back door and was chased back down the road by a tractor. Epic Fail! - we need to save ... read more

Monday became a quiet morning catching up on the blogs, however in the afternoon we went into Edinburgh for dinner at Loch Fyne Restaurant. We walked around the pier and after dinner went down the road to look at The Royal Yacht Britannia. We intend to come back to Britannia when we stay in Edinburgh. Tuesday had us traveling to Dunblane, which was only a 90 minutes from Edinburgh, so we decided to make a detour through Glasgow and on the recommendation of my barista at Meister on Collins St, we went to Ox and Finch for lunch and what a superb lunch it was. See the photos for some of the special dishes. We also found some street art in Glasgow at the SWG3 Studios which was hidden gem for Glasgow. In Dunblane we are ... read more

today we are spending the day with Elizabeth and after a quiet morning we head out to the nearby town of Melrose for lunch. We have a walk around the town looking at the derelict Melrose Abbey, the Priorwood Gardens, and a walk down the main street where we found url=https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=5de677f172bc5655JmltdHM9MTY4NzczNzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0xODQ5ZmRiYi04YjkzLTYxMmMtMzg0MC1lZDc1OGEwMzYwNzEmaW5zaWQ9NTIwOQ&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1849fdbb-8b93-612c-3840-ed758a036071&psq=country+kitchen+deli+melrose&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3Blb3BsZS9UaGUtQ291bnRyeS1LaXRjaGVuLURlbGktTWVscm9zZS8xMDAwNTc1ODAzMjQxMDIv&ntb=1the Country Kitchen Deli where we purchased cheeses and accompaniments for afternoon drinks. We had lunch at the Burts Hotel for lunch, where Rose had Guinea Fowl for... read more