First Day in Edinburgh

---

Geo: 55.9503, -3.18761

All of Wednesday, Aug 13 and half of Thursday was time in
transit. Lufthansa flew me from Seattle to Frankfurt and then to Edinburgh.
This was rather unexciting but here are some observations.

Lufthansa is too classy of an airline to nickel and dime its
passengers in the same manner that RyanAir, Spirit, and others screw
everyone. However I was concerned about
how zealous Lufthansa might be in enforcing luggage – check-in and carry-on –
dimension and weight restrictions. As a consequence I spent hours playing with different mixes of items to
maximize the amount items that I could bring to Europe. Even then I had leave
items behind: DSRL camera lens, point and shoot camera plus batteries and
charger, pair of fashionable shoes mainly for London, and a whitewater kayak
helmet with an attached action camera. I also had to pack some electronic and
optical products in my check-in luggage – a practice that is discouraged by
most travel experts.

For some reason I have seen more smoking related behavior at Lufthansa and at the Frankfurt
Airport than anywhere else. Specifically, Lufthansa was selling cartons of duty
free cigarettes on the plane. Yup, a cart with cigarettes was pushed down the aisles
and a flight attendant was hawking them. If that was bad it was almost a horror
to see glass enclosed rooms just off the thoroughfare through the airport where
folks can take cigarette breaks. One of these rooms has a horse size replica of
a camel and can hold maybe thirty smokers at a time.Unlike my last passage through the Frankfurt Airport there
was no trip to a police station to argue over my possession of illegal weapons
in my airplane luggage. What can I say? These items are on view at the Spy
exhibition at the Pacific Northwest Science Center in a display of weapons used
by agents of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of today's
Central Intelligence Agency. I purchased these items over the counter in Paris,
and only the Germans have a problem with them (as does the state of
California).



The flight entertainment selection included an episode of
one of my favorite television shows – Ripper Street - which is shown on
BBC-America. It provides an interesting
depiction of life in London's lower class neighborhood, the East End, during
the1880s. The inclusion of this show made my flight.

This afternoon was spent walking through the central part of
Edinburgh where folks where pushing theatrical shows that make up the famous “fringe
festival”. . One of the best received artists was a bagpipe
player who has a unique way of playing his instrument. Virtually every bagpiper
in the world blows air into the instrument's bladder where it is squeezed through the reeds
to create the music that is loved some, including me, and hated many others.
What this guy has done is create air pumps that are attached to his shoes. By
bouncing up and down he pumps air into the instrument. And you can see the bladder is tiny compared
to an actual bagpipe.While looking for a place to have dinner I saw too many
restaurants in the tourist area whose menu consists of burgers, pizza, chicken
sandwiches…Someone on the street mentioned a pub which sold tradition food, and
the fish and chips that I ate there were the best I have had. “World's End”.
Remember that name when you visit Edinburgh.

---