New Year's Day saw us sleep in somewhat but keen not to waste our last full day together. With this in mind we headed out late morning toward Calton Hill, a popular look out.

Fine views were evident for 360 degrees and whilst nippy in the wind, the sun was shining bravely.

We wandered around here for some time before moving downhill toward Holyrood Palace and the new Scottish Parliament building.

We had also told the kids about the fudge shop we had visited the day before so that was on everyone's agenda as well.

Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh, but we are pretty sure she wasn't in a the time.

The fudge shop didn't disappoint and laden with several different varieties our next stop was the No.1 High Street pub for lunch.

When we emerged from the pub we were surprised to see it had been raining and not surprisingly the temperature had dropped as by now it was getting dark again. Not sure how the Scottish deal with this early sunset, I just wanted to go home and get into bed with a book and a cup of tea every day at 4pm!

With the last minute souvenir shopping completed, the girls were keen to head to the Ice Skating rink in Princes St. Gardens so we followed them down to watch. This proved to be a very popular spot and we stayed long enough to take the obligatory photos but it was too cold for those of us standing still so we returned to the apartment.

We re grouped for dinner at Browns which was fairly unremarkable and then got into the serious business of fighting for space in the newly purchased 'overflow bag.'

**************************************

 

This morning Zoe, Tannika, Sam, Terri and Mark left at 11am for the train back to London. The girls will fly back to Adelaide tomorrow and Sam next Monday ready for what looks like being an early start to vintage.

Russell and I had a relaxing morning tidying up the apartment and finding a great clothing shop just around the corner!! (That was me not Russell of course.)

I write this from the BA lounge in Edinburgh where we await our 7.30 pm flight to Heathrow and then on to Singapore and Adelaide. We have just heard the flight is delayed, only by 15 mins at present but we have a fairly tight connection in Heathrow so hope all goes well! Mind you, another night in London wouldn't be too bad 🙂

See you when we're home!

 

New Year's Eve dawned with grey skies and drizzle.

Whilst Russell and I attended to domestic duties, the kids got off to a (relatively) early start for the castle. We left a little later and strolled along the Royal Mile taking in the sights on the way to collecting Russell's glove that one of the 'spirits' had dislodged from his pocket the previous evening.

This St.Giles Cathedral, no inside shots cos that was extra 3 pounds!

 

There were all manner of buskers along the Royal Mile trying to get their share of the tourist pound but there were a lot of tourist pounds going around as well!

We contented ourselves with photos and hot chocolates deciding not to do the Castle which we had toured back in '04 and which by now had a long queue.

 

We made our way down to the bottom of the Royal Mile, taking in a great fudge shop, a picturesque cemetery and the very modern Scottish Parliament along the way before winding back around Calton Hill but not quite to its summit.

At this stage we began thinking about dinner and got directions to Marks and Spencer's food hall. What a bloody circus! Faced with a one day “bank holiday” the next day, the shelves were as empty as if a nuclear holocaust had been announced! There was not a potato to be found. Leaving Russell to scrounge what he could ( one and a half carrots!) I ran off to Sainsbury's to see if the situation was any better there. It was, slightly, and between us we lugged home enough provisions (including some decadent goose fat for the potatoes!) for what turned out to be a delicious roast chicken and veggies for the seven of us.

Preparation was quite entertaining as the particularly sensitive smoke alarm insisted on going off with alarming frequency but the end result was superb.

After a couple of warming drinks it was off to Hogmanay!

We had tickets to the Enclosure part of the Concert in the Gardens and we passed all manner of characters as well as lots of kilts (with cold legs no doubt) and the obligatory long queues for the ladies toilets.

 

Interestingly, the crowd whilst noisy and boisterous, were basically well behaved – we saw no fights or bad behaviour apart from the odd not so discreet wizz against a tree.

We made many new friends (!) as we waited for the big countdown. Fireworks were released each hour on the hour and the live music was entertaining in the background. Appropriately dressed as we were, it actually wasn't too cold.

At midnight, the fireworks at the castle were spectacular and prolonged and the obligatory Auld Lang Syne rang out across the crowd.

I think I wanted to kick on a bit longer but Russell took me home and ultimately the kids weren't too far behind us as pubs were closed or closing.

All in all it was a great night, enjoyed by nearly 80,000 of us!

 

After claiming our luggage in a freezing Edinburgh train station, we trudged out into the open air for the “ten minute” walk to the apartment. It probably is a ten minute walk but two minutes into it, it began to hail quite heavily! Running for cover, we waited out the worst of it and eventually arrived at the apartment cold and damp to say the least.

The apartment was lovely though and the heaters and a cup of tea revived our spirits considerably and we were soon out checking out our local area in the twilight.

We were actually in a great location, very central to Princes Street where all the action takes place for Hogmanay and close to the main shopping streets which were wearing their Christmas colours.

There was a Thai restaurant two doors up, so the five of us plus Zoe's friends Mark and Terri went there for dinner which turned out to be great decision.

The seven of us were booked into the Hidden and Haunted walking tour in the old town so we rugged up and were at the appointed meeting place at 9.30 to be met by the lovely Nicola.

Nicola regaled us with ghoulish stories and then led the group of about 30 of us down to the underground vaults where allegedly many people experience 'cold spots' and take photos containing 'orbs' – none of which happened to me personally but it was great fun. She picked Sam to play the role of the infamous 'Walter' who had been tortured 500 years ago and of course he proved to be great choice and played his role perfectly.

The kids then headed to the nearest pub for a nightcap whilst Russell and I decided to hit the sack in preparation for a big day tomorrow.

 

The girls and Sam were very disciplined and were off almost at first light Friday morning but Russell and I had a leisurely breakfast and did the household laundry before making our way to the “biggest Westfield in London.”

Well it WAS big enough to host an ice skating rink in the centre square and have a rather large Desigual store – one of my favourites. I managed to spend several hours (and several $$) here before we rejoined the kids back home to head out to the theatre. Sam, Zoe and Tannika had given Russell and I tickets to “Singin' in the Rain” and it turned out to be a very entertaining evening.

Saturday morning Russell had booked a photography tour, the girls were planning the “hop on hop off” Red bus so I tagged along with Sam on his shopping expedition.

This included perusing several outdoor shops and some gorgeous book stores in Covent Gardens before settling in to the “White Swan” for a fairly ordinary lunch where we met by Russell. He had enjoyed his morning especially because the guide was a fellow history buff as well having once worked in the UK version of CDCB! A match made in heaven and he took some great photos.

Eventually we wound up at Harrods which was absolutely packed with post Christmas sale shoppers and not Sam and Russell's scene at all!

Even entry to the tube was being restricted for safety reasons but eventually we made it home slightly behind the girls who had had a successful day judging by the shopping bags strewn about the room.

Another serving of the honeyed duck at the Hand and Flower sufficed for dinner and then the challenge of packing for our train journey to Edinburgh the next day.

We had succumbed to buying another bag (again) and everyone was keen to offload to the 'spare' bag.

The almost deserted Sunday morning streets were perfect for our luggage convoy trundling along to the station and we made it into Kings Cross on time for the joyful reunion of Zoe and her friend Terri at Platform 9 3/4.

So, dear readers that may still be with me… I write this on board the 0957 to Edinburgh. It is very bumpy so I apologise for typos as we bounce along at 122kmh toward the next adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday dawned grey but dry and we sadly piled our luggage into Gunther and set off for Munich airport.

We were nervous about dropping the car off and what the outcome would be when our car park damage was viewed but were pleasantly surprised when it was deemed “less than 5cm” and therefore not chargeable! The fact that there were about 20 “less than 5cm” scratches didn't seem to matter!

We were slogged for some very expensive diesel but all in all were happy with the outcome.

The girls and I satisfied our shopping urge in the airport duty free whilst the boys read as our BA flight delay was announced. Once airborne, about 40 mins late, we had a pleasant flight and upon landing in Heathrow, boarded the Heathrow express for Paddington station.

Unfortunately, the express was not so express and the advertised 15 mins was more like 40 by the time pulled in. Sam was horrified that we had paid big money for the service we hadn't got!

The next challenge was trying to find a cab that would fit the 5 of us plus luggage. The very officious cab controller informed us that a regular London black cab would suffice and so we spent some time (holding up the whole queue) squeezing into a black cab with hilarious results.

Eventually though, we arrived at our apartment in West Kensington and were met by our landlady Zoe. Quirky but pleasant, she showed us around and then left us to settle in.

By now feeling quite hungry, we trundled off to our local, The Hand and Flower, for a meal and a pint. The kids planned their method of attack for the next day and then we all hit the sack fairly early.