I am just back from spending a day and night in Edinburgh. I have to go there every so often to meet up with colleagues and for training or meetings. Since I will always be a tourist at heart, this is not a problem to me. And I have a friend who lives there so I can enjoy seeing her and not have to get up at the crack of dawn to get to Edinburgh!
On Tuesday, Alan dropped me off at the train station and I "commuted" to work! How very nice! All of the jobs I have held since moving here have required the use of a car. But it is such a pleasure not to drive. I am going to price this to see if it might be worthwile to "commute" instead of drive on days I know I am staying in the office.
It just got better too.... I use a website called thetrainline http://www.thetrainline.com/ and it gives all different ways and times to get where you want to go. I noticed a train that left Glasgow Central for Edinburgh that only took one hour and 7 minutes. I got burned one time getting on a train bound for Edinburgh from Central - it took 2 hours or more to get there and there was a Guide unit waiting for us on the other end. So I was quite skeptical at this new information. But sure enough, it looked safe enough to follow up on!
The usual way to get to Edinburgh is a 10 minute walk from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street, where a train leaves every 15 minutes. So I figured the 67 minutes predicted for the train leaving Central Station would really not take any extra time at all.
Arriving at Central, I was so pleasantly surprised to see this beautiful, streamlined, shiny, crosscountry train headed to Birmingham New Street. Again, I read and re-read the itinerary to make sure I didn't really mess myself up, but it was ok. This was so much better than traipsing across town with a suitcase! I will have to watch out for connections like that in the future. (However, being on such a nice train going to a new place made me really want to just stay on!)
Arriving in Edinburgh, with my friend waiting - fantastic! And I get a tiny budget for "hospitality" if not staying in a hotel. So Cathy had the option of deciding how we should spend this windfall. She chose taking a taxi home. She had had a rough day and the thought of waiting for her train to get us to Portobello was just too much. I was happy to oblige and got a taxi!
Once at her house, the wine was ready and dinner was bubbling away. Fantastic! Not only do I feel spoiled when I visit her, but she also enjoys cooking for people. Her husband is working away and her kids are the same age as mine, so she only has cats to keep her company just now! What a wonderful evening and dinner.
To top this off, we walked down to the beach. Can you imagine, a city the size of Edinburgh with a beach! It really does feel like a beach resort in this area too! We hoped to catch a glimpse of the planets - Jupiter and Venus. And so we did! The sky didn't look as cloudy as these pictures show, but we were very lucky to have a relatively clear sky anyway. If I had been at home....Alan told me there were only clouds to see!
We travelled back to city center in the morning and I meandered down to the CAS building. It was a lovely walk and I enjoyed taking my time and also a few pictures!
Nice looking building on the way
Part of a Louis Vuitton window display
LV must be really into arrows this year!
Beautiful church with a bus stop at its side, I gave up waiting for the buses to go away and just took it from a bit higher up!
Reminded me of the "doors of Dublin"
old fashioned looking shop
little street just before I got to the CAS building
Stopping off in Glasgow and making the walk between stations, I decided to shop again. And again, didn't buy anything. Although I was very tempted when I saw a new shop called "Americandy". Woo hoo, what would be in there that I am missing? And I WAS hungry.....Unfortunately the shock of how much things cost in there took away my appetite. 4oz Flips, those chocolate covered pretzels I love - £5. A small bag of M&M's ( and they had so many varieties) £2. So not worth it. And what a disappointment. Oh well, got home to a lovely home cooked dinner by my husband and no guilt with eating something I didn't need!!
"Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge." ~Don Kardong
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