Lori's Travels

We’ve spent Tuesday and today seeing the sights both in Edinburgh and outside the city. Yesterday demanded an early start because we took a day trip to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness, a round trip journey of more than 300 miles. After breakfast at 6:30, we rendezvoused with our Scottish Tours guide Chris and 50-some other tourists at 7:45 a.m. at a coffee shop on the Royal Mile to fill a tourist bus for our jaunt into the countryside. Chris had a strong Scots accent, wore a kilt, had both arms and legs fully covered with tattoos, and was a fun guide and an excellent bus driver.

Our first stop was the cute town of Pitlochry on the way to the Highlands. The bus stopped for about 40 minutes, allowing us to go to a coffee shop, walk around the little downtown area, and for Caroline and I to spot a European goldfinch singing high in a tree near the bus. We picked up a couple of small quiches in the coffee shop as takeaways for our lunch later in the day.

After driving a couple more hours, with narration by Chris, we arrived at a hotel on the shore of Loch Ness. We had about half an hour to eat at the cafe there before getting on the boat for a short cruise on the loch. Because the bus crowd created a long line wherever we stopped, we opted to walk down to the lakeshore early and eat our small quiches there for lunch. Then we boarded the boat.

We sat on bench seats on the top deck of the boat for the 30-minute cruise and kept our eyes peeled for Nessie. There was a recorded description of the natural and cultural history of the loch during the ride. Then the boat docked at Urquhart Castle and let us off. Walking around the ruins of the ancient castle was interesting, reading many interpretive signs along the way. It also gave us an even better view of Loch Ness and the possibility of spotting Nessie. Although we saw a suspicious wave formation in the water, Nessie didn’t make an appearance for us.

We boarded the bus again and started back toward Edinburgh via a different route. It was a windy road that took us into the mountainous area of the Highlands and to Glen Coe. The mountains are low by Washington standards, only about 1600 feet, but very rocky and they don’t support tree growth so they’re bare except for grass and heather. I didn’t get good photos of the hills because of the bus crowds at the very short photo stops. There were a few stops on the way back, including a 40-minute stop at a rest area/restaurant for dinner, where we bought sandwiches and drinks and then quickly ate them. Our final stop for the day was our opportunity to view some of the Highland’s “hairy coos”, Gaelic for hairy cows, which are cute because of the hair over their eyes. We stopped at a place that had three in a field, with a convenient bus parking lot immediately adjacent.

We finally arrived arrived back in Edinburgh about 9 p.m., and then walked about 15 minutes back to our hotel. It was still light because sunset is after 9:30 p.m. It was a very long but interesting and fun day.

Then today, Wednesday, was our day to see the Edinburgh Castle. We had reserved an entrance time for the middle of the afternoon. First thing, we enjoyed another breakfast in the hotel, and it didn’t have to be so early this time. Then about 10 a.m. we left and walked to the National Gallery, the free national art museum that holds paintings by not only by Scottish artists, but by other European artists too, like Botticelli and Rembrandt. After touring that gallery, we walked a few blocks to the National Portrait Gallery, also free. There was a wide range of sculptures, paintings and photos there.

Lunch was Thai food at a nearby Noodles ‘N Rice because we needed a change from pub food. Then we ambled up the hill toward Edinburgh Castle, looking at some souvenir shops along the way.

The castle has a very long history, starting as a meeting place between local clans and the Romans in the year 1 AD. It stands on the highest point in the city, with a cliff on one side below it. Our entry tickets allowed us to wander throughout the castle, with its cannons, prisons, memorials, museum exhibits, and an incredibly old chapel. And it gave us an amazing view of the city. There was a short rain shower while we were there, but we avoided getting too wet by breaking out our rain coats and ducking into the castle prison exhibit.

Returning to our hotel about 4 p.m., we took a short rest before enjoying a drink in the hotel bar and then going out for Italian food a couple blocks away on the Royal Mile.

We started this morning with breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, selecting things from the breakfast buffet. One of the available items was haggis, an iconic dish of Scotland, so we tried it out. It didn’t taste bad but we were disappointed that it was very dry. Perhaps there’s a better version somewhere else in the city.

Then we set out to explore the Royal Mile more than we had yesterday. It’s an historic cobblestone street that runs in the oldest part of the city, between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, with lots of pubs, museums and tourist shops in between. The weather was good for walking: mostly cloudy, dry and temps in the low 60s. At one end, we visited the new Scottish Parliament and went inside. Since the Scottish MPs weren’t in session, we could go into the large debate chamber, which was quite beautiful using lots of light colored oak wood. We also listened to a 10-minute talk about Scottish Parliament, which was reestablished in 1999, and their building, finished in 2004. After leaving Parliament, we peered through the fence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is where King Charles stays when he’s here, but we didn’t want to pay admission to go in.

Then we walked up the street to the other end of the Royal Mile, where we visited the inside of St. Giles Cathedral and the approach to Edinburgh Castle (which we’ll tour on Wednesday). And we found a pub on a side street for lunch. We shared some fish and chips and a chicken sandwich among the four of us because we weren’t too hungry. Then we walked to the National Museum of Scotland a few blocks away. We spent a couple of hours in this huge, free museum, looking at exhibits about Scottish history and natural history too. The museum has five floors and a terrace on the roof with a view of the city, and it would take days to see it all.

We returned to the hotel and took it easy for an hour or so, then went to the hotel’s executive lounge for the free drinks and snacks they offer every evening. There, we decided that we’d head toward a pub for dinner and we got a recommendation for one nearby from the concierge. The pub turned out to be quite popular, nearly full on a Monday night, and not with tourists. Caroline was brave and ordered a small pizza with haggis on it, which turned out to be good. We walked back to the hotel, happy with our sightseeing for the day.

Although red-eye flights are tough in general, ours to Edinburgh was better than most. That’s because Gary had used his United frequent flier miles to get us premium economy seats, and we also got lucky. Our flight was due to leave Dulles at 10:35 p.m. About an hour beforehand, we were messaged that our plane was going to be delayed 10 minutes due to some type of technical problem. Then we learned we would be moved to another gate, presumably for a new plane. At the new gate, we heard an announcement that a São Paulo-bound flight was delayed until the next morning and our flight would be using that jet instead. That was the lucky part: it wasn’t our flight that would be delayed until the next day.

We got on the plane and found ourselves in nearly luxurious conditions in premium economy: just 2 seats in our part of the row, one on the window and the next on the aisle. And footrests, free headphones, a blanket and pillow, plus a little packet we could keep that contained an eye mask, socks, hand lotion, ear plugs, toothbrush…many things to make the night more comfortable. Dinner with real silverware was brought soon after we took off, with our rows being served first. Free movies and TV shows in the seat backs kept us entertained when we weren’t sleeping. A hot breakfast was served 90 minutes from the end of the 6.5 hour flight. I even managed to sleep a little. It was a darn good red-eye.

We arrived on time at Edinburgh and quickly went through immigration. But then we and all the others passengers on our flight had to wait an hour at baggage claim for our luggage. Don’t know what the problem was there. After finally picking up our bags about noon, we went outside into the overcast, windy, 60-degree Sunday and got an Uber ride to our hotel, the downtown Hilton Edinburgh Carlton. Two very nice rooms were waiting for us there.

We dropped off the bags and went out to walk up the Royal Mile a bit with lots of other tourists, and to find a place to eat lunch. That place was the Deacon Brodie House Cafe, where we had quiches, “toastie” sandwiches, and tomato soup. I enjoyed a ginger beer while the others had coffee. We spent the afternoon after lunch napping and then in the bar and executive lounge of the Hilton for evening drinks and snacks. That’s all we could manage after the flight.

I’m visiting my brother in Chesapeake Beach and it’s steamy hot here. Days in the mid to high 80s and high humidity. The first few moments you step outside, adjectives run through your head like “warm blanket”, “tropical” and “steam bath” but then if you spend more time outside the thoughts change to “sweaty” and “darn hot” and “I really want to go back to air conditioning.” I don’t know if I could live here. But yet it’s really nice to spend time with family.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon at Dulles and spent a couple hours in beltway traffic during rush hour in my rental car. I was happy to finally arrive at my brother Gary’s house and enjoy the dinner that was cooked by my nephew Matt. Yesterday, my niece Emma visited us with her cute 2-year-old son Graham. Today niece Caroline and I did some birding in the morning’s steamy heat along a boardwalk behind the town of Chesapeake Beach. We saw quite a few birds in the marsh, including nesting ospreys and a secretive green heron. Around Gary’s house, I saw and heard downy and pileated woodpeckers, cardinals, Carolina chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches and red-eyed vireos. This evening we all enjoyed a nice dinner with Emma and her husband Matt and their son Graham in an Italian restaurant in nearby Prince Frederick.

This coming Saturday night, Gary, Caroline, Matt and I will catch a red-eye flight from Dulles to Edinburgh, Scotland, and we’re preparing now for the trip. Not too much to write about until we’re overseas, so there probably won’t be another blog post until then. But I’ll share a few shots from my brother’s house for now.

Today it dawned cloudy in Cuenca, reflecting my mood a little bit. I’m sad to be leaving already. I’ve been very impressed with how pretty and livable Cuenca is, and the friendliness of the Ecuadorians I’ve met. Nathan chose a nice place to live in retirement.

It was my day to begin the trip home with a 1:30 p.m. flight to Quito. I had some repacking to do first! I didn’t want to carry 3 luggage items, with the third one being my new “Panama” hat in a cardboard hat box. I managed to fit the hat box inside my suitcase and then stuff my clothes all around it. The soft-sided suitcase had to expand to it’s max depth, but didn’t get any heavier because the hat and box weigh very little. Whew, glad it all fit!

Nathan came with me to the Cuenca airport. On the Tranvía I sat next to an older man who started talking to me in Spanish. I told him where I was from and that it was the end of my vacation. He said he lived in the country with 2 dogs, 25 minutes outside of Cuenca by bus. Even though my Spanish was weak, I mostly understood and we could have a conversation, so that was rewarding. We arrived at the airport early, around 10:45, so I had to wait a while before dropping off my bag with LATAM Airlines. But everything went well and they even upgraded me to a premium seat in the first row of the airplane for some unknown reason.

After landing in Quito, I got my luggage then walked across the street to the restaurants in the Airport Center and ate lunch about 2:30. Next I found a taxi for the 10-minute ride to my hotel. It’s a small hotel called Quinta San Felipe, in a residential neighborhood near the airport. The taxi driver knew just where to go, but I didn’t see any sign indicating it was a hotel from outside the gated drive. I have a small but modern room overlooking the pool. It’s $59 total, including dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow, although I’ll need to leave before breakfast is served.

I was the only hotel guest eating dinner here tonight, served at 7 p.m. in a beautifully decorated large event room. The owner prepared a cream of mushroom soup, small green salad, French fries and chicken breast for me. As I ate, he set the other large tables with place settings for a party to be held here tomorrow. The meal really hit the spot and I happily finished it off.

My trip will be over soon. I leave for the airport around 6 a.m. tomorrow. The hotel owner said he’ll call a taxi for me when I stop at the office in the morning. My AeroMexico flights will take me to Mexico City again, then to Seattle, but the layover is much shorter this time so I should be back at SeaTac before 9 p.m. tomorrow. Visiting Ecuador has been so enjoyable and I hope to come back someday. This is my last blog post for the trip. Thanks for following along!