Hi FTSE,
Caught red handed! Yes I'm back, in fact I got back late last night.
Never made it to an internet cafe in the end, there just doesn't seem to be any in Edinburgh. But there was access at the hotel and I did get online Sunday afternoon in order to set up the competitions.
Mags_g, I loved Edinburgh - it's a beautiful city. We stayed at the Holyrood hotel which is at the bottom end of the Royal Mile near the Holyrood palace. It was a very nice hotel and we got a good deal with
www.lastminute.com (you didn't think I'd book on the phone now!?!) - it was also recommended on the
www.frommers.com website and it certainly lived up to it.
In terms of things to do and see we managed to do quite a bit considering we were only there for three full days. You have to visit the Castle - its perched on an imposing volcanic crag and dominates the skyline and if you can try to make it there for 1pm when they fire the cannon each day. Next door is the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre where you can enjoy a free dram of whiskey on the tour and marvel at the dozens of different brands on sale.
Also worth going on a walking tour,
The restaurants we went to were mostly recommended in the Rough Guide to Scotland and included such delights as seafood in Leith @ the Ship on the Shore, indian with a fusion of scottish @ Suruchi in the Old Town and a very nice french bistro which wasn't in the guide but we stumbled upon in the Grassmarket - which also happened to be where the Beehive Inn is located, which marked the beginning of the Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour which is not just a pub crawl around various watering holes in the Old and New Town, but also an entertaining theatrical show led by a couple of well versed actors.
Finally we enjoyed visiting the Queen's retired ship Britannia moored in Leith docks, shopping on Prince's Street (the Oxford Street of Edinburgh), enjoying some hearty Scottish breakfasts with black pudding and hagis, walking trips to the South Bridge vaults and haunted graveyard and taking a look round Scotland's answer to the Millennium Dome at the Dynamic Earth exhibition.
Phew!! I'm exhausted just thinking about all that, but we some how managed to fit that all in at a very leisurely pace.
Well worth a visit!
Paul.
