After fortifying ourselves with a hearty Continental type breakfast, and finding me some allergy meds, we headed to the The Scot Whisky Experience to get educated about Scottish Whisky.
Here's some pictures of some of Edinburgh's Closes to give you a better idea of these alleyways:
Check out the narrow door at the top of the
steps, almost like an afterthought
Pretty good tour, not too long and you get to sample one whisky type of your choice with the tour package we opted for. You also get to keep the Glencairn Whisky tasting glass at the end. Cool thing about the glass, with the correct amount of whisky in it, you can tip it on its side and the precious contents will not spill out.
A most impressive collection of Whisky accumulated and then
donated to the Whisky Experience folks
Each chess piece has a "wee dram" for you to drink as
you take out an opponent's piece...
The whiskys that were available for tasting today
Pretty potent stuff, we had perhaps a shot each in our glasses and I could feel a light buzz as we left the establishment.
Another view of the Balmoral Hotel as we headed into
Newtown for Lunch
moto content of sorts...
I wanted to replicate a rather nice shot by an
Edinburgh-based photographer.
That's the Balmoral hotel clock tower framed by
the Scott Monument.
After lunch at the Golden Dragon, a Cantonese restaurant, Martha went to do some shopping and I headed back to the Scott Monument. Paid the 5 pounds to get in and climb the 287 steps to the top. Note, the stairwell gets narrower and narrower as one ascends. I was huffing and puffing for a bit as I reached each stage. The views from up there though, were worth the effort.
Edinburgh Castle from the Scott Monument
A view of stacked and close together the buildings are
here in Edinburgh
There's 64 statues on the Scott Monument, I found this man
and his dog staring down at me near the top of the monument.
The stairs got pretty narrow as I mentioned.
Near the top, it was a tight fit for me and I had
to remove my backpack to fit.
I rejoined Martha at the base of the monument a few minutes after reaching the top. We walked up to the summit of Calton Hill to get more views of the city:
Martha next to the Dugald Stewart Monument
with foggy Edinburgh in the background.
Martha at the Nelson Monument
The Portuguese Cannon
Early end of the touring today, had work to do and Martha wanted to relax. Tomorrow I start day 1 of 2 days of motorcycle rental. More to follow, stay tuned.
10 comments:
It's always interesting seeing how others view your city/country, and how things that you take for granted are viewed by someone experiencing them for the first time. Glad that you're having a good time and I can only apologise for the recent weather :)
I'm ready to go. In fact, I'm ready to play chess with that "wee dram" set. Excellent description of your journey. I'll keep following along and being jealous.
No apologies needed Mr. Combo, it is what it is and it sometimes makes the skies look more interesting! Am hoping for no deluges Thursday or Friday this week.
Thanks losthillbilly for your comments!
Before I depart this earth, I'd love to ride beyond my country's borders. The pictures of the narrow openings are very interesting. Looking forward to seeing the roads from your perspective. Maximize the fun factor!
Sojourner's Moto Tales, glad you found the pics interesting....trying to avoid boring landscape type pictures. I'll do my best re the fun factor.
The architecture is very interesting. Would love to know the story behind the small doors. I love climbing up towers, buildings... to see the view. Well worth it. Great photos.
Thanks Thomas Osburn, as I understand it, the Closes used to be regular alleys or space between houses hit as the city grew more crowded, they got built on top of....forming the closes. There's streets built on top of older streets too.
All that exercise must be good for you. Thank you for climbing all those stairs to get the great pictures.
You're welcome Trobairitz, amazingly enough, my legs and feet weren't sore this morning!
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