Edinburgh, Week 3 of 3ish

Posted on February 19, 2024  •  20 minutes  • 4130 words

We woke to Ben’s birthday and everyone was excited. I had suggested to Dan that he and Ben climb the crag for sunrise together, as a special birthday thing. Sam got hold of the news in the morning and wanted to come. I told him no, that this was a thing for Ben and Dad to do special for his birthday. Ben then heard this and said “But I want Sam to come”. They headed out and Max and I got right to making a ‘Happy Birthday’ sign to hang and the pancake batter all ready to go. It looked great and Ben loved it when they got back. Yeah, no photo.

But what I do have photos from is the sunrise they got to see!

And it wouldn’t be a hike up there without a crags photo.

After a pancake breakfast with extra whipped cream, Dan headed to work and we headed back to The National Museum of Scotland. This time we went into the transportation/manufacturing/science room and every other exhibit had an interactive part. Pretty cool. You could spin a turbine by peddling. You could separate ions in water to launch a rocket. You could lift up a hot air balloon.

You could start up electronics by cranking.

You could send a tram back and forth using magnets. The list goes on and on.

And what’s not to love about a GIANT chain?

We was a programable loom, a printing press…really so much to see. It was the perfect room for Dan to have taken them to, as he could have explained some of the mechanical things much better than I could. I’m F=0, not F=ma.

We decided not to make a giant day of it and headed home for lunch, which turned into a picnic lunch at the park. Then some research on the best place to go for Ben’s birthday dinner. Zero surprise on what he wanted. And look which 9 year old is using chopsticks without helpers!

We had a little booth and it was great. We all talked about how awesome Ben is and some of the things we love about him. One thing Max mentioned is that he loves that Ben loves sushi so we all get to eat it.

And we couldn’t say no to gelato on the walk home.

When we were in Edinburgh for our visa interview, we had lunch at a cafe that had the best leave a book - take a book shelf I had ever seen. I had just finished ‘The Goldfinch’ and it was so good that I wanted to bring it to the cafe where the owner had been SO nice to us before. He’s a big reader and I wanted to contribute to his shelf after he had let me take a book before without leaving one. I looked up a park on the way to break up the walk, as it was about 55 minutes. Well 45 minutes according to google, but google clearly does not have 3 young kids.

We made it to the park somehow and it was huge! A giant rope climbing pyramid, smaller structures, a zip line, swings.

I have no idea what they were doing here, but they had ‘a plan’ they told me.

Sam and Ben were butting heads a bit with ’the plan’ and Sam so graciously took himself out of the situation to draw in his hammock. We will always have tough days, but we’ll also have days where he realizes he can also need space.

We played for a long time, but I finally called it so we could get to the cafe for an on-time lunch. We got to walk along the water a bit towards the end and found this gem.

We got there and the owner remembered us. I told him how I brought a great book to contribute to his shelf. He was grateful and while we waited for the food, I started my search. Too many choices, but I settled on one and started reading it while the kids played outside. Despite the fact that it was windy and freezing, Ben and Sam insisted on eating outside. Mas did too, but that lasted about 2 minutes.

After lunch, when the place wasn’t as busy, I started chatting with the owner again. We talked about different books we liked and he then picked a book out for me. From books I told him I had liked and a bit about the books I had just read, he hand picked me a book and told me I would love it. He was NOT wrong.

With a cookie for the road, we headed out so the kids could try to fish (unsuccessful) and to find a bus station. We found the bus station, but also found a park right across the street. I said 6 minutes, as the bus was coming in 9. Well, I should have said 5 minutes as I saw the bus coming and we had to sprint a block to get it. We made it and rode on the top level, of course. A sign our kids are missing some toys, is they will find trash and if it fits in their pocket, they will bring it home. If it’s too big for their pocket, they will ask to bring it home. Sam found a newspaper and begged to bring it home, even before I had the chance to say sure.

A couple days before, Dan bought new laces for his boots and offered the old ones to Ben. Ben goes screaming into his room “guys, Dad gave us his laces!!!” It’s kind of great.

Afternoon school work and some veg out time before Dan got home for dinner.

The next day I needed to get work done, so Dan took the kids back to The National Museum of Scotland…third time. I ventured out to a cafe, just to get some city time without kids. Even though the cafe was a block away, it still felt like a big solo outing. They came back for a late lunch, school work and I told them we could go visit Harry Potter shops if school went well. And visit shops we did!

The one they were specifically excited to go to, was where our tour ended on Sunday, but there was a line to get in that day. It is on the Diagon Alley inspired street, in a shop that used to sell brooms and little brushes that were stacked in long narrow boxes.

They have been saving their allowance, but the things in the shops are way too expensive. They awe at all the wands and get excited reading the names of the owners. They could stay in these stores for hours and don’t seem at all upset that they couldn’t afford anything. We took our time wandering around and it really felt like an ’eat out’ kind of night. I called Dan, shared my google location and he found us. We decided to go back to the place he had picked out last week that was full and they had tables this time. On the walk over.

Question #1: How to make Ben happy? Give him Cullen Skink (fish soup) in a bread bowl. He was through the moon when he saw that this was his. How has he not even out of a bread bowl before? Not enough trips to San Francisco I guess.

Question #2: What do haggis french fries look like?

Edinburgh was really feeling like home. I no longer needed a phone to get me anywhere, I could quickly grab the staples at the grocery store when I was out and I seemed to do laundry every day. It really hit me as we were happily walking home on a dark night along old streets. I loved this city and knew it wasn’t going to be fun to leave. We were in such a great place and we had a routine down. We were so close to things that made it easy to just pop out to do something and come back if needed.

Back at home, Sam was motivated to finish Harry Potter II. He got everyone to climb into bed for a reading marathon.

Woke up to this. And still not sure what ’this’ is?

Then two too many helpers on the wobbly stool to help make french toast, but no falls.

Today we had decided to check out the art museum. Sam and Max had gone with Dan, but I wanted to check it out and Sam wanted to do more art there. Sam was sure he knew how to get there and he was about 80% right (which was awesome considering we were coming from a different place). No matter where you go in the city, it seems to be a pretty walk to get there.

And when we got there, Sam went into super ’tell us all the info about the free art supplies’ mode. They had saved the top two floors for us, so we followed Sam up. He picked the room with large, graphic, dark paintings of the seven sacraments. Clueless to what they were, kids went right to drawing. I will say, the detail in these paintings is unfathomable. How someone can do that by mixing colors and a paint brush? How?

This photo! Max, you are too cute.

We made our way though the galleries in chronological order and found a Van Gogh.

Sam was loving pointing out ALL the paintings I needed to see. While knowing only a few artists names, I was drawn to their paintings. Were they there most interesting? Impossible to say, but nevertheless I stared at Monet paintings more than any other. Sam, not reading or knowing their names was drawn to the ones that caught his completely un-bias eye. And he picked out some really cool ones for us to stare at together.

In the last room we stopped in, Max was really getting into his drawings.

Finally we gathered our stuff and returned it all. Checked out the basement level with some magnets were we could make funny looking things and little cards where you could do your own art and hang on a wall. Outside, we had a great view of Princes Street Garden and the Scots Monument.

A giant grassy area with sloped sides and a huge tree in the middle…no way we were skipping that.

It was actually a pretty perfect climbing tree for the two older kids.

I lasted as long as I could with the cold…maybe 45 minutes. I rounded them up and we started the walk out of the garden. Purple and white flowers were popping up everywhere. At least something thought it was spring.

They really didn’t want to leave, so I told them that I was going to walk slowly towards the street and I better not beat them there. They would run ahead, then roll down the grass, run up and repeat…about 5 times before I made it to the street.

Continued the walk down the Royal Mile towards our home. Always nice to walk on a pedestrian street.

Dan got home and went and picked up his bike quickly after an early dinner. We were all excited to see it, yet…no photo. I guess just TOO excited.

Dan was giving a talk this day (his last day in the office really) so he was up and out early. I had found an indoor pool that we could go swim at. A huge place, had a family feel…like a YMCA. I booked us a 55 minute slot (you had to pre-book) and we walked the 15 minutes there. All very seamless, except for the overly excited kids. It was so fun, and good thing Ben had just turned 9 because they have strict rules about parent to kid ratio based on kids ages. Ben, being 9, was a freebee, so I was okay with a 6 year old and a 4 year old…as long as the 4 year old was in floaties. Well half strict. The lifeguard asked me Ben’s age but didn’t make me put floaties on Max…which was a good thing as I hate the false sense of security with them and then Max could practice real swimming.

Good thing there is a limit or I would have never gotten the kids out. They blew the whistle right at 10:55 and everyone got out. Nice warm showers, changed and walked home with wet heads under jacket hoods. Chill afternoon and another dinner in. This was my only photo from the whole day! Too sweet to have more than one, but it was good.

Since we had so much fun swimming, I booked a slot for Dan to take the kids the next morning. I once again, headed out to a cafe to get work done. On the way back I did a grocery store run and finally bought us an IRN BRU to try. Years ago I had met a Scottish guy when I was doing the Salkaytay hike up to Machu Picchu. He brought up the trivia question: There are two countries in the world where Coke or Pepsi is not the #1 selling soda drink. Can you name them? (Not verifying this is actually true) Maybe context clues should have helped, but no one figured it out. Peru - Inka Cola and Scotland - IRN BRU. The next year we met up in Scotland and he was really excited for me to try it. Cough syrup mixed with bubble gum flavored lollipops? Yuck, but I we had to try it. I knew they wouldn’t like it, they don’t even like soda, but we tried it. 5 yucks all around, although I think Dan secretly liked it.

Dinner was a hit though. I picked up a variety of breaded fish, fish sticks and fish cakes. Beets, carrots and some arugula on the side.

Also at the store, I felt inclined to buy meringues, kiwi and raspberries for dessert. I love the crunchiness followed by the dissolving of the sugar in my mouth.

The next day, Sunday, was our last weekend day and we had hiking plans. Although we had all hiked the crags numerous times, we actually hadn’t done it as a family and we figured that would be a fun thing to do. We’d start with Arthur’s Seat, then the face of the crags…with meandering between. When we got to the base, the kids took off running on the trail and Dan and I strolled on the sidewalk.

Happy parents with kids running wild and having a few minutes without the craziness.

The views all the way to the top were great. You could see the whole city, glimpses of water. Once you started up, it was nonstop up, but not too long. We could see the Scottish Parthenon and discussion started over ‘wait, is it the Parthenon or the Pantheon’. We agreed with the guy behind us who joined in that the Parthenon is in Athens and the Pantheon is in Rome. Curious later about the origin of the name and found out it comes from the Greek word Parthenos, meaning ‘virgin’. So because the temple was built for Athena, she was a virgin?

Sam and me taking a breather on the way up.

And after the last stretch, where we had to scramble up, we made it! A whole 250.5 meters above sea level.

We were there early enough that only one other group was there. They were nice enough to offer to take a photo for us. Yes, this was the best one.

We hung out for a bit for the kids to climb around. Max found a giant anchor in the rock that he was sure he could pull out. He tried hard, but to no avail.

Instead of heading down the way we came up, what’s the fun in that, we headed down the back. The kids really wanted to because it started out as a grassy slope that they could run down.

It was really steep for a while, got startled by some birds and then we made it to the bottom where we had a banana-nut bread snack. I had been craving it for a while, but we were eating the bananas so fast that I never had 3 super ripe ones. I finally put 3 on a shelf and told everyone NOT to touch them.

Loaded up on calories, we headed up Salisbury Crags. Even our 4+ time up there, it was still amazing to see.

After too much yelling of ‘stay away from the edge’ and ’no running’, we took in the view one last time and headed down. Kids knew the way they wanted to go and took off at a full sprint down the path. It was gently sloped and grassy/muddy. Not a bad place to fall if/when it happened. I almost sprained my ankle walking at the top and kids were fine as the bombed down the mountain, only falling on purpose for the fun of it. I hobbled for a bit as Dan kept up with the kids. Even stopped to take photos of a tree with buds just showing. Ugh, it’s official…I AM turning into my mother.

We popped into town and started looking for a brunch place. Not knowing how long that would take, Dan decided we should stop at a coffee shop and get drinks for the adults and a pastry for the kids. It was a fast stop and we continued on. It was the second restaurant we tried that had space, but it was spread out. Three stools at the window and a table for two in the corner. A couple at the table by the stools asked if we wanted to switch to be close and we politely declined. :)

The waiter was sweet and told the kids to take their own order and gave them his pad. They all ordered the waffles, I got eggs benedict and Dan (no surprise here) got the traditional Scottish breakfast. Super yummy, but the kids waffles were even too sweet for them. That was a first I believe.

After lunch, Dan and Max swung by the bike shop to get a box for the bike (for plane travel) and the rest of us walked home. The morning hike/walk (18k steps when we got home) took it out of all of us for a bit. Kids cuddled in bed for a bit and did some Harry reading. We really wanted to finish book II when still in Edinburgh.

I was desperate for new shoes, so I put on my running stuff and ran to the running store to get a new pair. The tried a few on the treadmill and the pair I picked out also came with Gortex protection. Ha, only in Scotland. I almost got them, with the next 3 months being in Switzerland and Finland, but decided against it. As soon as I got back to AZ, my feet would overheat. And I’m a one pair of running shoes at time person, not counting a pair of trail shoes. I don’t rotate, I don’t have racing ones, I don’t have gym ones. Just one pair that I wear until they die and I replace…usually with the same model.

Dinner at home and early bed for the kids.

The next day Da was meeting with a guy from the university and the kids and I hung out mostly at the house where I did packing. I had only bought four checked bags, as no bike had been purchased when the tickets were purchased. Never one to step down from a packing challenge, I was sure we could fit everything in four pieces…including the bike. The beauty of the bike is that it counts as normal piece of luggage as it’s withing the size requirements and you don’t have to pay the ‘sports equipment’ fee. We were able to pack light things in the box, add things to backpacks and success. It also helps that kids are wearing out clothes and every time we move, I seem to be able to get rid of something.

I wanted to check out the cathedral before we left, so right as Dan was getting home, we went out for our last walk around the town. The ribs in the ceiling were very cool with decorated consoles. I like stained glass that has one color per section, as opposed to the picture painted on the glass…but it still let in the light. My terminology might be off, but I think I explained well enough?

We did the loop and headed outside where I found these dates in bricks on the sidewalk. I didn’t know what they meant, but I liked how the dates were preserved in a brick. Now we just lazily stamp wet concrete to show the date. This was forged metal around rock. Thanks to google I found out the dates corresponded to various tollbooth boundaries that had been moved to this square to be preserved.

Back home we surprised Dan with the fact that we had finished Harry II and we could finish the movie! The perfect ending to our time here.

We had a 4pm flight and our host was so nice to give us a 12:30pm check out so we didn’t have to sit at the airport for extra hours. Dan took the kids to the park and I got some work done. Then we had an odd lunch of basically everything that was still in the fridge or cupboard.

We had to finish everything and that included he squirty cream!

Uber to the tram stop and then 45 minute tram out the airport. Check in was easy, even with the bike. Zero issues and I had pounds to spare in each suitcase…but not much! No customs, just security and right to our gate. Ben sill had a decent amount of pounds left, so he and Dan went to do some candy shopping. He came back with a giant bag of skittles! Then the kids went to counting all the coins they had left and combining them. We were at 2.30.

Enough to buy two packs of gum. Then we swung by the UNICEF donation box and put in the rest of what we had and some other random currencies that I continue to find all the time.

To kill time, I went for a walk by myself and did some store browsing. I found dog toys with dog names on them…and it’s official…all my kids’ names are dog names. I found a squeaky tartan bone with each of their names.

Finally boarding was happening and just then the kids decided to go crazy. Maybe the sugar from the skittles kicked in? They had turned their Burger King crowns the found around to be more knight-like and were wrestling each other, tripping over each other, hiding from each other. A lady smiled at me and said ‘better now than on the plane’. Too true.

It worked. Kids on the plane…

We switched to Uno for a bit and it felt like a fast flight.

What was not fast was passport control when we landed. It must have been at least a 40 minute wait. It was a struggle. Kids were hungry and there wasn’t much food left. Finally through, grabbed bags and still had an hour train ride to Lausanne. We raced to get the train, didn’t need to as there were more, but we just wanted to get there. Big mistake as there wasn’t food on the train and everyone was now hungry and not enough to stave off the hanger. No idea why anyone was actually smiling here as it wasn’t a happy ride.

We arrived, got in a cab and at our place 5 minutes later. Without the bike box, we could have walked in about the same time. The Airbnb directions on where the key was located was like breaking out of an escape room. We finally quit and called the host. We faced timed with him and walked over a block to where the lock box was, THEN back to where the actual entrance was. Elevator up to the 7th floor and we had arrived. Dan raced out to get food and we checked out our AWESOME place. It was two levels with a three sided balcony. Everyone was so excited to be there, we almost forgot how hungry we were.

Dan got in, fast pasta cooking and eating and we went to bed at 10pm Swiss time, luckily only 9pm Scottish time.