Lost in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a friendly, walkable, beautifully historic city and I've never met anyone who didn't like it. The first time I was there was years ago - and involved an air traffic controller's strike, a sheetless bed and breakfast, lost luggage and a sinus infection. But that's a story for another time.

The most recent time I was there I was visiting my oldest daughter who was spending a semester studying at the University of Edinburgh. On the first day I was on my own while she was in class. I decided to do what I usually do in a big city and have lots of ground to cover - I hopped on a double decker bus for the hop-on/hop-off tour. After riding around and hearing the tour for about an hour, I decided to hop off and visit Edinburgh's iconic castle. I got off at Grassmarket and climbed what seemed like a bazillion steps up to the Castle. Unfortunately, it was a school holiday in the British Isles and the line to enter was out the door. So I walked back down to wait on the bus. After what seemed like a very long time, I decided I would just walk the short ways back to my hotel. After walking a ways, I came to a fork in the road and once again, unfortunately, I took the wrong fork. It was quite eerie as I was the only one around on the back roads of Edinburgh. But the one great thing about this city is that it has lots of signs. I knew I was running parallel to the Royal Mile, which I knew started with the Castle and ended with Holyrood House, the Queen's house in Edinburgh. I kept following signs for Holyrood House and finally was able to turn to get to the Royal Mile.

And happily, my next day in Edinburgh I had my own personal tour guide who knew her way around - my daughter!

I'm linking up to walkingontravels.com/2014/04/17/friday-postcards-royal-maestranza-de-cabelleria-de-ronda/