The Funeral

 Monday Sept 19th

This morning there was only one thing on anyone's mind, and on the TV and on the radio, and on the news; it was the morning of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. Most shops and restaurants were closed for the morning and those that were open were having viewings of the funeral on their big screen TVs.

Behind Holyrood Palace is a very large field where a massive screen was erected for a public showing for those that preferred that. Many streets of the old city were blocked and vehicles were rerouted to allow for the extra traffic to and form the outdoor event. We opted to stay put and watch the service live on our TV.

After the funeral concluded we hit the streets looking for anything that was open for lunch.

We went from restaurant to restaurant all the way down the Main Street and everyplace was either closed or full. This has started to become the norm it seems. Not just due to the funeral but especially because of the funeral today. We also learned that if you see something in a shop to buy it immediately because there is no guarantee we will ever find it open again.

At the opposite end of the Royal Mile we finally found a place that had room and we grabbed it.

We all ordered different drinks and each came in a different glass sporting the brand name of the drink. We noticed this before and it wasn’t just a coincidence. It didn’t seem to matter what we ordered, whether a beer or ale or cider, the brand name was advertised proudly on the glass.

After our meal we decided to visit Edinburgh castle. It was advertised and being open every day. We went online to buy tickets and found that the castle was closed all day out of respect for the Queen. How fortunate that we happened to be here for the first time the castle has been closed to the public in 100 years.

So we then went to the whisky tour. Closed

The Edinburgh museum. Closed

St Giles cathedral. Closed

These guys are sure taking this Queen thing seriously.

Now what was the saying about when life gives you lemons? Oh wait, we can’t even make any lemonade, there are no stores open.

Since everything we hoped to do was unavailable we decided to see more of the city and walked to Dean Village. Dean Village (from dene, meaning 'deep valley') is immediately northwest of the city center of Edinburgh. It was a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years and at one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there. The greenness, tranquility and proximity made this area extremely popular. It quickly became one of the most sought-out residential parts of Edinburgh. It made for an extremely pleasant walk. A small bridge over the river and the pretty stone houses dating from the seventeenth century give this part of Edinburgh a unique charm.

The walk revealed many more new and unique views of the city and the many amazing buildings and architecture. The uniqueness of the place just jumps out at every corner and every road.


On the way back to our apartment we started looking for restaurants early hoping to find something Scottish for dinner but the effort was futile. We ended up finally finding an open restaurant serving food right next door to our place. It was the first time we ate there and the table where we were seated opened to the garden area behind our apartment and we could even see our apartment windows. It was literally our backyard.

On the other side of our place was a waffle shop. But these didn't look anything like what we know as a waffle. It looked more like a cream filled donut, except for ever better, ha, whatever that means. The pictures looked so temping and the waffles were filled with lots of bright colored "stuff". I had been wanting to try one since we arrived but it was always closed or we were going by at the wrong time. Since we are supposed to leave early the next morning for a three day tour we thought it best to get something for breakfast now and just eat at the apartment before leaving on the tour. It really was no surprise that the waffle shop was already closed. And even less surprised that this "breakfast" shop didn't open till 11:00 the next morning. So no waffles this trip.

We did find a small grocery store that was still open and bought a few things for breakfast. Now we just needed to pack as we were leaving the apartment for good come early AM.



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