Last day in Edinbugh

Up a little early and down to breakfast a few early (8:20...breakfast 8-9am) as well. Alan had just sent the family off to school/work and the rest of the guests decided to wait until the bitter end for breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon for our last breakfast in country. Tomorrow will be too busy to get breakfast before we get to the airport.

Alan and his wife, Allison, have owned this B&B since January. The B&B next door has just sold within the last 2 days. The Barony, where we stayed our first night, was also a recent purchase (2 yrs), so I guess there is a turn over in the B&B business, at least on the street.

Sounds like a second marriage with his kids in their 20's and her twin 12 year olds. The springer was off with the "grandparents" today so we didn't get a chance to pet Archie goodbye, but the Japanese lady, who was terriried of him, was happy. When asked if they were going to survive Brexit, his answer was "no, they will crash and burn and hope to come out the other side". Pretty much resigned for whatever comes from the sounds of it.

We noticed long wooden drying racks suspended from the ceiling in the dining room that could be lowered to load with clothes. When asked if they used it and if it worked pretty well, he said they hang clothes every evening and are dry in the morning. That is in addition to hanging things outside as well. Rarely use the tumble dryer.

It is no wonder that the Europeans travel so much. While we have been here, we have heard of fares from Netherlands to Scotland (Perth) for 40 pounds one way and to Dublin for 20 pounds. Alan mentioned they were going to Budapest for the weekend, one leg of the trip was only 4 pounds! Guess you have to be there to find the good deals. The train has good deals, too. If only we could find a fare like that from the States.

Alan warned us that tonight Scotland is playing England in Glasgow in football and it might get a bit rowdy. We won't be out late or stray into popular areas, so we are not concerned.

Before heading out to Glasgow, we stopped by the Graigmillar Castle ( http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh…) for a quick look-around. It is operated by the Historic Society of Scotland, but is not on the popular tourist circuit. We had the castle pretty much to ourselves with the exception of a bus load of 7-yr olds on an outing.

The castle started out as a tower structure in early 1400's, similar to what we had seen in Ireland a couple of years ago, but was 6 times larger. It had been remodeled and expanded a couple of times but by end of 1600's, is was abandoned as not being modern enough. As can be seen in the pictures, the rooms are built with stone arched ceilings. Ths makes it harder to set on fire when under battle. Famous for visit by Mary Queen of Scotts...which is really popular in this area.Read more