Returned from Edinburgh, the Motherland!  Just so you know:  The Cunningham motto is Fork Over Fork, which I'm sure either means "give it to me!" or gluttony.  Hmm.  The tartan is red, black and white and I bought me a scarf.  The shield has a unicorn which is pretty cool.  That's all I got. 

Now on to more important stuff.  Food and weather.  The food was great.  Lots of seafood and stews and New Englandy.  The weather was off and on rainy, peeks of bright blue sky and very blustery.  The foliage in the parks was lovely and colorful and again, it reminded me a lot of home.  It is a beautiful city all grey and brown stone, hills and open space on one side and the Firth of Forth on the other.  A firth is an estuary.  I just love saying "Firth of Forth"!  Firth of Forth, Firth of Forth!

We had two days in Edinburgh then a one day/overnight to Newcastle then back to Scotland for another two.  All that Edinburgh is, (charming, upscale, clean, inviting), Newcastle isn't.  From what I saw it's an awful city.  It's grey and grubby, dirty, rundown, dark and Dickensian.  It depressed the hell out of me.  It's the kind of city where you don't want to look people in the eye or spend anytime off the beaten path.  It made me feel dirty and unhealthy.  Can you tell I didn't think much of it?  We went down to Newcastle so that Grace could meet some girls she has become friends with through a fan chat group on line.  They came from all over the UK to go to a concert together.  I agreed to this little side trip because Newcastle is home to a children's book museum that I wanted to see.  It was the ONLY thing worth seeing.  I couldn't wait to get back on the train north.

On our last night we went to a light show at the botanical gardens.  The gardens are in my favorite part of the city, Stockbridge, with little twisty roads and lots of green space.  The light show was magical.  They set up a path to follow where trees and fountains and garden beds were lit by colored lights that changed to music.  There were fire fountains in the ponds and interactive displays.  There was an artificial fog bank where you couldn't see the back of your hand and a beautiful botanical video projected onto a villa and another on the glass Palm House.  I could have spent all night in there but Grace had had enough after an hour.  What is wrong with kids today?  I will return by day someday......

Next time will be a tour around the country!  xxoo me

what can i say?  Gotta love them Scots.

a side street in Old Town

an out-of-work bagpiper?

cause why not?

the castle

the view over New Town and towards the firth

tall and spiky thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haven't been writing much because I have been sooo tired at night.  This change of season stuff really gets to me.  The shorter days, lack of sun, wearing socks...  Anywho.  Grace and I are off for our 4th annual mummy-daughter autumn vacation.  And alas, at least for the next 4 years, our last.  We are flying to Edinburgh in the morning and staying through Friday with a 1 day trip to Newcastle on Tuesday.  Our little Newcastle side trip is to allow Grace to go to a concert and meet up with "friends" she has made through fan chat groups.  She has girls all over the world who she considers friends though she's never met them.  It's the modern take on pen-pals I guess but I find it very unnerving.  With pen-pals back in the day, there was little chance of ever meeting these people and usually one could tell by the handwriting if you were conversing with a 10 year old or a 40 year old preeevert.  While Grace is stalking the band and at the concert with her pals I will be checking out the sights of Newcastle and spending as many hours as possible in the world's largest Children's Book museum!  I must say that was the deal maker for me when G was trying to convince me to make the detour.  The weather looks like it should be decent and I'm ready for a break.  Yeah!  More later.  xxoo me

Damn these GPS!  Ours nearly killed us Saturday night.  We could have plummeted to our deaths!  And it would have been a terrible death at that.  We would have been starving! 

GP and I went to Le Marche for a long weekend.  Le Marche is the region next to Tuscany on the Adriatic coast.  It's what Tuscany would be without all of the massive tourism.  It is a lovely region, famous for it's food and churches.  The people there are serious Catholics and there are monasteries and sanctuaries on every hilltop.  We visited Loreto, famous for it's Shrine of the Holy House.  It's an important pilgrimage sight because the cathedral is said to contain the walls of the Virgin Mary's house that was transported to Loreto by the Crusaders.  Uh huh.  Anywho, the place is massive with the church, a school for Jesuits and a monastery. 

We also went to the Conero National Park and hiked from top to bottom of Mont Conero.  We couldn't find the trail heads at the base of the mountain, (more of a large hill actually), so started from the top, blowing all of our energy on a swift descent and having to huff and puff our way up again.  The park and trails are on a promontory that sticks out into the Adriatic and is edged with beautiful white sand beaches, reachable only by boat or foot.

Out terrible GPS experience was Saturday evening when we were trying, unsuccessfully, to find a restaurant that had been recommended by a friend.   It was in one of the dozens of tiny enclaves in the hills and valleys of the area.  We put the address in the GPS and it led us up a perilous, twisting road to a castle and tiny square surrounded by high walls.  Obviously our restaurant was not there.  There was a road that wound around behind the castle, and as we could barely turn in the square we thought that maybe this was the way out.  It wasn't.  The road became narrower and narrower and then dead ended at a gate, with no warning.  GP had to back out all the way with the castle walls touching the mirror on one side and a bottomless precipice on the other.  Did I mention the rain?  It was pouring!  We drove with both of our heads out of the windows saying "Stop!"," Right!", "Left!".  I think I may have lost a few years of my life in those moments. 

We survived the trip and are now back in the thick of things.  Crazy busy time.  I'm off to bed.     xxoo me

view down to secluded beach

from top of Monte Conero

moi

what one does on holiday on a rainy day.  couple cases of wine.

the church that houses the house of the VM

incredible waiting room for confession with a video screen for available confessional booths

a view of the sanctuary of Loreto

Check this out.  I have my own personal seamstress team.  Cousin C gave me a lovely wool coat this summer that was just a touch too large in the shoulders.  GPs mother and her cousin, both seamstresses in their younger years, took the coat apart and rebuilt it to fit me perfectly.  A snip here, a dart there...

I'll model the finished product when it gets chillier!  xxoo me