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