Calton Hill

View of Old Town

Another high point in Edinburgh is at the top of Calton Hill, the location of a prehistoric fort. These days it is he location of several iconic monuments, and it is the spot for close-up panoramic views of Old Town Edinburgh and surrounding areas. The Edinburg Castle is located in the center of the photo. Since we had another day of sun, without any rain, Mike opted to make Calton Hill the destination for his out-and-back exercise walk. Once again, strangely, he opted to walk in the cold wind with shorts; maybe he is trying to be Scottish.

Arthur's Seat

View From Arthur's Seat

The highest point in Edinburgh is at the top of Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano rising almost 1,000 feet above the city. The unobstructed view from the top, as seen in the photo, is terrific; the city skyline, Edinburgh Castle, and snow covered mountains in the distance. Since we are having a few days in a row of sun, without any rain, Mike opted to make Arthur's Seat the destination for his out-and-back exercise walk.

He walked from our Stockbridge neighborhood northwest of the city center, through the New Town and Old Town portions of the city, to the opposite southeast area where he joined many others for the climb. The path was well marked, muddy in places, and steep in other places. Although the sun was out, the high winds and the near freezing temperatures caused him to question the decision to wear shorts.

Night Out

Jazz Bar

We enjoyed a night out with a couple of new friends:  Allison, who is here on a fellowship, and Alex, who is here working on a veterinary degree. The four of us spent time listening to music and enjoying conversation in a jazz bar. They both have the spirit of adventure and are serious about themselves and their career paths. The music was good and so were the drinks. Guinness, of course, was on tap. And they served an in-house non-alcoholic ginger beer that was fiery as can be. The bar was in the Old Town historic part of Edinburgh.

Earlier that evening, the two of us ate in an absolutely outstanding Indian restaurant in the New Town historic part of Edinburgh. We like Indian food, Mike has learned to cook a few dishes, we have eaten at quite a few Indian restaurants, but we never had Indian food as tasty as this before. Vegetarian never tasted so good to us.

Two Weeks

Mike and Beth

We have been in Edinburgh for exactly two weeks. It has been terrific so far. We have been quite pleased with our small one-bedroom flat; super quiet, clean, all the amenities, and best of all, in a prime location. And that prime location has contributed to the enjoyable new lifestyle we are having.

We have walked everywhere; no car or bus yet. The necessities of daily living, including grocery shopping, are close by. Actually, that is a good thing since we can not buy but so many groceries at any one time; limited space in our daypacks and in our under-the-counter refrigerator. Also close by is all that the Stockbridge neighborhood has to offer, including charity shops where Beth is likely to end up volunteering some of the time. And, just a mile walk away is the City Center of Edinburgh with its museums and large shopping district.

Exercise Walking

Through Royal Botanic Garden

Since Edinburgh is a walker's paradise, a paved, well-marked walking pathway is always nearby. There are likely a couple hundred miles of walkways passing along rivers and canals, along the coast, through neighborhoods, along greenways, and through parks. Consequently, Mike has been venturing out most every day, regardless of the weather, to get in his exercise miles walking.

Unlike in Roanoke, where he repeated the same 7-mile loop daily, he is mixing it up here with a variety of routes of equivalent length. Not surprisingly, he has not been alone out there. Plenty of others are walking or running, and some of the walkers are pushing babies in prams. One consequence of the almost minute-by-minute changing weather here is that Mike has been getting wet while walking much more often than at home; he just ordered a new breathable waterproof shell with hood to wear. Small pleasure.

Working Out

Glenogle Fitness Center

This is a photo of the beautiful Victorian pool at the nearby fitness center where Beth works out. And, like elsewhere we have been, the staff are as friendly as can be. The facility opened in 1900 as a bath promoting public hygiene as much as leisure, a common belief a century ago. It was recently updated with new changing rooms, lifts, sauna and steam-room facilities, and a revamped gym and fitness studio installed, while the pool has also been fitted with skylights and solar roof panels. It is a beautiful facility. She alternates between using the exercise equipment there with runs on some of the nearby paths. Talk about convenient.

Some Differences

Our Building

Living here in the Stockbridge neighborhood in Edinburgh is interestingly different from our home in Roanoke. And, to be sure, we are adjusting to and enjoying the differences. After all, that is one of the primary reasons for this trip, to experience a new lifestyle.

Living in our neighborhood affords us a wonderful level of convenience. Only a short walk away are several grocery stores, many restaurants, many charity shops, two cheese mongers, a fish monger, a butcher, a hardware shop, many coffee shops, several parks, the Royal Botanic Garden...

First Guest

Allison Visits

We enjoyed having our first guest, Allison. She is a friend of our son William, where they were at Hendrix College together. She joined us for dinner at a nearby restaurant and stayed the night in our flat. She is on a one-year fellowship that has taken her to Madagascar, South Africa, Spain, England, and now Scotland; she moves on to Costa Rica before returning to the US.

A couple years younger than William, she took over the responsibilities from him as Chair of the Environmental Concerns Committee after he graduated. They successfully lobbied and received approval for a permanent student fee increase exclusively for environmental projects on campus, and they also directed the use of those funds. We found Allison to be delightfully nice, smart as can be, dedicated, and quite adventurous.

Our Street

Dean Park Street

Here is a photo of where we are living. It is comprised of a row of four-floor residential buildings on a very quiet street. We are three floors up from the street, which is lined with parking and an assortment of rubbish and recycle containers are spaced along it. Recycling is big here; one container for glass, one for plastics, one for paper, and one for food waste. Most streets in the Stockbridge area where we are living, as well as elsewhere in Edinburgh, look something like this.

At the end of our street is a large green playing field and the Royal Botanic Garden. It is a real pleasure to have these gems so close by. Also at the end of our street is the commercial area of Stockbridge; shops, restaurants, grocery... We picked this neighborhood during our reconnaissance trip to Scotland last fall; we made a great choice.

Scottish National Gallery

The Monarch of the Glen

Beth walked to City Centre Edinburgh to tour the Scottish National Gallery, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest small galleries. The building, designed by Scottish premiere architect William Playfair, sports a stunning Neoclassical exterior, and a plethora of the world’s renowned artists and sculptors are represented, including Raphael, Titian, El Greco, Rembrandt, Rubens, Watteau, Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Boudin, Sisley, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, to name a few.

One of her favorite paintings is Sir Edwin Landseer’s “The Monarch of the Glen”, one of the most iconic British paintings of the nineteenth century.  This painting, pictured, encapsulates for many Scots and the world the grandeur of Scotland’s highlands and wildlife. A myriad of Landseer’s paintings depict interactions between human beings and animals; this work left her with a feeling of magnificence, power, and grace.  The “royal” or twelve-point stag epitomizes the spectacular natural beauty and lushness of terrain of Scotland.

A return visit will definitely occur; likely several times.

Working

Mike's Office

We have finished settling in to our flat just in time for Mike to refocus his attention on work. He has a client back in the US who has hired him to help them do what he wrote about in his project management book. Since he wrote that book because he was passionate about the subject, he is being paid to do something he loves doing. So, for the next month or so, he will spend time on the phone and on the computer. Luckily, there is no shortage of Scottish beverages available to keep him going. At some point, he will return his attention to the primary purposes of this trip, enjoying Scotland and volunteering.

Volunteer Options

Volunteer Edinburgh

Beth visited an organization that helps with volunteering; they were as helpful as can be. She looked through several binders of opportunities organized by areas of interest, spoke with the staff there, and left with a couple of interesting prospects. All-in-all, they have close to 600 volunteer opportunities listed at the moment.

She also plans to investigate some of the volunteer shops just a block away from our flat. The center of our Stockbridge neighborhood, in addition to having numerous restaurants and commercial establishments, also has a dozen or more charity shops. In fact, we have been told that these charity shops in Stockbridge are the most successful anywhere in the UK. Under the auspices of a cause or organization, they sell items to the public, such as clothing or books, and then use the proceeds to support themselves.

Walkway

Water of Leith Walkway

One of the benefits of the location of our flat in Stockbridge is that it is very close to the Water of Leith walkway. At home we might refer to this as a greenway or bike path. The walkway follows the main river flowing through Edinburgh for a dozen miles. We have already put in quite a few exercise miles walking on it. Today's walk took us 6 miles out-and-back to the port of Leith; we enjoyed sunglasses type of weather. Most is paved, a few short stretches are dirt or mud depending on the season, and a few short stretches follow quiet streets and lanes. All of it is well signed and quite scenic. And, since Scotland is a walker's paradise, it intersects with many other walkways going in other directions, just waiting for us to explore.

In The Rain

Out For A Walk

Here we are experiencing a bit of Scotland's rain. Hope our expressions tell a story; we have just loaded groceries into our day packs for the walk back to our flat. Our walk began in the morning with mixed clouds and sun, then turned windy, really windy, knock-you-over windy, then the rain came down...sideways. By the time we returned to our flat in the late afternoon, the wind and rain had eased off a bit. We understand that we should expect occasional days of weather like this. More typical this time of year are overcast skies, intermittent sun/clouds/drizzle, with temperatures steady throughout the day at about 48 degrees. Yesterday, we had shorts on during our long walk. Today, not so much. Tomorrow...

Stockbridge History

Raeburn Place

Our flat is in the neighborhood of Stockbridge located one mile from Edinburgh's Old Town and City Center. Stockbridge takes it name from the Scots words "stocc brycg" meaning a timber foot bridge after the original bridge that crossed the Water of Leith, the main river flowing through Edinburgh. Originally a small outlying village, Stockbridge was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th century. Many of the row houses, including ours, were built 100+ years ago.

Raeburn Place is the main retail thoroughfare, and the playing fields there were the location of the first international rugby match when the Edinburgh Academy hosted the game between Scotland and England in 1871. The beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens are located nearby. The Hogwarts school featured in the Harry Potter books and movies was based on Fettes College, is a few blocks from our flat.

Stockbridge has a definite Bohemian vibe and many artists, musicians, poets, writers and thespians have made the area their home. It contains many speciality shops, many charity shops, and dozens of restaurants and retail shops. The original "Mrs. Doubtfire," popularized by the movie staring Robin Williams, lived and ran a rag and bone shop in Stockbridge.

Settling In

Entrance to Flat

We have enjoyed settling in to our new temporary home. Upon arrival, after the overnight flight, we spent some time unpacking and learning the location of the items in the flat that are important for everyday living. For example, the refrigerator is in a concealed cabinet under the kitchen counter and the freezer is in a nearby closet, along with the microwave.

Then we walked to the Sainsbury’s super grocery store 1.2 miles away. Terrific store, far better than Kroger at home. Since we could not carry but so much home in our day packs, we will need to make another grocery trip. Exhausted from the overnight flight and jet lag, we went in for an extra long night's sleep. Today, we walked to a different grocery a bit closer; it is not unlike a Whole Foods. And, we stopped at a small food CoOp even closer.

We cooked in our compact kitchen for our first two dinners; made it feel a bit more like living in a new home as compared to traveling as a tourist.

One Bedroom Flat

Open - Bright - Clean

We are delighted with the one bedroom Airbnb flat we rented for our first two months here. It is open, bright and clean. It has a fully equipped kitchen, wifi internet, TV, washer/dryer, silent radiator heating, and a huge tub/shower in the bathroom.

Our favorite feature is the location; we are close to the city center, close to shops/restaurants/grocery, and on a very quiet residential street. And, we have not heard any noise from neighbors in our building. The third floor flat is a compact 500 square feet. And since the refrigerator is also compact, an under-the-counter type, we expect to be doing grocery shopping more frequently than our once-a-week routine at home.

Travel Day

View Over New York

Our trip trip to Scotland took a full day. We left Roanoke at 9:00AM in a one-way rental car bound for Dulles airport. From there we took a short flight to JFK where we...waited. The scheduled 4-hour layover turned into six hours because of a "change of service." We ended up on a different plane than planned. No matter, once that flight left, we were still crammed in like sardines in economy class. Although, it is worth nothing that the food Delta served was actually much better than normal; happy for small satisfactions. Even better, the process at the Edinburgh airport was super efficient. No waiting at customs, no waiting for our checked bags, no waiting for the airport bus into the city center, no waiting for a cab to take us to our flat, and no waiting for our Airbnb host to let us in to our flat. When all was said and done, we arrived at our flat at 11:00AM. Edinburgh is 5 hours ahead of Roanoke.

Luggage is Packed

Luggage is Packed

We are packed and ready to go for six months. Each of us has a 40# bag to check, a 25# carry-on travel backpack, and a piece of hand luggage. We have packed clothes for different seasons, for rain/cool/wind, for nice weather, for casual, for nice occasions, for on the trails, for exercise… We have packed iPhones, an iPad, a laptop, cameras and lenses, a tripod, hiking poles… We even packed some gifts for friends we are planning to visit.