Day 5 Sunday September 20

Greetings to all from Edinburgh!  We hope you are well.  We have some great pictures for you today and some nice stories to go along with it.  After a rousing breakfast, we headed off to church at St. James Scottish Episcopal Church (est. 1883).  It is about 1/2 mile from our flat on Inverleith Row.  It takes about 10 minutes to get there ;-)

The pastor there is named Rev. Tembu Rongong.  He is a recent seminary graduate and does a good job of the liturgy.  He writes out his sermons and delivers them with gusto!  After church we were invited to join them for tea, coffee and a blether at the back of the church.  "Blether" is the Scottish word for a chat.  I like it.  They have a meeting this Wednesday evening at the rectory they call "Pudding and Praise."  Here in Britain, what we call "dessert," they call "pudding" and you have to eat it with a spoon!

 

 After church we returned for a light lunch to the flat.  We had some delicious roasted chicken and some salad. I bought some dates at a news agents shoppe over in Stockbridge on my first visit.  They are almost gone.  Watch out though for the pits!  Don't want to break a tooth in the UK where dentistry is still in its infancy.

On our walk back to the flat Cathy took some pictures of the buildings on Inverleith Row.  Many of these houses were built 100 years ago and they have a distinctive, Edinburgh look. 

During World War II everyone got into the war effort.  With German planes bombing England every night, people were willing to give up whatever metal  they had in order to build tanks, bombs and other weapons in the war against Naziism and fascism.  In this picture you can see the top of a pre-WWII stone wall.  Government workers came by and cut off all the iron fences; all that remains are wee iron stubs.  Since then, some fences have been replaced.  Others have not. 



A little later we took the Number 27 bus up to St. Andrew's Square.  It was Cathy's first ride on a double-decker bus.  Here she is walking to the bus and here I am waiting for the bus.

We shopped at St. James Shopping Market next to St. Andrews Square.  Our bed is not very comfortable so we were looking for an egg crate or something like that.  Our pillows too left a lot to be desired.  So we ended up at John Lewis, a department store.  We purchased two pillows (very nice).  They didn't have an egg crate topping and the mattress toppers they had were over 100 pounds (that is about $170 for those in Peoria).  So we decided instead to buy an inexpensive duvet and duvet cover.  So we sleep on that.  Honestly, it didn't help much so we are still on the look out for a good, inexpensive mattress topper. 

Finally, for today, let's show you a picture of Arthur's Seat.  It is part of our view, looking south, outside the flat at 11b Eildon Street.  Arthur's Seat is a volcanic mountain about 250 meters above sea level (that's about 800 feet for those in Peoria).  Once Cathy and I are fit, we will conquer Arthur's Seat one weekend.