Day 38, Friday, October 24 "rain, dinner and a midnight bus ride"

Hello everyone and happy, rainy day. We brought wonderful weather with us to Scotland for the past three months. But the past few days, a bit of rain has set in, causing us to slightly alter our plans (more about that later).  David spent the morning at the university and Cathy waited at the flat for a shipment of Sarah Nelson's Gingerbread from Grasmere.  In the afternoon, we made our final trip to Tesco market to get a few bits of food to carry us through the last three days of our adventure. Note the rain gear which we always have at hand but have rarely had to use.

We were invited to have dinner with Larry and Shannon Hurtado at their flat this evening (Larry, a professor of New Testament and head of the school of Divinity, has been mentioned before and is the one who is responsible for David's connections with the University of Edinburgh.). Shannon, his wife, is an instructor of Art History and catches the train to Glasgow twice a week to teach there. Joining us for dinner was Robin Jensen of Vanderbilt University, a professor of Art History and Sacred Theology. She is the Gunning Lecturer, New College, this year and will begin her presentations next week.

We walked up to the bus stop around 6:15 pm (18.15) to get to their flat a for a 7:00 pm meal time.. But we had passed the time when the buses run every 5 minutes, and in addition, the bus was late. So, we ended up late for dinner as well...by about 20 minutes. I have not taken many bus rides at night so it was fun to see the City Centre in a different light.

...The Royal Bank of Scotland and a Department Store with 4 floors of windows, newly decorated for Christmas. When we first arrived, this department store had every window decorated in a safari theme so there were full size giraffes, elephants, tigers etc. etc. On Monday, we found that it had all been taken down and replaced with Christmas.

We had a very nice evening; good food and good conversation, including a very interesting and charming cat. Shannon made salad, fish and vegetables and Larry made dessert. He presented us with a yummy dark chocolate french cake with fresh raspberries -WOW.

Around 11:00 pm, we decided to call it an evening. Robin had just arrived in Scotland this morning and with only an hours nap, was struggling valiantly against jet lag. The three of us shared a cab back to the Grassmarket, where her hotel was located, and then we continued on walking about 6 blocks to the bus stop on the Mound. By this time, you can imagine, there was a much reduced bus schedule so we waited around 15 minutes for a bus. Still there were plenty of youthful merry-makers, in and out of pubs and up and down the streets, so there was enough entertainment while we waited. The top of the double-decker bus had been closed off and even though it was now getting on in time, there were plenty of riders along with us.

 

Tomorrow we had planned to climb Arthur's Seat...a volcanic rocky outcropping, 750 feet high and located close to Holyrood Palace. Here you can see the mountain from the garden of Holyrood.  You are supposed to climb it on New Year's Day and drink out of St. Margaret's Fountain to receive good luck throughout the new year. Would you rather do that or eat black eyed peas and hog jowls to get your New Year's good luck (as they do the the deep south)? No comment!

 

Jenel sent us this picture from home of Mugsey fishing.  Thanks, Jenel!  Mugsey is a Cairn Terrier, a breed that comes from Scotland.  We've seen a lot of dogs since we have been here.  Mostly Border Terriers, Scottish Terriers and West Highland Terriers.  

It is supposed to rain all day Saturday so we have a contingency plan that involves the top two floors of the National Museum and dinner at the restaurant located on the roof-top with panoramic 360 views of the city. I suppose  you will find out tomorrow which option we take. Have a great weekend and check back with us tomorrow as we count down the last 3 days of our Big Adventure.