...close your eyes and jump..
..and so goes the little rhyme that Mary Poppins and Bert say when they (and two precocious little people very much in need of a nice nanny) hold hands and jump into their magical chalk-drawing world of carousels, singing farmyard animals and the obligatory dancing penguins. Well, Jeff and I may have arrived in Edinburgh more by high speed train than by Poppins-esque magic but, as he alluded to in the sub-title to
his own blog about our weekend there, it didn't take long in this beautiful city for us to decide that it was pretty much as close as we would be likely to get to our very own Mary and Bert chalk-drawing world.
It has been six months now since our weekend in Edinburgh but every moment is etched on my mind and I have to say that Jeff was pretty accurate in pretty much everything he wrote about it over on his blog...he did concentrate almost entirely on the first day though so, after a few comments/additions on day one, I'll spend a little more time on the second day of our trip.
I remember so well waiting on the platform of Peterborough railway station very early that Saturday morning, waiting for my train to pull in and calling Jeff to see if he was at the station in Windermere already. I have rarely heard a grown person sound so excited at stupid o'clock on a November morning, but Jeff had got to the railway station an hour ahead of time and was chatting happily to the station master and other passengers at the same time as trying to make sure that his gargantuan backpack didn't prove TOO much of a health and safety risk. We chatted by text for most of my four hour trip and Jeff was just full of wonderment pretty much the whole time..his first ever train trip, the scenery out of the window and, it has to be said, more than either a passing or entirely natural fascination with the number of sheep that were to be found scattered around pretty much every field on his entire journey. Jeff seems to quite like sheep but, as I had discovered at one of our earlier hotels (Derbyshire moors, first night of his trip), that is quite to be expected in a graduate of Michigan Tech.
"Heaven, I'm in heaven.."
Jeff has pretty much covered the first day of our trip and how our short walk until our room was ready turned into a whole day of sightseeing, covering pretty much all of Edinburgh but here are a few of my own additions (oh and Jeff..NO corrections at all..you done good!). Jeff's original comments in italics:
See, to be nice, she loaned me a nice fleece to keep warm. A Rugby fleece! An ENGLAND Rugby fleece. While I was wandering about in the very heart of Scotland. I think she wanted me to be beaten to death..
Now, I would just like to add that there was absolutely no malicious or mischievous intent here..no how, no way, no Sergeant..I am just a very kind, generous and concerned girl who realises how hot it is in deserts and the like and would not like a soldier on leave to get a chill. Plus, we English are not even vaguely patriotic or anti-Scottish when it comes to our rugby. Really. Honestly
*crosses fingers behind back*
See..no gloating AT ALL...move on please everybody, nothing to see here..
Our healthy lunch up at the Castle....
Now I KNOW that Jeff would totally expect me to pass comment here on our serene, calm and amicable little lunch, in a window seat at the castle looking over the wonders of the city spreading out beneath us. Imagine the beauty, imagine the awe we both felt, imagine the early afternoon, winter sun casting haunting shadows across the history all around us..and then imagine a Brit and a Yank having a rather loud, verbose and at times downright pissed conversation about the subject of global warming. It may have been totally at odds with our surroundings and it may have been totally inappropriate, but it was totally Mary and Bert and neither of us would ever want it any other way...although those in our general vicinity whenever we 'kick off' may feel a little differently.
On the way out, we passed a group of young men who wanted Diane to photograph their big guns....She's shameless, I tell you...There was much laughter had by all - including the audience watching us set this shot up for them!
Do not believe a word of it. Some good looking men came up to us and asked us if we would take a photo of them all together and I merely suggested in an artistic capacity that it would be very visually effective if they mounted the huge guns and kind of rode them. Oh and I am pretty certain that it must have been JEFF who suggested that we take a photo of them with HIS camera as well as theirs, just so that we could look back at the lovely boys riding the large and powerful cannons at a later date. Me? Shameless? Pffbbtt...I'm merely a photographer with any eye for a shot Jeff...
As you can probably tell, we spent a lot of time sitting on the windowsill with the window open. Stunning. Spectacular. Wondrous...
Nothing much to add apart from the fact that sitting there next to Bert, surveying the view all around us and watching the light change almost by the minute was one of the most special times of the trip and I do believe that it was then, enveloped inside the magical world of The Balmoral hotel, that we decided that this was as close to a chalk-drawing world as we were ever likely to get. It was also the first time that we listened together to a
certain song that became a bit of an 'anthem' for Jeff's leave.
The view looking to the right out of our window..
The view directly ahead out of our window
This bridge had traffic over it all night long, both vehicular and pedestrian - it was quite close, but again, there was no real noise or anything to disturb one's rest in the room. Just the thing for a stressed out Soldier on leave.. Yeap..Jeff slept like a baby and I remember being awake quite a while before him..at first trying to be very quiet so as not to wake him, then deciding to move around a little but still trying to be quiet and then finally doing everything but banging drums in his ear to make him wake up as I was bored and wanted a nice little chat (nothing new there then!). Seriously though, it was wonderful to see him so very relaxed and 'off guard'..I do believe that it did his soul and spirit a lot of good.
After a pint or two of local brew at the pub (life is SO hard!) we headed back to the Balmoral and went to sleep..
Almost..first though we went for dinner and then it was back to the lounge of the hotel where we sat on a comfortable sofa next to a stunning fireplace and ordered single malt whiskies, which were as smooth as they were relaxing, and soon we were pretty much as chilled as we could be without being entirely comatose..so, we capped off our whisky with some delicious hot chocolate and then headed on up to sleep.
The next morning we relaxed by the fireplace in one of the many luxurious lounges in The Balmoral and had Cream Tea. Life is TOUGH, let me tell you!
Ah..now this is where Jeff left out huge chunks and YO BERT..since when did the English ever have MORNING cream tea? Silly Bert..that was AFTERNOON cream tea and came a few hours later than I think you remember! Let me see if I can jog your memory a little..
The next morning, after I had finally managed to rouse Sleeping Beauty from his deep repose, I headed off down to the hotel spa for a swim and a morning coffee while Jeff popped online to check hotels on the next part of his trip. Before we knew it, the morning was over and we had to checkout of our 5* haven. Not before I managed to burn my finger rather nastily on my hair straighteners though, putting my very own personal EMT into overdrive and making the main aim of the rest of that day being the sourcing of some soothing and healing Aloe Vera. We said a rather reluctant goodbye to our lovely room with a view, stored our luggage safely with the concierge and then headed out for another few hours of exploring.
This time, we headed straight across Prince's Street towards the part of Edinburgh named
New Town which, of course, was designed and built 50 years either side of 1800 so is not really that new at all. By our standards that is (ok, ok Bert..I couldn't help it!).
The architecture there is quite different (it is Georgian in style, as opposed to primarily medieval and reformation style in the old town) and it was easy for us to believe that we were in an entirely different, but just as stunning, city to the previous day.
View down through New Town to the Firth of Forth..
View up to the old town from the new town
View down Princes Street - the clock tower is on The Balmoral
We walked around the new town for an hour or two, finding gorgeous building after gorgeous building and just enjoying the summer sunshine and the lovely company and conversation. When we began to feel hungry, we decided to find a traditional pub where we could have a traditional British Sunday lunch. The one we decided on served some rather lovely locally brewed beer, which Jeff loved, as well as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, which he also seemed to rather enjoy. People must have thought I was rather strange though as I held my burnt finger in a pint of iced water throughout. After lunch we set off on our travels again, ending up on Prince's Street, where we finally found a pharmacy that sold the Aloe Vera that Jeff had been hunting for for my finger. He actually heaved a little sigh of relief as he was finally able to treat my teeny tiny, but painful, burn :)
We had a few hours before our trains left, Jeff's for the Highlands and mine for Peterborough, and we decided that rather than trecking around doing more sightseeing, we would go back to The Balmoral and find somewhere comfortable to sit and relax. As we walked into the gorgeous hotel for the last time, we hadn't decided exactly what we'd do but it didn't take us long to decide on the perfect way to end our lovely weekend. Yeap, it seemed only right that our 5* little holiday should end in a totally 5* manner with a 5* Balmoral cream tea. So there we sat, eating gorgeous sandwiches and cakes and drinking exquisite teas until it was time to pick up our luggage and take the short walk down the steps to Waverley station.
I'm not particularly good at goodbyes with Jeff, even if I am going to see him again in a few days (which I was) but it had been such a lovely weekend that I knew there would be a few tears. Trains were due to depart though, so we said goodbye at a central point and then each set off for our platforms...apparently Jeff looked back to wave to me but I was rather too busy biting my lip and trying not to look like too much of a blubbering idiot in public to risk looking back myself. By the time I got onto my train though I was smiling and just so very happy to have spent such a wonderful and magical weekend with such a dear friend. I relaxed into my seat on the train, closed my eyes and knew that our chalk-drawing world would always be just a think, wink and double blink away, whenever I wanted or needed it to be...and just as I did so I text came through from my partner in crime, saying that he was on his train too, heading on up to Fort William for the most eagerly awaited part of his trip. Somehow, everything in the world seemed, at that moment, to be just the way it should be.
Thank you Jeff, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing your time in Edinburgh with me and for being the most sincere, loyal and dear friend that a girl could ever hope for. Not too bad for a wandering, scurfy chimney sweep sort, huh? :)
Only ever a 'close our eyes and jump' away :)
