Friday, Sep 21

There is something important I did yesterday that I forgot to mention in my previous post: I got myself lost.

Malc and Kate had a very good suggestion: rather than hope on the guided tour bus that will only show you certain parts of Edinburgh, they got on to a regular city bus and just rode it around for a few hours, using an all-day pass. I love the day passes. If you take the bus three times in a day, it's paid for itself. And, you can use it on ANY city bus. So, they got a good view of Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. I tried the same. I don't remember where I got on or which number, but after I had taken care of my other business, I took my little trip.

I had brought my camera with the intention of taking pictures. It seemed like a great idea, since it was rainy, but there was one thing I didn't account for: all the bus windows were fogged up. I could hardly see anything. I could make out that we were getting into more of a "suburban" area. Less touristy-looking, more things that looked like homes. I passed a park, too. I could see by signs that I was in Leith. And I let it keep going. But since I couldn't see much, I stopped paying attention. Suddenly the bus stopped, the driver called, "Last stop!" and I looked around...I was the only one on the top level of the bus. As I understand it (now), the driver is required to turn off the bus when he takes his short break, then come back and resume his route. I had no idea what was going on other than we weren't moving. Also unnerving was that when I got off the bus...I could see water. Lots of it. An ocean. The North Sea, in fact. The bus had gone all the way to Newhaven, north of Edinburgh.

So there I was at the end of a street, bus turned off, facing a cross-street and water, and the only other things I immediately saw around me were a church and a car repair shop. I saw a sign next to the church that said, "Cafe -->" so I followed it and went inside. There were a few people in there, including a nice lady behind the counter who explained that I was in Port o' Leith. I asked if it was part of Edinburgh and she explained that any locals that had been there for a long time would insist they were Leithans, a separate city, and might even get offended. Similar to Atlanta I guess, the bigger city absorbed the smaller cities around it. The nice lady also explained that the church building itself was now some flats (apartments); it had had dryrot or something and needed to be fixed up, so someone bought the church and converted it, and as part of the deal (if I understood correctly), they built a new church building off the side, and installed a little cafe that they run about three days a week as a ministry/outreach. Well, after a short chat and an explanation of where I was and how to get back, I got back on the road, crossed it, and took some pictures of the water and a very long pier to my left. Too far to walk to. I went right, took a few more pictures of a little lighthouse and a private pier. A lady at the next bus stop I walked to said I was in Newhaven. I guess I had been standing on the border. We both got on the bus and continued on. Although she had kept to herself, when she got off the bus, she put her hand on my shoulder and said she hoped I'll have fun on my holiday, which I thought was nice of her.

The bus went near to Edinburgh Castle. It's hard to keep the streets straight, they change names every few blocks it seems. Let's say the street I travel on the most is A7, which intersects the Royal Mile (of which High Street is its name when they cross). A7 continues north slightly further and dead-ends into a street that is Princes Street to the left, and A1/Regent Rd on the right (so Google maps tells me). The Edinburgh train station is at that intersection, as is Princes Mall, which you actually pass through when you're exiting the train station. My first time through, I thought it WAS part of the train station.

Anyway, I got off the bus and went into Princes Mall and walked around. This International Guest House, like Northumberland, charges a 5% surcharge on payment by credit card, which I think is ridiculous. I did it for Northumberland so I'd have the ability to dispute anything I needed to on my AmEx card, but I decided to take a chance and pay with cash for this place (also they don't take AmEx, but they do take Visa). So in the mall I found a cash machine (also called a Cashpoint, I think that's a brand but it's as generic as "ATM"). I sat in the food court and drank the Scottish brand soft drink "Irn Bru" (iron brew) can which I bought at the church cafe in Newhaven, lounged, and then headed back to my hotel. Then I went for dinner at The Abbey, but I told that story yesterday.

So for today's adventure...laundry. I had a full load, so after I made the hotel switch, I walked up to The Abbey and had lunch, fish and chips this time. Not as good as the Highland Chicken, I thought the fish was a little too flaky or maybe the breading had too much vinegar; it all kept falling apart on my fork. :( Still, £6 for a huge meal isn't bad. From there, the one laundromat (laundrette) on the whole street was about two blocks up, so I went up and did my laundry, caught the bus back to my hotel.

This International Guest House is attractive. It's also narrow. It's in a block of guest houses/hotels/B&Bs all next to each other as part of the same structure. There are about eight rooms covering three floors, mine is on the second floor (in non-American, it's the first floor). I really have to wonder if it was built as a B&B or was converted from housing, I just don't know. The room is L-shaped, and the bed, nightstand, and small plus chair are next to each other, but you have to walk in sideways to get past the chair. The proprietor had mentioned that the room key also works the front door key. I kinda didn't want to ask, "If that's the case, does that mean the key works on every room in the building?" The bed is firm but will probably be alright. The bathroom is tiny. I can sit on the toilet, rest my elbows on the sink and toilet paper, and touch all four sides of the bathroom without effort. It's so small, I have to open the door to pull my pants up. :(

Aaaaaaaand, the wireless doesn't work. It did, for a little while, before dinner and after (I ate at Subway, I felt I needed something other than meat and starches for a change). Then suddenly, it stopped working. Both networks in the building. Their names come and go on my screen, and when they're there, they have a good signal, but every time I try, I get a connection timeout. I think it's British Telecom's fault, I think there must be an outage. I'm still going to ask for some credit back tomorrow. Even though it's out of the owner's hands if it's not his equipment at fault, he needs to feel some pressure to actually call them and complain. So once again, I'm thankful I have an iPhone with an unlimited data plan or else I wouldn't be able to get on the Internet at all.

Today was clear but cloudy, and it started sprinkling tonight. This is a wet city. People seem to be used to it. Some have umbrellas, some just put up with it. The next five days, the high will be around 12 (53), lows 10 (50). Partly cloudy tomorrow, so I think I'll try to get on an official bus tour, and/or get lost again with a day pass.