If It's Not Scottish...

This weekend I visited Edinburgh, both to see more of a city I had spent far too little time in in the past, but also to visit an old friend from the WSJ, Will, who's been living there for the past few years.

Will lives in this really cool house in the "New Town" -- which, given that this is Europe, is still about 200 years old or something. His house was formerly a chapel and has been converted into a really neat living space. It's a short walk to Princes St., the main shopping strip in the city, and only about a 20 minute walk to get all the way to the top of the city where Edinburgh Castle is situated.

I spent about seven hours getting there, of course, because I chose to fly Ryanair, one of Europe's discount carriers. The flight was super cheap, only €80 round trip. Unfortunately, the "airport" in Brussels, which is actually in Charleroi, where I saw the Tour de France the week before, is about an hourlong bus ride from central Brussels. Plus, it looks more like a bus terminal than an airport. I think Ryanair may be the only airline that uses it.

I flew into Glasgow Prestwick airport, which is similarly far out of the city, though it at least resembles the airport in say, Burlington VT or something like that. From there it was a 45-minute or so train ride to Glasgow, and then another 45-minutes or so to Edinburgh. Friday night we just went for dinner and to this really cool old bar that has been where it is in Edinburgh for hundreds of years.

The other picture in this post is of Will's dogs, MacDuff and Cuillin. They're cute, and very energetic. The dark-haired one (Cuillin) is about two years old and jumps around a lot. She also likes to run in circles, I think mostly when she wants to go outside. They were fun to be around, although they both demanded a lot of attention.

Anyway, my next post shall provide some photos and detail from my sightseeing in Edinburgh, but I just wanted to get something on record here.