Two Weddings and a pandemic.

[VPS]

Ooooh! Wish I'd known you were going there. I'm heading up there next year to do some research on a chap I'm writing about, mainly to visit his haunts/house etc (and the castle). He named the Hobart suburb of Lindisfarne (then his farm) after the monastery on Holy Island.

I'll get in touch with you after you get back to see if you have any more detailed tips about the area.

I love that area of the UK - another spot there is the Farne Islands - if you like puffins it's fantastic. Morpeth is another nice town

 

[Pushka]

Excellent dinner last night at a Punjabi Restaurant. Still not sunset at 9.30 pm.






This morning we'd bought tickets online for the Edinburgh Castle and then later a gin tasting experience with Edinburgh Gin Distillery. We'd bought their gin in Adelaide and we don't like Whisky.

Our Airbnb is within walking distance of the major city attractions so we set off around 9.30am. Our entry was for 12 noon but we'd hoped that would be ignored.

Walking through the park along the way. Very chilly day but no rain. The orange Aperol signs hardly made for good visual appeal.



Bleh. Internet being rubbish here.

 

[Pushka]

This sculpture is dedicated to the lost babies.

 

[Pushka]

I was concerned at the climb to the castle but we did it with ease. When we got to the ticket counter they were not selling any tickets and as we left they werent even allowing ticket holders to enter immediately.

Preparing for Edinburgh Tattoo.

 

[Pushka]

The 1pm cannon. We stayed to hear it being fired. We wore masks inside.



We explored the various museums and I was more interested in the highlander artefacts.










More views of the preparation.

 

[Pushka]

It was getting towards lunchtime so we decided to have a snack. So we went to the tea rooms. Very twee.

 

[Pushka]

Crowd gathering for 1pm.

 

[Pushka]

We left after that and walked down the Royal Mile partway. Fabulous place. We will be returning Thursday after Holyrood Palace.
















Next. The gin experience.

 

[Pushka]

We’d booked 3pm gin experience with Edinburgh gin. It’s excellent and highly recommended and very well staged. Some excellent information.













All up we had four tasters with mixers as part of the education, a full serve of gin and tonic then a serve of their gin liqueur which was sublime. The tasters were very different and there were two distinct groups who as a group showed the same preferences for the various blends.

My Fav was Navy Strength 57% proof. Like rocket fuel and we had it neat to start.

The origins of Dutch Courage?
Why is fever tree tonic called that?
What are the origins of Blind Drunk?

 

[Pushka]

Ok - for those not interested in the Royal Yacht, come back later. @TheRealTMA I'm looking at you

On a wonderful Scottish Summer day today we set off for the Royal Yacht. Raining so hard we ended up driving there. Actually that's unfair. Last night at 9.15pm it looked like this outside our window.



Thank god for Apple car play. The shopping centre provided free car parking and after some interesting comments along the way we parked the car. We'd pre booked but clearly not many had braved the weather. I'll post pics as thumbnails as I was fascinated and took, - a lot. But they can be clicked on to be bigger. I think many are self explanatory.

I kept thinking how my Dad would have loved to do this tour as he was a Chief Petty Officer in RAN for 12 years and this would have been a highlight but he died around 6 years after the ship was decommissioned and was too ill to travel in those years.

 

[Pushka]

The tour itself was very well done and easily understood. There's a corgi in pretty much every cabin.

There's a real birds nest at the top.



The Captains meeting room and quarters. And his kitchen.


Communal bathroom. And through to his bed.

 

[Pushka]

The Jeep and the Roller was loaded each trip. And stored near the Royal quarters. The port holes for the royal cabins were located above 6' so to avoid any accidental 'mishaps'.



There's a statue at the end of the pier. The outdoor activity deck. And bell. It was a lovely Scottish summer day.

 

[Pushka]

The family casual sun room facing aft.

 

[Pushka]

Moving to the Queens Bedroom. A single bed. But a doorway connects to the Princes bedroom. That little bear is a collector's item and numbered and priced at £275.




View through to the Queens Bedroom from the Princes room.

 

[Pushka]

Prince Charles insisted on a bed improvement when he married Princess Diana and honeymooned there. A whopping - Double bed. The only one on the yacht.



The Officers dining room.

 

[Pushka]

The lower crew relax area. There is a wombat on the fan. It was given to the crew to care for, but well, lads were lads. And a small monkey was hidden each day (currently hanging on the silver salt container which was supposed to be owned by the last Czar)



We passed along the Royal Pantry and storage areas.


And the working galleys.

 

[Pushka]

Then to the Royal Dining room which was magnificent. The room was filled with priceless gifts from dignatories. The clocks throughout the yacht are set at 3.02, the last time the Royals were onboard.

 

[Pushka]

The Queens Private Office. And the Prince's office opposite.



Adjacent to the Formal dining room was a vestibule leading to the lounge room. Again a magnificent room. An open fire was vetoed as it would require crew to be permanently manned there ready with a water bucket.

 

[Pushka]

Down to the crews quarters.





What??

 

[Pushka]