Lunch With New Friends (Edinburgh, UK)

I had a wonderfully delightful lunch and visit today at the Holyroodhouse Cafe with Mairead Doherty's sister, Anne, and her husband, Jim.  They live nearby in Portobello.  I called them at Mairead's suggestion at mid-morning today, and by 1:00 PM we were together for lunch.  They could not have been more hospitable and gracious.  After lunch, we briefly visited the Scottish Parliament. It is located directly across from the Palace of Holyroodhouse.   It is quite an impressive modern building whose unique architecture has been the topic of much debate among the Scottish.  I liked it!  We then proceeded along the Royal Mile as Jim, a native of Scotland, pointed out the historic facts about much of what is located along the Royal Mile, which is the heart of the Old Town of Edinburgh.  The Royal Mile is both an impressive and majestically beautiful street, rich in the history of Scotland.   Anne had some work to get done, so left Jim and me to continue the tour of the Royal Mile together.  We then visited the original Parliament building which, as I learned, was used for only a short time because of of the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland.  The building is now part of the complex of buildings of the judiciary.  The tradition of the meeting room itself is for lawyers to confer with each other as they pace the room.  It has the quality of the lanes of a swimming pool as pairs of lawyers walk back and forth in straight lines.  After our brief visit to the old Parliament, we toured St. Giles Cathedral, the National Church of Scotland.  It is an architectural jewel, especially the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle.  As you may have surmised, Jim devoted a good part of his day guiding me through the historic sights of the Royal Mile.  He said that his retirement has given him the freedom to do what he was doing today.  Nonetheless, Jim was very generous with the time he spent with me.  We ended our tour together at the National Museum of Scotland.

St. Giles Cathedral

And now let me tell you how I spent my morning.  I was in search of an adaptor for my camera's battery charger.  [I brought with me a Samsonite electrical adaptor which I purchased in Boston.  It proved to be of no use!]  The spare battery I had with me had also lost its charge, so I was without any battery for my camera.  I finally located an adaptor, after inquiring at several stores, and was then able to use an outlet at a local Starbucks coffee shop to get a partial charge of the battery.  There was enough of a charge to take the few pictures which are attached to this post.  I hope tomorrow I will have more success in including more pictures in my posting.  Until then, cheers!

Hotel Balmoral at dusk.