Colville Cottage - Edinburgh

I was up early today in anticipation of my travel day to Edinburgh, Scotland. That, plus the foxes in Kirsten's back yard were going nuts about something. They scream just like people in pain, it's very unnerving. I guess foxes, in London, are the equivalent to raccoons in Portland, pests. Cute, though. Well, until they keep you up all night.


The train ride was uneventful and long. The scenery was nice and the seat comfy. I napped a little, listened to music, daydreamed. The train had wifi, but I preferred to look at the passing farmlands. The weather is still beautiful here, and everything is really green and pretty.


The train station is right in Edinburgh, so the taxi ride to the place I'm staying was cheap! We drove right though town and the driver pointed out some good places to eat, and explained the layout of the town a bit. 8 Colville Place is a cottage I rented for the next ten days.

front door 

It averages out at about the same as the B&B's or Hotels , except, I have a full kitchen, so I hope to save some money on meals. It's in a historic district, just down the hill from the city center in a neighborhood called Stockbridge. Rows of old colonial flats. Mine is super charming. I couldn't be happier.

there is a sweet little mud room as you enter 

kitchen! 

comfy bed that looks out onto a wee garden

view from the living room. my building looks the same as the one across the street

I unpacked my stuff, and headed into town to the grocery store. The cab driver had told me which way to go, but I got lost, so stopped to asked a family that was having a picnic by the river.  They pointed me in the right direction, and wished me well in my time visiting their fair city. The grocery stores here are really small, but have fresh fruit and veggies. The two I went into seemed to be run by folks from Pakistan. One guy was on the phone dropping the F bomb every other word to whom, I could only guess, was his boss. He was talking about how hard he worked for nothing, and how "what's his name" didn't do his job properly, and so on, and so on. He did all this while adding up my stuff, and telling me how much to pay. I wished him good luck on the way out. I walked back to the cottage with my groceries. Here are pictures of the path back to the cottage.

Stockbridge (i'm on the bridge)

river. you can walk the path to the left of the river to the cottage!

more great stone walls! just around the corner to Colville Place.

Colville Place. 

my sweet little garden. it needs a little tlc, though.

There are about six cul de sacs, including Colville, that back up to the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. I noticed that neighbors are a bit thoughtful about this, and there are some very lovely gardens on these streets. I hope to sneak some photos for future plantings of my own. 

After putting away the groceries, I went for walk to the city center. Lovely walk, up hill, past a park that runs the length of the city (similar to Portland, by the way). The city is super clean and full of folks out on the streets, walking, riding bikes, and enjoying the sunshine. I passed some antique shops, several cute bistro type places, and some boutiques. The recession has hit the UK and Ireland pretty hard, just like everyone, I did see a hand full of for sale, or lease signs. I suppose they rely pretty heavily on tourism. I will give them my tourist dollar tomorrow as I ride the double decker bus tour. I find those a great way to get a complete lay out of the city, plus it's free transportation for 24 hours. 

I had dinner on Rose Street, at The Bad Ass pub. HA! I tried the local Amber Brew (another Portland similarity), it was good. I ordered Haggis for dinner. Ya know, when in Rome.. except it's Scotland. It was pretty good too. But, now that I have the traditional Scottish meal out of the way, I will plan on trying the Indian and Thai food restaurants that I pasted. I picked up the "weekly" at the pub, it's called "The Skinny"(cute). I checked out all the music that will be going on while I'm here. Low and behold! there was another Portland Oregon band on tour in the same European city I am in. Quasi will be playing here next week. I love how, just when I start to feel a little home sick, the universe plops a Portland band in my path. I haven't seen them since they went from a duo to a trio, so I will make a point to go to the show. I will catch some local music as well. The gal at the pub was totally in the know of the music scene here, and suggested come good local bands. So far, Edinburgh is right up my ally!