Day 2– June 18–Edinburgh Castle and Seminar Dinner
We started the day with sleeping in, checking out of the Hub Haymarket Hotel, taking the tram to the Apex Waterloo Place Hotel that was part of the NEHGS research tour, and breakfast. First, the hotel Hub Haymarket is a very convenient and inexpensive hotel if you are planning a trip to Edinburgh. It is one minute from the tram line, and a 10 minute tram ride to the Scottish National Archives. The food choices are limited, but we found a great Vietnamese place about 50 yards away. The Apex Waterloo Place is a full service business hotel that is centrally located with prices to match.
We had breakfast at Pep and Fodder, a few doors down from the Apex Waterloo hotel where the seminar is based. This could become our culinary home base–inexpensive and good. We walked up to the Royal Mile and turned right (W) to head to Edinburgh Castle, where we spent the afternoon. The Royal Mile reminded both of us of the Rambla in Barcelona; one of the highlights was a Celtic quartet that talked a group of Irish college students (all women) into doing an Irish dance. They were far from Riverdance, but it was clear that they all knew the basics. When visiting the castle, make sure to stop for tea at the Red Coat tea room on the north side of the castle. Go the north room (not immediately obvious) and get a table near the windows to enjoy your tea. The view is incredible; this is a great place to regroup and figure out the plan for the second half of your visit. For photography, late afternoon provides some great opportunities.
Kristin returned to the hotel at 2:30 to get ready for the 3:00 to 5:00 orientation session for the seminar, and I returned at 4:30 in time to shower and nap before the 6:00 dinner at Howie's, where I had haggis, neeps and peeps for the first time. I will do this again; haggis is much better tasting than it sounds. It is really just a peppery sausage without the casing.
Dinner was a lot of fun with discussion on Segues, Master Genealogist, GRAMPS as a replacement for Master Geanalogist (see tmg2gramps by Coherent Software, LaTeX and frustrations with genealogical citation, lasers, physics, laser physics, and a host of interesting topics.
