Day 8 Liverpool to Edinburgh(part 2)
As I developed a cold after leaving Liverpool, I slept during the journey between Liverpool and Windemere. When we arrived at Windemere,the bus parked in a parking lot facing the lake.Its a magnificent lake - large and clean.The area is very peaceful with ducks swimming in the lake.The tour group alighted and quite a few of us went for a walk along the shores of the lake.A few bought some chocolates and shared them.Unfortunately due to my cold, I refused the chocolate. I was told that we are stopping there for toilet breaks.The cruise on the lake optional was not offered to us which is sad as I would have loved to do a cruise on the lake.The tour director pointed out the castle that Beatrix Potter's family rented which was on the other side of the lake. Derryck gave us a short history of Beatrix Potter's life.After that we went to Grassmere to visit William Wordsworth's grave and to have lunch.On the way to Grassmere, Derryck told us about William Wordsworth life and how he was once a friend of Coleridge but they went their separate ways as they had a fall out. Grassmere is a much smaller town than Windemere and it was very easy to find the Wordsworth family graveyard as its on the church grounds.After visiting that church, I went for lunch at Wordsworth Hotel.Wordsworth hotel is a place I would recommend to visit. Such pretty grounds and the interior decor is excellent.The service is also excellent. I had the set lunch of foie gras and salad for entree followed by roast pork with prune stuffing,beans,carrots and potatoes for the main course.There was a complimentary bread basket with the most delicious homemade bread including my favorite walnut bread.I had lemonade for a drink.After that delicious lunch in the most pretty surroundings I rushed back to the tour bus to proceed to Gretna Green in Scotland.Derryck narrated about couples in the past who eloped to Gretna Green to get married.He said that in the olden days,those who lived together out of wedlock could be transported to the colonies. I wonder if any of my ancestors were transported to Australia because of that.We passed the Welcome to Scotland sign on the way to Gretna Green.Gretna Green is just a group of buildings - nothing spectacular about it. We saw a wedding party on the grounds of Gretna Green when we stopped there.I went to the Gretna Green shop to buy some Pringles jumpers.Pringles is a brand that my family have used for generations.Because there was a sale, I took twice as long selecting the jumpers and consequently was very late to the bus which caused Derryck to go looking for me. I apologized profusely to everyone and was forgiven without having to pay a penalty. After that we went to Edinburgh passing scenery with rolling hills, sheep and heather.However Scotland isn't as green as Ireland. We arrived in Edinburgh at approximately 6pm and got to our hotel -Holiday Inn Costorphine Road at about 6:30pm.We passed the former institution for the deaf and blind children on the way to the hotel. That building is very beautiful to look at. We were duly given our keys and told to meet at the lobby at 7pm to go to Edinburgh city as we were going to the Tattoo that night.As I had a cold, I gave the tattoo a miss but instead ate at the hotel and had an early night.As the saying goes that in every tour there is a hotel that is the worst of the lot, I must say that Holiday Inn Costorphine Road was the worst of the hotels on this tour.The room allocated to me was extremely small and the furniture was arranged in a manner that didn't allow for me to open my suitcase.The staff at the front desk,the handyman/porter and the laundry staff were very unhelpful and rude.I don't want to sound negative but others have written in the Trip Advisor website that they have had a similiar experience to mine.However that hotel did not cast a bad light on Edinburgh which is a beautiful city.

Day 9 Edinburgh
Wake up time 6:30am. Breakfast at 7am. We had a very good breakfast at the Holiday Inn Costorphine Road. It was a lovely spread of hot and cold foods.After breakfast a wonderful Scotsman with an extremely good sense of humor was our local guide. I have forgotten his name but I think its Kevin.He wore the most beautiful kilt and bag and told us heaps of jokes about the Scottish versus the English. We toured Edinburgh city and saw the new town, St Giles, the golden mile, the lovely brown coloured townhouses , the parliament building,the statue of Sir Walter Scott before visiting Edinburgh Castle. Kevin told us about the famous Scotsmen like Alexander Fleming, Sean Connery and many others including the current prime minister of the United Kingdom - Gordon Brown. The Scottish are a very clever race. Edinburgh Castle is one of the most magnificent castle I have seen. We went to see the Royal Jewels, the canons, the chapel, the room where the Duke of Argyll spent before he was executed, the room where James I was born, the room where court was held for visiting dignitaries. I also went to visit the dungeon. I bought a book about the castle as I loved the building and its history. Mary Stuart was the last monarch to live in the castle. The castle had magnificent views of Edinburgh. After that we were dropped off to visit the new town.Kevin was very helpful and assisted the different tour members in finding their way back to the hotel and assisted me in finding John Knox's house. I gave him a tip as he's most entertaining and provided an excellent service. I went for lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant.Its the first time I had Duck Tortellini and the taste is most magnificent.After that I went to visit John Knox's house. Its such a cute place with rooms depicting the work area, the living area, the study etc.I got an whispering audio system for five pounds and enjoyed the whole experience enormously. John Knox is the founder of the Presbyterian Church and is known to be fiery and had a few words with Mary Queen of Scotts about her lifestyle. Derryck reckons John Knox and his followers got the Scottish a good education.After visiting his house, I went to visit St Giles church.There were heaps of people due to a festival in the mall in front of St Giles church and there was a acrobat doing some forms of contortions etc. Very interesting.St Giles although not elaborate in decorations due to renovations going on had an air of peacefulness about it. There was no fee to visit it.I saw the memorial to the Duke of Argyll there.After St Giles I went for the Rosslyn Chapel optional. Rosslyn Chapel was featured in Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code .Its a very pretty chapel and the staff were very helpful and attentive to us. I was told that the Earl of Rosslyn is in charge of Scotland Yard. The talk was about the Chapel since the time of the Knights Templar (as it belongs to the StClair family) to the time of Oliver Cromwell to the restoration to its former glory today. It was very interesting. After that I visited the graveyard of the chapel. Some from the tour group climbed the scaffolding to view the surrounding area but I went to have a look at the exterior of the castle instead.We managed to see the exterior of Holyrood House on the way back to Edinburgh. After that we went back to the hotel after picking up those who did not do this optional from Edinburgh city. I had dinner at Sampans and had a very early night as we had a long journey to York the next day. Some from the tour group went for the Scottish dinner and show and said they had a wonderful time but due to my cold, I gave it a miss

I loved the Lakes district and Edinburgh. Sadly our little tour was too rushed to fit in Rosslyn Cappel but now we have an excuse to go back. The Lakes district was so beautiful and we had the luck to be there on a perfect day.
I gave my partner the choice of marrying me or buying me a nice jumper when in Gretna Green. I got a really nice jumper. Am now wondering what I can score when in Vegas in 2011 by giving him the same choice.

I am enjoying reading your tale- it is bringing back nice memories for me.

quote:

I gave my partner the choice of marrying me or buying me a nice jumper when in Gretna Green. I got a really nice jumper. Am now wondering what I can score when in Vegas in 2011 by giving him the same choice

A Marriage Certificate or a nice bracelet. You will have to wait Gerry. 2011 is a long way off but the time will go quickly.

thanks for that comment that this tour tale is bringing back nice memories for you.I will be completing the rest of the tour tale today.Hope you will get your wish in Vegas in 2011