Edinburgh February 25, 2016

People always ask me what is your favorite country and what is your favorite city? If the truth be told it usually is the last place I have been. That place is still fresh in my mind and there was a good reason for my being there. Either I read about the place in a book or on the internet and wanted to see what it was like myself.

One of my favorite places has been Scotland and especially Edinburgh. We stayed in the old section of the City and happened to hit the City at a particularly good weather time. We have very little rain the week we were in Scotland.

Most people know the City for the Castle and the Royale Mile, both are interesting but that is not what I wanted to experience. I wanted to see what the food scene was like.
I learned in Edinburgh that one or two owners were buying up a lot of the old Pubs in the UK and "commoditizing" them. They weren't changing the appearance of the building, but the food was all the same. We noticed that when we went to one of the famous Pubs on the Royal Mile that the food the menu was the same as the Pub we were in the day before in London. Curious, I asked the waiter and he explained that the Pubs are now owned by one or two individuals.

I can't say the food was bad, but clearly the variety was not there, it was like we went to an American Version of English Pub food. Something you might find at Disney World.
However, we did have some terrific food in Edinburgh. One night we went early to a place suggested in our guide book call the "outsider". We were early enough that we got a window table. We happened to be there one of the few rainy nights in Edinburgh. The view was of the Castle and a light rain coming down on an old City. It was everything that I pictured the City would be. It was truly magical. I took this picture with our small pocket camera and really love the image.

I will write about the rest of the country tomorrow.