26 July - Edinburgh Got brave today and ventured into the Old Town. So many people. We went to Victoria Street which has a number of "Harry Potter" sights. Guides in full throttle today swishing wands everywhere. I was focused solely on returning to a lovely shop I had a bought a jacket at some months ago. I'd been eyeing off their short sleeved jumpers online and decided it was now or never. Seemed the tourists were distracted by the Harry Potter sights and largely had the shop to myself. Purchase made and assured Stephen my shopping was officially done. Then visited the National Library. It has been modernised since I was last there. Exhibition area is more sophisticated but smaller. I was disappointed. Last time they had a variety of books on display that you could easily read; recording people's musings on typical Scottish activities. It was where I read about the happenings of the Scottish Skating Society...
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22 July - Edinburgh Stephen spent this afternoon cooking his last venison stew for this trip. Unlike the last 3 times, we managed to avoid setting off the smoke alarm by preemptively opening up all windows in the flat. We are also racing through some of the series we are watching on the BBC, although no doubt they will arrive in Australia. Just finished The Turkish Detective. Sparked an interest in visiting Istanbul. Also the Olympics start this Friday so will enjoy watching it for a week in a more manageable time zone. Caught Stephen weighing some fishing gear this morning. He is looking at getting it stored with a friend for his next fishing trip. Apparently they weigh a disappointing 3kg so not sure is enough to make up for the whisky we are hoping to pack and take home. Took Stephen to see the new wing in the National Gallery. It's all Scottish art. He too thought it was pretty impressive and I then took him to see my new ...
19 July - Edinburgh to Orkney to Shetland and back to Edinburgh Pretty busy last week as we spent it in Orkney and Shetland. Both places not quite what I was expecting. Much more green and lush - more like Ireland than Highlands Scotland in some ways and both places seem to be thriving. Overall does not seem they are communities in decline. Lots of children and families around and the cruise ships are there. The cruise ships are not greatly liked, at least as far as we heard in Orkney. The facilities aren't there in terms of cafes and restaurants to accommodate the volume of tourists. For both places we had to book all our dinners or else it was the local chippy. Had some of the best meals of the trip in both places. The food is delicious. Had probably the most delicious scallops I have eaten, in Orkney and monkfish - which reminded me of toothfish. Also had a great French meal in Shetland - this little French restaurant where...
10 July - Edinburgh Quiet few days as Stephen still battling some sort of lurgy. At least timing was good as was planning a quiet week before we headed up to the even farer North. Fortunately also a lot of Wimbledon on TV and we are in the right time zone plus the football is back on and our favourite team - Spain - has gotten through to the finals. Also discovered a new show on the BBC called The Turkish Detective. It's got mixed reviews but I like it. It is filmed in Istanbul, not in some remote place pretending to be Istanbul so is interesting at the very least seeing the city. Relieved to see it only has 8 episodes. We got caught last time watching something called the Black List that had 218 episodes. That was a serious commitment and we ridiculously found ourselves staying in to binge watch it. Not making that mistake again. Bit disappointed to see the Olympics is only partially on while we are here....