Day 6

Saturday 29 June. Fine and 17 degrees today. We could see Edinburgh from our balcony upon opening our curtains. Our ship was anchored offshore and tenders were to be used today to ferry us to and from the shore.

We had a quick breakfast upstairs with Annie and Wilma then met up with Suzanne at the theatre where we were to gather to wait for our turn to ride a tender to shore to join our tour. A piper greeted us when we made it to shore.

We boarded our bus and met our guide, Christine. She gave us a running commentary of what we were seeing as the bus took us all around the city. We learned a friend of hers is a friend of JK Rowling, who lives in the city. We were lucky that the bus missed a traffic light at the optimum location where we could quickly snap a pic of Edinburg Castle through the bus window.

The bus dropped the five of us off at the museum in a street parallel with the golden mile near the top. We walked to the golden mile and found a café to have a late morning coffee. We continued down the royal mile and did some souvenir shopping. Here’s some pictures taken there.

We then hailed a taxi to take us to Ocean Terminal shopping centre which is where the Brittania is moored alongside. We purchased our tickets and got on board. We did the tour out of sequence but saw the best bits. We ate scones in the onboard restaurant. They were really good. They had gluten free for Suzanne. Here’s some pictures.


After the Brittania tour we caught a taxi back to Newhaven Harbour to take a tender back to the ship. The 15-minute trip back was a bit bumpy and Darlene suffered. Somehow, she kept her stomach’s contents intact. We ate tonight upstairs in the world café where there was a buffet with a seafood theme that the ladies enjoyed. After dinner we went to the theatre to await the Beatles tribute. It was a non-stop one-hour show. The performers wait by the exits as you leave afterwards and it provides an opportunity to thank them and chat. Their perspiration shows how much they put into it. It was still light at 10.30 when we got back to our cabin.Tomorrow we’ll me further north at the Orkney Islands.