Ambitious plans for today, up to the castle then out to the HMS Britannia and maybe the Scottish National Museum, then back in time for dinner reservations and off to see the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus at Usher Hall. Funny how reality changes those plans. I started the day with a workout at the gym attached to the hotel. I got the impression the treadmills were not used to someone of my size. The first treadmill worked fine until about the 19 mi...

This morning we took the Virgin East Coast train to Edinburgh. We decided to take the train because flying was really not much faster and is definitely a bigger hassle. Another reason to take the train is that the views of the coast north of Newcastle are supposed to be spectacular. They would be if it wasn't raining. The rain started half way through our trip and continued all the way into Edinburgh and all day and night in Edinburgh. While on the train I did...