A lovely Edinburgh hotel
Morning all, writing this from my 4th floor room of a large, unpretentious but surprisingly ideal hotel. 6.30am and one degree outside. It is a massive, tarted up 70's style hotel with lots of glitz and bars as I wended(?) my way from the back entrance, up three sets of stairs - the front entrance is from the car park! However when I opened the door, it was quite a nice surprise.
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| Great first impressions |
Two things to spot at first - the view of the Mootfoot Hills, and a decent desk. An also decent window-sill allows me to lean on it, with a cuppa, and watch the weather. Not quite East-West but the light moves across the hills and the green parts of western Edinburgh. The airport is just a little further along the very road where I am.
The desk then really caught my attention. Instead of typing on my laptop on my lap, perhaps how it was envisaged, this desk has it all. Good chair, good height, lamp well placed, a shelf for charger bag, 4 power-points, a coffee maker! My immediate thought was "I'll get a lot of typing done here".
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| All set up for work |
Other delights - a good fridge, a safe big enough for my laptop, a bath! The supporting chair for reading - sadly no book in my possession. The biggest disappointment about Hawick B&B was the lack of a fridge. Knowing my daily habit of two cups of tea before the day begins, I scoured Morrisons Supermarket for alternatives, even asking a friendly staffer. Long life cartons were all one litre. I bought a sadly big jar of coffee whitener, but also discovered a little travel hint gem:
Toddler milk - basically a 2 cuppa-sized container of basically milk with a few added ingredients useful for toddlers. I used one each morning! Coffee whitener was OK with coffee. The welcome basket behind was a nice touch - shortbread, Irn Bru (Scotland's national soft drink, which I like), a chocolate bar, and a packet of PIPERS salt and vinegar chips. This was eaten with great reverence as the first junk food of the trip; somehow I knew it would be deliciously salty with a hint of vinegar.
Today, Saturday, it is going to be sunny, while tomorrow will be colder/rainy. So today I am meeting Helen in Edinburgh (god bless her, over an hour to travel in to the city on a Saturday morning) for brunch; then I plan to wander around the old town, Newington and other places I spotted from the bus yesterday with great views, maybe do an underground tour again. Tomorrow is basically the Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery. Evenings, as always, will be typing the transcribed records into my Ancestry tree.
The hotel is a 20 minute bus ride from the City Centre, the best bus being the Airport Link which leaves the centre every 10 minutes 24/7 and the bus stop is right outside the hotel; and it is also just a 5 minute walk from Mike and Celia's home where my big orange suitcase is stored. I'm having dinner there tomorrow night, perhaps with their only child Graham.
But now, I'm off for a swim in the hotel's indoor pool. Maybe 18m by 4m, full of kids when I popped my head in yesterday. But I carried the swimmers all this way, and so far have only used them once!
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| Last night's weather watch |
Post swim - well what a surprise. No-one there so I had one of the two generous lanes to myself before a family with kids arrived. Could not breathe with my now long hair covering my face, so no freestyle. I did OK, and I had a little sauna. But the amazing surprises were in the change-rooms, running the length and longer of the pool. Light, showers, disabled toilet, hairdryers, big mirrors, swim gear dryers (kids ask your Mum or JuJu), and wet bags so I could carry them safely back to my room. There was even a noticeboard of the classes I could attend during week-days (no time). But even better....
Good accommodation choice. Swim plus sauna is always good. KP
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