Edinburgh, Scotland, Country 21, Stop 52

Dec. 5

We are up early due to jet lag and also because we have an early morning flight to Edinburgh from Helsinki. Before we take off, however, a big machine deices the wings because it is THAT COLD in Finland.

One bonus of an early flight is seeing the sun come up from the plane.

We arrive in Edinburgh and head to our hotel, which is on the Royal Mile in a GREAT location. We are back in the land of English speakers, and fish and chips. We check in and drop our bags and head out to buy gloves and long underwear. Once we have the gear to stay warm, we are much happier.

Edinburgh is very festive, all decked out for the holidays.

Ridiculously cute!

After a bit of a walk around, we go to a restaurant across from our hotel and have some truly FANTASTIC burgers.

Dec. 6

Our hotel has a great gym and my personal trainer, Mia, has me do a workout that has me sore for a few days. I need it after all the pineapple fried rice I've been eating. And for the yummy pubs we visit!

Dec. 7

When we arrived and were taking a cab from the airport, we passed by a cat cafe. Naturally, the kids were very interested--having been to cat cafes before in L.A. So we book a slot and off we go.

Jack makes a friend

Mia bonds with Elodie...who later jumps onto Jack's shoulder

Dec. 8

Our antigen tests that were supposed to arrive have NOT arrived. What a hassle and waste of money and now we are stressed. We need to have a negative result to board the Eurostar. And Belgium requires a passenger locator form so we fill that out. We wonder how easy travel will seem when you simply book flights or trains and just show up without having to fill out forms stating where you have been the past few weeks. Or arranging (and paying for) tests and stressing if the results will arrive in time. Or religiously checking websites to see which country has what specific requirement--and has it changed since we looked last.

But enough whinging. Edinburgh is festive and fun and we make the most of our few days there. We walk the Royal Mile and Victoria Street and Cockburn Street and visit some outdoor markets and eat and drink mulled wine. There is also a brief snow flurry one night, which is very exciting for us!

Dec. 9

We wake up early and wheel our bags to the train station and off we go. Have I mentioned how very good at this we are getting?

Be sure to check out Mia's blog on youtube.