Before I start wring about our week in Edinburgh, I want to say I was remiss in my last post in not telling about some of the very kind people we encountered everywhere we went in London. All of the shop people were really welcoming and ready to answer questions; and when they do, they also ask about where we’re from and want to tell us what part of the US they’ve visited. As we roamed around Battersea Park or other streets in Chelsea and Sloan square, we encountered friendly folks. The people watching was riveting wherever we could find a place to sit. It’s literally like being in a film of cultures of the world playing right in front of our eyes. Beautiful saris, handsome kilts on men from the north, elaborately made up eyes peering out from a group of women wearing chador, police of many cultures all wearing the uniform of London Metropolitan police, flowing colorful robes of Nigerians, retro Punks with the real deal in clothes. At dinner one night in an Indian restaurant, we sat beside a German family. The owner of the restaurant warned us all we may have to pay cash since their card reader was down. Will and the German father went next door to the ATM, and the mom, kids and I started talking. It was an easy conversation that jumped from them telling us about their RV trip up the coast of CA last summer, to how well their kids speak English and what they learn in school, to talking books and what is our life like in Maine.

We made out way up to Edinburgh without a hitch this year, admiring the views of York and the Northumberland coast as the train sped up along. We caught a cab to our rented flat, and the cabbie forewarned us that the city is very full, busy and has lots of traffic. Good things to know if we were planning to take in some of the many wonderful events- theater,comedy, dance and music performances that are all part of the Fringe Festival. We met our friend Karen who’d been teaching a summer workshop here, and who was ready to explore Edinburgh with us. We encountered many nice Scottish people and others from away like us as we waited in lines to see various shows.

The streets were crammed, especially on the Royal Mile, and it was tempting to just roam watching street performers. One day, I saw a remarkable play called The Life and Times of Michael K done by a South African theatre company. After it, I found my way to meet Will to see a performance called David Attenborough’s Animals. a 2 person show in which the man did the voice over like David A, and the woman acted out all the animals he was describing. It was hilarious. Another time, we all went to a comedy show done by women from various countries- very good. Our final night in Edinburgh, we went to see Ed Byrne, an Irish comedian for a very funny, and moving, show. As we walked back to our flat, we saw the fireworks up at the Castle.

This has gone too long, and barely touches how jam packed the week was with remarkable performances by so many artists, actors and musicians.

This year, London weather had its usual mix of sun and clouds or rain. After a few hot days before we left home, it felt pretty nice to put on a long sleeve shirt for part of a day. Our rented flat was on the edge of Chelsea, easy walking to Buckingham Palace and other “big” sights. It was nice, too, to walk the side streets and see how people live. Window boxes and gardens are lush this year, and people get pretty creative with displays of greenery.

Our place was also close to the river and Battersea Power Station. We’d seen the station from a ferry on the river last year. This time, we could walk to it. The station was a coal burning station that provided part of London’s electricity in its day; it’s now renovated with shops and restaurants. The tiny museum showed photos and info of how it was built and functioned as a power plant.

The river walkway goes in the opposite direction too, along the edge of Battersea Park. Lots of walkers, cyclists,dogs, and awesome houseboats along the opposite side of the river edge.

I walked this river walkway 2 mornings on my way to a Pilates studio I found for classes. The first morning I saw a Buddhist monk walking the circumference of the Pagoda. The 2d day I walked by, I stopped to read some of the history of it.

Bridges cross the Thames at regular intervals to connect to London and surrounding areas. I love how ornate this one is.

After a rainy day, we lucked out and got a sunny breezy day to wander through Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden

We stumbled on several memorials we’d never seen or heard of before, each created with solemn beauty and care. This one was unveiled in 2006 on the 4th anniversary of the terrorist bombing in Bali.

Art is everywhere. Some’s the form of posters or a well crafted shop window. And then, there’s the buildings themselves. The best images in this post are Will’s doing- I was too busy looking much of the time to remember to take a photo.

Today we head north to Edinburgh to immerse ourselves in some of the many offerings of the Fringe Festival. More later…

Sao Miguel is the largest of the 9 islands that make up the archipelago of the Azores. Once you leave the city of Ponta Delgada, there’s lot of curvy narrow roads big enough for two cars (unlike Ireland or Cornwall!). In many places, close to scenic overlooks or just near a village, there are very nice little parks with wood or concrete picnic tables and grills for outdoor cooking.

The villages all seem to have a public water faucet- not sure if leftover from other times when indoor plumbing wasn’t widespread?

We hiked a trail into a waterfall and stumbled upon what looked like an old mill that had used the river for its work.

Wednesday we headed to the west coast to check out a place called Ferraria where the volcanic history is much more evident, and there are warm springs that warm the salt water. The spa isn’t open this time of year, but there is an ocean pool that Will managed to get into at one point.

It really was a Christmas miracle that Will and I managed to get off of Peaks to Boston, and then on to Punta Delgada in the Azores during a serious wind and rain storm. After a morning nap in our hotel, we wandered around the capital city admiring the green lushness of everything.

We took bicycles from our hotel and rode up the coast a bit to explore the windy roads and beaches. Christmas Day was very quiet with few people out, except for those carrying platters of food to visit relatives. It sprinkled on us a few times.

The street art all around is reminiscent of some we saw in Lisbon a few years ago. Lots of traditional signs for Catholic saints, and other beautiful expressions about the sea and life.

The train trip from Amsterdam to the port city of Den Helder is a speedy one, through little towns and fields that boast tulips in the spring and cattle or other crops in summer. Usually there’s a bus to take us the short distance to the ferry, but Covid changed that schedule. We shared a taxi with another couple to the ferry. It’s a very well organized operation for a ferry that can carry 350 cars, bicycles, and passengers. The only boat crew we see are directing cars and trucks to load, and the captain who walks the deck to the wheelhouse on the other end of the top deck. The boat doesn’t turn around- it just heads out silently once everyone is on. On the 4th deck, there’s a cafeteria style restaurant , and many people have a snack or share a bottle of wine on the 20 min trip to the island.

Texel is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. It has 7 villages and a bunch of other small townships. One third of the island is protected nature preserve. Will and I both love it there, even when the weather isn’t great. This year, we came prepared for rain and damp with rain gear, hats, and a couple of Smart wool tops each. The only time we had to put on more than one layer was in the evenings, biking ‘home’ as the sun started to set about 9:30! The weather was remarkable: sunny, warm and dry all week. The farmers were out haying in their fields still when we would bike by at 9pm.

The whole week we are on Texel, we travel on our rented ebikes everywhere we go. The extra power comes in really handy with the wind that can get up to 15-20 mph. A lot of times, we don’t need the power because it’s flat; the bike lanes are incredible and go everywhere. The bikes have roomy saddle bags that carry groceries and everything we need for the day.

We spent several late afternoons on the beach, arriving at 4;30 or 5 and staying til 7 or so. The sun stays so high, it was still warm enough to worry about sunburn. The ocean was beautiful.

Will convinced me to try the naturalist beach, meaning we walked past this yellow sign and found a spot to take off our clothes! No one really looks at you and people sit far apart— but I could see that many people had NO tan lines. I have to say it was pretty great, except the sunscreen application took a long time.

With the sun setting so late, our days felt like double days- sort of like when we went to Iceland. One day, we biked north and along the eastern dike where many water birds hang out.

Biking north took us through many different landscapes, all wide vistas with the flatness of the island.

Another day, we biked a different route in the north. At one stop, we climbed the steps to look out. Since it was midday, there were few birds feeding in the closer shore area.

It was a magical time of meeting lovely kind people, eating delicious food, and exploring by bike. And a great way to end a wonderful trip.

It’s a short flight to Amsterdam from Edinburgh. We stayed for 2 short days in a houseboat again. Amsterdam was pretty hot like every other city in Europe this summer, so we were happy to hang on the boat’s deck to watch boats and birds float by. The houseboat actually had a heat pump for ac- much needed this summer.

This heron was hanging out a lot near us. He seemed very comfortable standing on the edge of a boat’s motor to fish, or the hang out near the sidewalk to watch some fat mice that would run past him.

We made it a priority in our short time in the city to get to the amazing Groote Museum to see the beautiful wire artwork of Celia Smith.

It was Pride week while we were there, and the city was wearing its pride everywhere. Unfortunately we missed the canal parade on Sat.

The weather allowed us to eat outside for every meal on the boat or at restaurants.. I love the fresh teas the Dutch serve in most places.

All too soon it was time for us to get our train north to Den Helder where we’ll get the ferry. Next stop: a week of biking on Texel.

One day, I booked us in for afternoon tea at The Dome, a very old building in Edinburgh. I didn’t eat breakfast since I knew there would be a lot of delicious things to eat. The building is lavishly gorgeous and inside too: the flowers, wallpaper, chandelier. The doorman directed us up the stairs to the Georgian Tea Room.

Afternoon tea is a tradition started by Anna, Duchess of Bedford, in the 1800’s. She “complained of getting that sinking feeling” around 4, and wanted a little something with her tea to hold her til their usual dinner hour of 8 or so. Her friend Queen Victoria took to this and so it went. The afternoon tea of today consists of much more than it did then.

We started with the sandwiches on the bottom tier of the 3 tiers. Cucumber mint, egg salad, duck with chutney, smoked salmon buns, and vol-au-vent pastry with some yummy mousse in it. The scones are what I really go to tea for, with the clotted cream and jam. They’re just so good. Not really sure why there has to be dessert after that, but we managed a little sweet tart or tiny piece of cake.

After eating all that with numerous cups of tea, we staggered on to a bus back to our flat in Bruntsfield (a great neighborhood ) to drop off the box of leftovers from tea. We changed our shoes and set off to walk The Waterway of Leiith, winding our way through the city to the green and stone pathway that follows the river through old villages and other parts of Edinburgh.

Each neighborhood we passed through had its own character, and none were quite the same as the others. We took a slight detour off the path a few times; at one point, we saw a women’s lawn bowling club starting their evening game. And in Inverleith Park, it seemed to be nap time for some of the swans and ducks. I can’t resist adding these photos of the birds. They were all so relaxed, not seeming to mind humans moving around them and their pond.

It’s a good thing we’d eaten so much for our 7 mile walk. Will saw a post on the side of the walkway that we stopped to inspect.

It was almost dark when we began to see signs of the port of Leith, formerly seen as a ‘dodgy’ part of Edinburgh. It’s now seen as 1 of the top 10 places to live in Scotland, says the Sunday Times there. We couldn’t really see much of that in the drizzle that started, but the walk was really a great way to explore.

Our days in Edinburgh went quickly in the warm summery weather we had much of the week. I found another place that intrigued me for afternoon tea at Prestonfield House. It’s still in the city, but a ways out from things. Once a private home and now a hotel, it’s very elegant in style. Will added a bloody mary to his afternoon tea there. Before we walked in, I looked up in a tree to discover their resident peacock.

Edinburgh really is a city of contrasts, and manages to showcase them all in large and small ways. The people we met were welcoming and generous with help for directions or suggestions of things to see.

But we’ll go back. Many more walks to discover, and lovely people to meet.

Edinburgh is a city of contrasts: ancient and very new, stone and green, hilly and flat. Our first morning here we had breakfast at the Tree Cafe, situated a stone’s throw from Bruntsfield Links and the Meadows park. Our breakfast was great. Will noticed the golf clubs leaning in the corner of the cafe, available for use on the Links.

During our stay here, we’ve walked the Meadows and the Links on several times back to the flat we’re staying in in Bruntsfield. It’s been fun to see couples, a parent and child, or friends practicing their golf on the 35 acre Links, The park is free to all, and gorgeous views across the neighboring Meadows.

Sunday afternoon, the parks were busy with music, cricket being played in 2 areas, picnics and dog walkers. We’d looked down to the Meadows earlier when we climbed Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park. Holyrood Palace is the monarch’s residence when they’re in Scotland, and marks one end of the Royal Mile. Edinburgh Castle sits at the other end of the Mile. We meant to climb Arthur’s Seat, just beside the Crags, but there wasn’t any signage where we started. It looked pretty crowded up there anyway, and the views we had were outstanding

Earlier we’d walked the Royal Mile. There’s so much to see: people busking, shoppers, ancient cathedrals and the amazingly narrow closes (oedestrian walkways) that lead down and away from the Royal Mile.

One of my favorite things to see was the Floral Clock at the corner of West Princes Street Gardens. In 1902 a design of the Imperial Crown was laid out in small plants to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The next year the Park Superintendent had the idea to add a floral clock with one hand. The second hand was added in 1904, and it became a working clock, manufactured and maintained by a Edinburgh clock making firm. That same firm maintains the clock still.

It takes 30,000 plants to make up this clock , and it’s done twice a year. Designs commemorate events important to the UK and/or Edinburgh. They first did a Winter Clock design in 2003 when a model of the clock was made for the its 100th year birthday. The model went to the Chelsea Flower Show and won the Gold Medal for Horticultural Excellence.

I’d completely missed this the first time in Edinburgh in 2019. Watching the clock actually move with these tiny plants making up the design is almost surreal. The current clock as you can see marks the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

There’s a lot of art in all forms all over the city. I like keeping an eye out for some of the smaller pieces too.

Ok, gotta quit here. There’s more to tell about Edinburgh, but I’m hurrying off with Will to go for an afternoon tea.

Tuesday was our day to leave Richmond and head north to Edinburgh. It became a day of experiencing “keep calm, carry on”. . We found a great taxi driver at the station in Richmond who wound his way through narrow streets and parts of highways to get us into London for Kings Cross station. Just as we got close, I checked the status of the train; it was cancelled! Damage to electrical lines from the extreme heat a few days earlier had all northbound trains from Kings Cross cancelled. I found there were trains from Euston station, and the cabbie rerouted us there in minutes. Will and I were sitting on a bench outside with our luggage trying to figure out the time of the next train when a kindly porter with a soft voice offered his help. Once he heard what we were looking for, he hustled us inside for a train due to leave soon. Platform was soon to be announced. The waiting crowd was huge in the main hall; as soon as the platform was posted, we blended in with the surge and started running down the cars to find one with seats.

The train kept filling, and when it started off, people were standing in the aisles and between cars. The conductor came on to say that the train would likely continue to fill up as we made more stops due to the cancelled line out of Kings Cross . He apologized for any inconvenience and said they’d do the best they could. The map below shows the line we were meant to be on, and the red shows how we went north. By Birmingham, we’d been on the train for several hours and it was unclear how long it might take to reach Edinburgh. What was remarkable in all of the chaos was how polite and helpful people were to each other. No one got nasty, and a little boy’s singsong with his father as he fell asleep was met with smiles.

After hours on the train with delays and more passengers coming on, we decided to take a detour to the Lakes District. I had wanted to take Will there at some point in the week to see some sights I love there and to stop at Nab Cottage where I was a Workawayer in 2019. I got us a room online. When we got off at Penrith, other passengers helped unearth our bags from the bottom of the luggage rack, and we caught a bus 10 min later to Keswick, a market town at the top of the Lakes District.

It was like being sprung from a crowded elevator. The walk to the lake in town shook out all the kinks and stiffness.

A few drinks and a good dinner later, we went back to see the sunset.

Knowing there was a planned rail strike for the following day, we spent Wed and Thur morning roaming around, meeting lovely people and walking trails by the lake and through town. There’s lots of good food in town: Cornish pasties, homemade fudge, and many variations on the “full English breakfast”. And SO many dogs. Every family and hiker seems to bring their dog(s) with them- and they’re all quite well behaved!

I really wanted to bring Will to see where I’d spent a month working and living 3 yrs ago, so we managed a brief visit Thurs morning before heading north to Scotland. Tim, the owner of the English language school at Nab Cottage, had lost his wife Liz suddenly a year ago to a heart attack. He’s running the language school for one last summer with his daughter Nikki; next year they will let go of the language curriculum and focus on mindfulness and yoga. I’m so glad we went. I was able to pay my condolences to both Tim and Nikki, and we saw the meditation room they’ve created with many photos of Liz and cards people have sent. Will got to tour parts of the house with me and met Wojciec, the cook I worked with.

Our bus took us back to Penrith for our train to Edinburgh- a short trip of just under 2 hrs, well crowded but only an hour late. The conductor again apologized, and passengers settled in as best they could.

It’s been 40 years since I landed at Heathrow and visited London. When some lovely island neighbors offered us the use of their flat in Richmond(part of Greater London), we couldn’t resist adding it to our travel plans. Delta Airlines was surprisingly easy to get on the phone and within minutes, our original first destination of Edinburgh was changed to London.With all the travel horror stories we’ve been hearing, we were really excited when the flight went off on time and even landed early.

Richmond is on the Thames, and has gorgeous views of the river, loads of history and good food to boot. Summer weather is in full force , so many of the gardens and fields looked quite parched. We took a boat on the Thames into central London on Sunday, happy to have a good breeze as the boat made its way along the river. It was fun to see different towns and a variety of boats along the way.

We walked the pedestrian-only Millennium Bridge that spans the river, sorta wondering if the bridge was going to ripple like it did in Harry Potter. (It didn’t.) It was very hot and crowded everywhere we walked, and yet it was also just amazing to see people from all over the world enjoying the city. I heard so many different languages being spoken. The “big” sights don’t lose their luster in the heat or crowds- Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Tate Modern, etc – all hold their own in the wow department. The gardens and shady areas were cooler and colorful, a welcome respite from the hot sidewalks. We caught an air-conditioned train back to Richmond later, completing our day of taking several modes of public transport!

This year is Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70th year as queen. She’s the longest reigning monarch in Britain’s history. We saw tributes to her in many places and forms.

Now that Boris Johnson has finally agreed to step down, the race is on to see who will succeed him. I saw in the Times that many people feel the two Tory candidates who’re campaigning for that job are same old , same old. This sign caught my eye as I walked up the hill in Richmond.

Last but not least for this post, The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew did not disappoint, even with the parched lawns and heat-stroked rose beds. We climbed a spiral staircase to walk above the plants in the Temperate House. The craft of the conservatory was amazing in itself, with pipes for water hidden in the structure. Some women showed me the carnivorous plants; one was actually in the process of engulfing a fly. Very “Little Shop of Horrors”!

The Lily House was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The lily pads were about 3-4 feet in diameter, and the colors just popped.

One of the last places I stopped to study was this bronze tree sculpture. All around it on the wall were bronze ‘leaves’ with facts about trees written on them.

There were lots of leaves, and lots of facts, to read and absorb. This one was my favorite, so I’ll close with it.

More soon.