Woke up to the screech of an alarm I hadn’t set – it was that old chestnut, the bedside clock left set to go off at some godawful hour as a trap for the unwary.
Since we were awake we decided to have breakfast and head off to my conference. As we had no luggage we were going to have to spend some time restocking which I wasn’t really looking forward to.
The conference venue was further away than I’d appreciated when we booked our accommodation, at nearly half an hour solid walking. Once we reached the venue our work wasn’t done either – we made the mistake of trying to walk round the block to the entrance, having arrived from the wrong direction. This was our view once we’d given up, and decided to go back round. Never take a back route in Edinburgh.
Eventually once we’d retraced our steps and gone round the front I managed to find the entrance. The porter at the door said “You need to put a smile on your face!” which didn’t impress although it was well meant I’m sure. We then headed off to replenish our depleted wardrobes. We did get an update from the airline to say our bags had been found and were on their way to Edinburgh about half way through the morning, so that was a bit of a relief although still no ETA.
Princes St which used to be the main upmarket shopping area is looking really downmarket these days with boarded up shops and cheap chain stores. The Royal Mile is as full of tourist tat as it ever was. We did eventually find where all the posh shops were hiding – a brand new shopping mall just round the corner from us. We bought a few things but I was really feeling the strain of 24 hours of stress hormones by now so we had a little nap before an afternoon tour of the old town that Kirsten had organized. This walking tour was great fun and I would highly recommend it. Little frogs or something I think the company was called?
The tour finished at 4 and we were all feeling a bit chilled by the end. We were able to track the location of our luggage by now, and it was at the Edinburgh airport already so we were feeling confident it should arrive at any moment. I did a tiny bit more shopping to get something warm to wear for dinner, and then we headed out.
Dinner was at a highly rated gastro pub. The food was fine, the highlight for me being the haggis, neeps and tatties. They were probably being ironic having it on the menu but it was delicious.
It was cold, dark, and rainy by the time we finished. Don’t really have a plan of attack for tomorrow. I would like to go to my conference but how aggressive do we need to be to regain our luggage?
