Will I or will I not... it's Scotland after all!

I must be a little bit mad! 7:51 on a Saturday morning in a wonderful hotel in Edinburgh and I am sitting in the breakfast room, wide awake and having my first coffee of the day.

The only thing that my brain finds slightly confusing is the Spanish guitar music dropping from the ceiling; well, better than bagpipes I guess!

But first things first! This is to be a posh 10 day trip through Scotland with a lot of Whiskey tasting, those things need time and diligence.

The trip started yesterday by car, leaving 8:05 from my doorstep in Ipswich to Stensted airport. Valet parking was booked and although it felt a bit odd to see my car being taken away by a stranger holiday started straight away. Check-in with Easy Jet was uneventful, security check was annoying as always - Stensted is the slowest of airports with huge queues - and breakfast at Frankies & Bennys has become a tradition now. 

Then off we went straight to the gate: Easy Jet does not allocate seats and it is a good idea to be there early for queuing. I quite like sitting at the gate to do a bit of writing, but not here. It wasn't a problem this time as I was in hubbies good company, but... 

However, boarding actually is fast, we wanted to have seats across the aisle anyway, so the hours flight was rather uneventful, too. And then...

Edinburgh!

I was told that it is nice, but it is nice in a very specific way: This city is cosy, grand, traditional and young all at the same time; in one word: Fantastic! It's my kinda town - the more that we had glorious weather.

My favourite start into the day!

Taxi got us to the Links Hotel and, boy, did we get lucky with that choice! We booked twin rooms, which for Germans is a sensible choice, so you get your own mattress, and duvet each and it is huge with ceilings about four meters high. It is at the far end of the building away from the kitchen and the bar, and it is the most silent room I have ever been in. You can hear your thoughts walk through you brain. After an afternoon of strolling through this beautiful city, enjoying the parks, having the best lemon cake and rum raising ice cream in ages and sampling the first of the whiskeys I lay down, closed my eyes and was gone in a jiffy. Hence me now sitting here at this early hour, wide awake and well rested. I slept like a log. 

I am now looking forward to two more days in a beautiful city in wonderful company. In the early evening our friends from Germany arrived. You might remember my story about our trip to Tuebingen in Germany, when we attended the wine fair of Weinmarkt Mattheis, which is owned by our friend. They are selling whiskey as well, want to meet potential suppliers and invited us to accompany them on that quest. We will strive to gather strength and momentum during those two days here and on Monday we will make our way across the country.

So let me finish my breakfast to get things rolling. Edinburgh castle is waiting for us. Still have to decided if I will try the the haggis, though.

Tata!