It's all uphill from here...well, actually downhill

We've arrived in Edinburgh jetlagged, but safe and sound. We didn't sleep on the flights here (we had a 3.5 hour layover in Amsterdam) and we hit the town as soon as we pulled in.

And can you believe it--we came straight to our B & B. We didn't get lost once. Amazing.

So today we explored Edinburgh (we arrived at 11 a.m.). There's a huge festival in town for Hogsmany, which starts on 12/29, so there's carvinal rides and a midway right on the main tourist area, Prince's Street. Wall Street and Prince's Street have a lot in common--crowds, main-stream stores and teenagers with no fashion sense.

We spent a lot of time on the Royal Mile. As cheesy as it sounds, I hear bagpipes everywhere I go on this street. I keep telling myself it's just the kilt stores blaring music for the benefit of the tourists. I just hope it's not all the whisky...the things we do to stay warm!

The kilt talley is up to two. One was a real kilt-wearer, running between the raindrops with his kid trying to stay dry. The other was a show-kilt-wearer. He was standing on a street corner playing the pipes, and for a pound or two, you could take your picture with him. We passed on that. I'm holding out for Tim to try on a kilt. I have a feeling I'll be holding an awfully long time.

The shopping here is fun, but expensive. We ducked into an antiques store to get out of the rain and I found a watercolor of Paris (of all the cities--why not Edinburgh?) for half off. Besides the shortbread, it was our first official purchase.

Well, I'm getting sleepy and cold, so I'm calling it a night. Tune in tomorrow when we give our Chef's Reviews of haggis, fill you in on the castle and share our thoughts on whisky tasting.

Cheers!