Back from Bonnie Scotland.

It's good to be home and warm. We had a wonderful time in Edinburgh but dear lord was it cold!

I took the massive 1980's fake fur I bought back in the summer (first made slightly less massive by the removal of the huge shoulder pads!) and was very grateful for it too.

We had to get up at 2.30 am to catch the 4am train *weep*

 It did mean that we got to Edinburgh at 11.30am which gave us pretty much a full extra day even after a well needed nap on arrival.
Our hotel was an old Georgian house, in the West End this time. Our room had shutters at the window, I was very excited about them though realized pretty quickly what they are there for when I felt the draft coming from the old sash windows!

We headed out to familiarize ourselves with the city centre again, but being winter it started to get dark pretty much straight away so we went to find some food instead.

We woke with a start the next day and realized we had almost missed breakfast by oversleeping. Sadly it turned out our inclusive breakfast was not a full Scottish as expected but a 'continental' (I seriously don't want to look at another croissant for a LONG time.) which was a bit of a surprise, also they charged you £10 to use the wireless connection!?! Something I have NEVER come across before! Other than that the hotel was lovely.

We headed out to look at the Christmas market but quickly found that it was even colder than it had been the day before, so we decided to do something indoors instead!
We had a great couple of hours browsing round the 'Museum of Childhood' if only there hadn't been so many parties of school children in there it would have been even better. *cough*

                                                    How gorgeous is this teaset????

                                                and how glamorous is this doll?

After that we headed to The Elephant House for lunch I know most people go there is the J.K.Rowling connection but for me it is all about the elephants and the rather delicious tea.

Looking for another indoor activity we decided to check out the National Museum of Scotland which is just down the road and loved it! What an amazing museum, we blissfully browsed until they booted us out and then went back again on our last day to finish it off. It has a bit of everything really, Natural History, Scottish History, Space, Social History, Industrial, Technology, you name it it's there. Loads of interactive activities too.

 

                                                                      T-Rex!

This coat is made from solid silver, in the form of mesh and thread, just amazing.

Isn't this gorgeous? Because this girl's dancing shoes were so precious having saved and saved for them she wore old ones to the dance and carried the precious pair there in this stunning evening bag then changed once she got inside.

I could fill this blog with pictures but I won't bore on.  We were booted out at 5.30 so we went for a restorative pint whilst we figured out what to do that night.

                                                              Christmas Ale.

In the end we decided as it was so so cold and it was also Orange Wednesday we would go to the cinema in the evening. We went to see 'Great Expectations' which I still can't quite decide about if I'm honest. I loved the version on T.V last Christmas so I felt this was a bit unnecessary and soon. It was well acted and beautifully shot but I just didn't love it as I was meant too.

Oh boy was cold walking back to the hotel, in all my life I have never seen frost so thick which is a weird thing to notice I know but there you go.

We woke up the next day to snow., not much and it only lasted for about a day so no fabulous picturesque shots I'm afraid. We decided to make the day about shopping. Himself needed shoes and a shirt for an upcoming wedding. So we did Princes Street and then meandered round to the Grassmarket and finally walked out to Stockbridge to browse there. Overall I found the charity shops very very disappointing. The stock was poor and the prices were very high. I know this is a big city and a tourist destination but a half price sale in Oxfam and prices were still around the £15 - £20 mark for a dress!!??!
I bought a rather strange necklace and 2 bracelets.

Admittedly I wasn't meant to be spending money on myself and I did resist a gorgeous silver Mappin and Webb elephant brooch in one of the antique shops because it was more than I could justify spending on myself.
The only souvenir I did buy was this rather mad lion.

Now those of you who follow me on the twitters or facepage know I was worrying about what clothes to take, wanting to be warm but glam too, and more importantly what shoes to wear as my only pair of winter boots leak. In the end I threw glamour out of the window and took lots of layers, and was very very grateful for them!
I took jeans and my pinstriped swing pants (as I can finally fit in them again - huzzah)
In the end left my wellies at home and plumped for my walking boots which was a wise move as we did a lot of walking and the going at times was very slippery.

 It's been a while since I have worn jeans and it felt kind of weird, my legs clearly thought so too as they came out in a strange rash! (to be fair that was probably to do with the last detergent they were washed in, I do react to many brands.)

                         All good swing pants should be accessorized with walking boots!

Friday night we met up with some of Himself's friends, it was much warmer so I wore the one dress I had packed just in case, not a late night but lots of fun. I only wish I could say the same of the train journey home, it was pure hell and seemingly endless. When we eventually got back in the house I actually could have cried I was just so glad to finally be home.