h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It was now the day that I was to learn exactly why everyone said, "Edinburgh in early August? Are you insane?" The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was in full swing, as well as a couple other festivals running at the same time. It was rather busy!

The plan was to go on a free walking tour at 11am, have lunch, and maybe go on a not-free walking tour of Edinburgh New Town, and then dinner at Kalpna, the pubs being assumed to be stuffed full during the Fringe. 2.5 out of 4 ain't bad...

Z drove minichessemouse and I into Edinburgh, and said he'd meet us at Kalpna, after helping us find where the tour was to meet. Also on the tour was Wand'rin Star, Bald Bloke (he being the only person besides me to go to all 3 meets), and lostinscotland. The beginning of the tour was informative. I can't really say much about the second half, as we lost the tour guide I didn't admit it to min until we'd made it to the castle, though, as I was hoping that I'd find our group there, since I was pretty sure that that was where the guide had said we were going next. At that point, 'twas just BB, min, and I. We backtracked a bit, in case we'd somehow passed the tour group, and met back up with Wand'rin and lis. We never did find the tour group, although we trekked back uphill to the castle again, but at least all the h2g2ers were together. We debated paying to go into the castle, but decided not to, and to go get lunch. For this bit, we were following the lead of lis, and I joked that it was a bit scary following someone called *lost*inscotland He didn't lose any of us, though, not even on the many many stairs. We had lunch at Edinburgh Waverly station, mostly because lis had a BBQ to attend on the other side of the country in a few hours. After lunch, we said our goodbyes to lis, and needed to find a new Edinburgh guide, or rely on Google Maps... So, naturally, the American and 2 English people had the Scots woman (who had lived in Edinburgh at one point) guide us around--said Scot being completely blind in one eye, and mostly blind in the other We did decide, though, *not* to join the New Town tour, because it was safe to assume that we'd have the same luck with the second tour guide as we'd had with the first, and *this* time wouldn't be free. So we took the bus tour, instead. And I finally got to meet my goal of paying for something for Wand'rin--by the expedient of being stubborn and insisting that, for this, she was *my* guest. The bus tour was quite good--we sat up top, originally in the back uncovered bit, and eventually needed to put on waterproofs... After doing the full circuit, we had some time to fill before the restaurant reservation, so we went to a Christmas store. That took some navigating by min, and, as her guide through the crowds while she guided us to our destination, I had fun watching people puff up when they got tapped in the ankle/foot, turn around, and deflate as they saw that it was a white cane that had hit them That was more fun than the reaction of people coming towards us and seeing the cane--some people leapt back upon seeing us, and some did so dramatically enough and close enough that min got to enjoy the reactions, as well After Wand'rin and I were done in the store, we got back onto the tour bus, and went to the National Museum of Scotland. We didn't have a whole lot of time, so we went to the Natural World galleries, where we saw a T-rex skeleton guarding the entrance, a stegosaurus skeleton, several stuffed large mammals, an got to touch an elephant tusk, a narwhal tooth (aka an alicorn), and an antler. Once the museum closed, we still had an hour.

We slowly mad our way towards Kalpna, leaving the Fringe crowds behind, and sitting for a bit in a little park. While we were at the park, I got a text from fords--the babysitter for MiniBinnie had been unable to come at the last minute, and fords and Dr EV weren't going to make her hang out with adults again, as she'd gotten rather bored in Manchester (while we were at Beer Nouveau, MiniBinnie had curled up on a couch with a book and fallen asleep), and 2 weekends in a row of boredom was a bit much. So they would not be joining us at Kalpna. Someone did finally get ahold of fords to confirm that it was her name the reservation was under, though.

We finally arrived at Kalpna and met Z and ben there. The reservation was for a few more guests than ended up showing, as fords had allowed for all the maybe-attendees to arrive. The extra seats and tables were eagerly redistributed by the staff, and filled quickly. The food was wonderful, and I had no idea what I was eating. Over the meal, there was talk of maybe catching a Fringe show (Who's Line was there! Sold out by the time we looked...) but our timing wasn't the best. The 6 of us went for a walk, stopping at a pub that was resolutely ignoring the Fringe, and so was fairly quiet. After a short time, BB was needing to go, so we said our goodbyes. Wand'rin was staying with friends in Edinburgh, so Z, ben, min, and I took her there, and then headed out to the estate that the zens' cottage is on. Once we got to their home, we did some more looking to see if there were any shows I wanted to see the next evening, but there weren't. After talking and laughing and more talking, we all went off to our beds.

2.5 out of 4 ain't bad indeed, and the bus tour sounds like it was the best option after all that!

I really struggle with walking tours, so I prefer to avoid them these days...

The worst was somewhere in the Middle East when we were dropped off by coach, then my dad was helping me slowly and carefully down this crowded, steep, cobbled street with steps every so often, and by the time we got to the bottom we looked up and there was nobody to be seen... Somehow we made it back to the coach OK without having to retrace our steps, but it was very scary as we didn't have a clue where we were...

Another time in Belgium, my parents were helping me slowly off the coach and by the time we were ready the guide had gone. We knew we were to be going to a museum, so we went straight there and met up with the group, but then they went up the stairs into the museum and we had to fumble round trying to find the accessible entrance and get the staff to unlock the door. By the time we got in, we did our own quick tour of the museum and then went back to the coach...

A UK walking tour involved the guide saying, "We'll just descend this short flight of stairs, but you can go round on the road". By the time I managed to run round and rejoin the group, the tour had finished

"I had fun watching people puff up when they got tapped in the ankle/foot, turn around, and deflate as they saw that it was a white cane that had hit them "

I have experience of people leaping dramatically out of my way, too. Some of them give off the vibe of, "Look at me - aren't I being good, making a big effort to give the disabled person a huge amount of space?" so I can't say anything in response to that, but more often I tend to thank people anyway...

I'd just like to repeat advice I've previously posted on hootoo: make friends with your children's friends if it's at all possible. My elder son was at school with the friend I stayed with in Edinburgh; they left 27 years ago.
Also renewed thanks to Amy for coming this year when there was some spare cash and helping me meet some wonderful people I've been friends with for 20 years.