Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

With the end of the Canary Islands we are down to the last week of our solo-parenting adventure. We fly out of London on the 1st, so with a week left I thought it would be fun to hop on the train and travel north to Edinburgh for a day and a half. I’ve never been to Scotland, the train was easy enough to book, and it seemed like a nice little add on for the end of the trip.

We spent our first night back in the UK at Gramma Gail’s house (Adam’s Aunt) and I’m confident this will end up being the highlight of Nora’s trip. Gail clearly has the same taste as Nora as everything shimmered and dazzled. All surfaces were silver and pink with as many jewels or jewelled accessories that would fit. Nora was just beside herself – she’s pretty well convinced that Gail is loaded. I’ve also since discovered that she helped herself to some of the jewelled perfume (“I just couldn’t help myself!”) as she has a very distinct aroma about her.

We set off mid-morning on Thursday from Shipley. We had to change trains twice, which was a bit hectic, but once we got on our final train we settled in for our journey. I love the train. It always feels so much more civilized than air travel. We had some lovely women who sat across from us – they reminded me so much of Beryl.

We had a wonderful day and a bit in Edinburgh. We stayed in a great family apartment style hotel that had more than enough room for all of us. We found a super cute little bookstore around the corner from us, where the kids each picked out a new book and got their receipt folded into an origami elephant! No trip to the UK is complete without at least one mean at Wetherspoons, so we tucked in for some fish and chips for our first night.

The second day was really just about wandering around and seeing what we could see in Edinburgh. We found our way to the Scot Monument, the Edinburgh Castle, an adorable little coffee shop, the Camera Obscura, Victoria Street, the Royal Mile, Tom Riddle’s grave and a few stops in between. We logged about 8km wandering up and down the hills of Edinburgh and ended the day completely satisfied. The Edinburgh stop was short, but did not disappoint. The city is so charming, I can’t wait to come back here with Jacob.

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