Edinburgh (Part 2 of 2)

I'm enjoying street photography so much. I used the Q3 in the early afternoon, then the M11 in the late afternoon.

Ok now let's get to the narration of stuff about us :)

We had lunch at Deacon's House, a Scottish Café.

Then we took an underground tour. This old bridge has stores and apartments above, and these arched dark places below.

Mitzi and I were the only ones in the group, so we inadvertantly got a private tour.

Some pagan group would do their worshipping down here up until the late 90's.

These spaces off the street are classed a 'close'. Our close is called James Court, West End. We walk down this narrow close to get to the door that leads upstairs to our apartment.

We had a 4p tea time at the Waldorf Astoria. The service was great, the environment great, and the food was beautiful.

We enjoyed several kinds of herbal teas. They steep straight in the water and then get filtered when it's poured into the cup. There were delicious and aromatic teas. Delightful.

See that cylindrical bulge in Mitzi's jacket? Well...

After we finished tea time we visited the restroom. After we got out onto the street Mitzi said, "Look what I got from the restroom!" We are down to the last peices on the last roll in our apartment and we need more TP. Problem solved haha.

We Move into the Waldorf Astoria

The highest rated restaurant in Edinburgh is Makars Mash Bar. A couple days ago I made a reservation here. It's a small place and hard to get in.

Their specialty is – mashed potatoes! I got the lamb shank with smoked bacon and spring onion mashed potatoes.

Mitzi got a Classic Scottish Dairy Butter mashed pototoes and a Tomato Basil soup.

Great lunch!

We headed back to the apartment on Royal Mile, packed up our things, and carried our 4 luggage bags and one backpack a half mile across town to the Waldorf Astoria.

It's a beautiful hotel. They welcomed us with chocolates, and we have a spectacular view of Edinburgh Castle.

I'm so excited to have a pool where I can workout. Which I did while Mitzi enjoyed the hot tub.

Mitzi is heading off for a 4 day tour tomorrow morning. I'll be staying in the hotel catching up on some programming and exercising. I love hanging out in hotel rooms and living simply – I can get into a creative mind set and be very productive.

We had a simple dinner in the hotel tonight. Mitzi is packing up, getting ready for her tour. I'm writing this blog post :)

Mitzi Goes to Isle of Skye, Damon Stays in the Waldorf

We started the day with breakfast at the Walforf Astoria. I asked if they had oatmeal.

The fellow looked confused then brightened up, "Oh, you mean porridge!"

"Yes," I replied.

"Would you like it with milk or water?" he asked.

"Neither, I'll have it plain," I errantly said.

He looked at me strange like I have no idea what that means so I quickly followed up with "I mean I'll have it with milk."

He got a big smile on his face and marched off to fulfill my request.

After breakfast we walked almost a mile to the tour pick up point. At 8:30a Mitzi boarded, ready for her four day adventure.

This older fellow asked the two police if he could take a picture of them with his wife. They were super kind and said yes. After he took the picture he told me, "She's going to let me have it later!" I think he embarrassed her, but it did make for an interesting picture so I was happy :)

Then Mitzi's bus drove off to the start of her adventure! We'll create a seperate blog post detailing her tour when she gets back on Saturday.

The castle was looking great when I got back to the hotel, what a sky.

The Waldorf Astoria is in an old railway station called The Caledonian. Beautiful structure.

I felt hungry in the afternoon so got a poké bowl room service.

For dinner I went to the Dean Banks restaurant in the hotel. I didn't know anything about this restaurant except they were closed last night and open tonight and it looked nice.

My intention was to get a small simple dinner. However I was pleasantly surprised to find out they do a full course experiential dinner. How could I say no? What a treat!

Another Day, Another Fire Alarm at 4a

The fire alarm went off at 4a this morning. I was in a deep sleep and it took some time to get oriented. Everyone in the hotel was evacuated and directed to the parking lot.

Here's a picture. There were about 80 people, I couldn't get everyone in the picture. At 4:30a they turned the alarm off and we all headed back to our rooms. Luckily I had the forsight to grab my room card on the way out.

For lunch I went to the best rated Indian Restaurant in Edinburgh. Their naan was truly perfect. And the butter chicken excellent.

On my way back to the hotel I took pictures of things I found interesting.

And in the hotel I kept taking pictures!

I did another swim workout today. And for dinner had room service. This hamburger is a Shurd Burger. Mitzi's grandpa Shurd would make hamburgers that included ham on top of the paddy, and he called it a Shurd Burger.

I found this interesting cow and dead person and thought it would be interesting to take pictures of people walking by. The cow is pretty focused but I was using the M11 with a 1.4 f-stop. With a focus range so shallow most of the people were out of focus. Maybe I'll do it again tomorrow using f4 or f8 so more is in focus. I might try the Q3 as well since it has a wider lens.

Work then Play

I've been working for days to create a video explainer of the new Insights features for Podium. And I worked really hard on it and finally got it done.

It was mid afternoon when I finally got it done the way I wanted. So I decided to head out and grab a bite to eat and do some photography with the Leica Q3.

It was a fun photo day!

The sun was out today (finally) and I was able to strategically use it some of the photos to make them better. I'm very happy with the results.

Mitzi Returns!

The castle from my hotel window this morning. I went out for lunch to a Thai restaurant about a half mile away. Street photography on the way!

That guy is standing literally on the very top of the ladder. People are walking right next to it. One little bump and he's done. Makes me nervous.

The Thai resturant was great. I sat at the window and enjoyed watching people walk by. Humans are fascinating.

Walking back to the hotel, more street photography.

When I walked in the hotel some kind of formal event was going on. Men dressed in kilts and other formal wear.

Mitzi's bus was returning an hour early so I headed up on to Lawnmarket to wait for her. It was raining and that made for a lot of interesting pictures.

These two ladies were taking pictures with their phones and this large determined guy just busts right through the middle of them.

Mitzi is back! It was an exciting moment to see her again after 4 days. So nice to have her back.

We ordered room service. She hasn't had a normal meal for 4 days. So it was nice for her to get a good meal.