5 April 2018 (22h06, UK time)
Edinburgh was an experience today that I had not planned on. Yes, we went to see the castle and the Old Town, we did some shopping and had lunch. Sound normal, doesn't it? The unplanned part came in because we did the whole thing on foot. Yep, it took in the order of 5 hours, the majority of which we spent walking.
Here are my stats of that exercise: 22700 (plus a few more) steps, covering in the order of 16.5km.
Yes, I was tired. My legs are still a touch stiff (6 odd hours later), but I could not have done this last year. No way! I can ascribe my stamina and fitness level to the personal trainers that I have been whining about in recent months. But here is clear evidence that their programmes are working. My weight-loss efforts may not be on par (I am 4 kilos behind my target at this point) but right now, I could not be happier that I signed up to the Body20 program at the Moreleta Village shopping center. Desiree, your people are doing an excellent job with this 49 year and 4 month old body!
Our walk started with a visit to an art shop that I found thanks to Google (who else?). They had two of the pencils I was looking for, at a hideous price I might add, but no sets of the 6 I was hoping to find. So I paid the price, because hideous still beat unable to find back home - online shops included. Trust me, I tried them all.
Pencils acquired, so we set off to see the castle. On the way we stopped at the church and took a few pictures in the graveyard. The gravestones are amazing, and while they represent history that I can only wonder at, it was still an incredible experience just being there.
But the weather was clearly so nice that the whole world rocked up to see the historical buildings in the Old Town, including Edinburgh castle. We decided against seeing the castle (the queue to enter was at least a hundred meters in length and growing by the second) and set off to explore the Old Town instead. That is after taking a bag full of pictures, including the snow covered mountains in the distance.
The Old Town is still a bustling place, with shops (aimed at tourists obviously), bars, restaurants, and the odd bank or other business thrown in. I love shopping, but the crowds make me jittery, so I spent only enough time in each one I entered, to see what they sell and gathered some intel on the prices of items that interested me. Aside from a sticker (for my travel journal) and a pin for Francois, we didn't buy anything. Since we will return to Edinburgh to catch the train back to London, we decided that a second visit might be in order, depending on our schedule.
It does help a lot to do research of a place before visiting, because I knew the Hard Rock cafe isn't far away from the castle. After taking a quick stop in the Waverley mall for lunch, and to buy some bottled water, we set off for the Hard Rock.
The only choices were which design we both wanted on our t-shirts and what sizes to get. The soft toy was not left behind either. Several pounds poorer, we started our journey back to the guesthouse. I love Hard Rock t-shirts and hope to get more from the Glasgow branch on the last day of our visit.
We had dinner in the Fountain Games mall, at the Italian diner. Food was good, and their prices acceptable for two poor South Africans on a budget. We saw people with kids inside, and decided that it was good enough for the two of us.
Another walkabout ensued to take pictures of the canal, before we went back to the mall and Starbucks. Another few pounds out of pocket, we returned to the guesthouse. Francois set off again tot take some night pictures, and I hope he will give me one or two to share with you later.
Here are my stats of that exercise: 22700 (plus a few more) steps, covering in the order of 16.5km.
Yes, I was tired. My legs are still a touch stiff (6 odd hours later), but I could not have done this last year. No way! I can ascribe my stamina and fitness level to the personal trainers that I have been whining about in recent months. But here is clear evidence that their programmes are working. My weight-loss efforts may not be on par (I am 4 kilos behind my target at this point) but right now, I could not be happier that I signed up to the Body20 program at the Moreleta Village shopping center. Desiree, your people are doing an excellent job with this 49 year and 4 month old body!
Our walk started with a visit to an art shop that I found thanks to Google (who else?). They had two of the pencils I was looking for, at a hideous price I might add, but no sets of the 6 I was hoping to find. So I paid the price, because hideous still beat unable to find back home - online shops included. Trust me, I tried them all.
Pencils acquired, so we set off to see the castle. On the way we stopped at the church and took a few pictures in the graveyard. The gravestones are amazing, and while they represent history that I can only wonder at, it was still an incredible experience just being there.
But the weather was clearly so nice that the whole world rocked up to see the historical buildings in the Old Town, including Edinburgh castle. We decided against seeing the castle (the queue to enter was at least a hundred meters in length and growing by the second) and set off to explore the Old Town instead. That is after taking a bag full of pictures, including the snow covered mountains in the distance.
The Old Town is still a bustling place, with shops (aimed at tourists obviously), bars, restaurants, and the odd bank or other business thrown in. I love shopping, but the crowds make me jittery, so I spent only enough time in each one I entered, to see what they sell and gathered some intel on the prices of items that interested me. Aside from a sticker (for my travel journal) and a pin for Francois, we didn't buy anything. Since we will return to Edinburgh to catch the train back to London, we decided that a second visit might be in order, depending on our schedule.
It does help a lot to do research of a place before visiting, because I knew the Hard Rock cafe isn't far away from the castle. After taking a quick stop in the Waverley mall for lunch, and to buy some bottled water, we set off for the Hard Rock.
The only choices were which design we both wanted on our t-shirts and what sizes to get. The soft toy was not left behind either. Several pounds poorer, we started our journey back to the guesthouse. I love Hard Rock t-shirts and hope to get more from the Glasgow branch on the last day of our visit.
We had dinner in the Fountain Games mall, at the Italian diner. Food was good, and their prices acceptable for two poor South Africans on a budget. We saw people with kids inside, and decided that it was good enough for the two of us.
Another walkabout ensued to take pictures of the canal, before we went back to the mall and Starbucks. Another few pounds out of pocket, we returned to the guesthouse. Francois set off again tot take some night pictures, and I hope he will give me one or two to share with you later.
Tomorrow we will be traveling to the Stonehaven area.
Find the two of us having fun @ Instagram
💜 As always, Linzé
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