brollie = umbrella

Brollies not allowed at the Tattoo BTW

Yesterday the high in Glasgow (and no doubt Edinburgh as well) was 60 degrees F and it was raining. If I were sitting still at an outdoor event in the evening, with a temp of 50 degrees and possible foul weather I might be glad I threw in a pair of microfiber gloves...

They are allowed - you just can't open them :)

I usually take a small collapsible brollie on every trip to the UK - it fits in a pocket or handbag. But they aren't very useful in the wind.

I prefer an umbrella to "hoodie hair" when the conditions allow. So I use my raincoat/jacket w/ hood up when it's windy and an umbrella when it isn't.

Well, it was way over 70 both yesterday and today, in (not so) sunny Aberdeen.

Anything else we can help you with?

I'm in Edinburgh for the Ploy, from the 17th till the 19th.

Thank you everyone for the clarification! I have a small travel brollie :) and I was definitely planning on bringing it along.

I am going to start laying my clothes out tonight and thanks to you all I won't freeze on the trip!

I don't mean to highjack my own thread, but does anyone have particular suggestions for places to eat in Edinburgh?

As always, y'all are the best!

We watched the Tattoo in a downpour (the performance goes on regardless). We had waterproof rain jackets with hoods but, seeing the looming clouds in the sky, picked up from the grocery store some plastic garbage bags (don't laugh -- we could have sold them for huge amounts!) which covered our legs and kept us perfectly dry. My favorite waterproof shoes are New Balance -- look like low-top hikers and are very light weight and positively waterproof.

Ditto "bring lots of money."

Enjoy!

My DH(dope husband) and I always take a lot of money ....!

Fingers and toes crossed that you will have warm, pleasant, sunny weather on your trip, and will come home wondering why you ever brought all those warm, waterproof layers!

Noe847, thank you for the wishes of warm and pleasant weather! I am going to LL Bean tonight to look for a better waterproof jacket than the one I have now. I would love one of those fleeces that has a waterproof topper but we shall see!

As for the suggestions of taking money, I am working on that as well, haha! :)

The Ploy, Sheila ?

Re places to eat...

What sort of food do you like ?

Here are some of my favourites places to eat in Edinburgh, roughly in descending order of price.

If you want gourmet, there are three restaurants with one Michelin star.

Martin Wishart's in Leith is fantastic, especially if you have the six course tasting menu (which will all be cooked by the man himself) – now also available in a veggie version. The tasting menus are £60pp for food, £50pp for a wine to match each course - £10 less for each at lunchtime. Three courses £50, bargain set lunch at £22.50 available Tue-Fri. It's very high class but friendly and unstuffy. Book 2-3 months in advance for weekend dinner, less for weekday dinner and lunch. IMO should be 2 stars.

The second starred restaurant was Number One in the Balmoral : food nothing special IMO, ambience is more formal & traditional.

The Kitchin, also in Leith, opened last July & got a star this January – some going ! It's really good but not as good as MW.

If you want 'modern Scottish', Stac Polly on Grindlay Street used to be good, but I've read mixed reviews in the last year. Also branches on Dublin Street and St Mary's Street.

La Garrigue on Jeffrey Street is a small French restaurant specialising in cooking of the Languedoc where the chef-proprietor is from, as are all the wines. The food & the chef are both lovely and the ambience is correct but relaxed. If you sit near the window there is a view of Calton Hill & its monuments.

For Italian, La Partenope on Dalry Road is wonderful. The chef-proprietor & his food are Neapolitan & it's the best Italian food (especially seafood) I've had outside southern Italy. Unusually for an Italian restaurant, in the UK at any rate, even the desserts are home made & very good. They also have a very interesting list of southern Italian wines largely based on little known grape varieties. The ambience is very relaxed.

Centotre on George Street is a busy, buzzy Italian caffe-bar offering everything from a coffee & cannolo to cocktails to a full slap-up 4 course meal. Can be expensive for the full works but v. reasonable for just a pizza or a bowl of pasta, both of which are very good (best pizza in town IMO).

When we have visitors we've always taken them for Sunday lunch in Leith (the old docks area - which I have now moved to !). There are lots of nice waterfront places, notably the Shore, where you can eat in the restaurant or in the pub; the Waterfront (more upmarket) and Skipper's. All of these are particularly good for fish but do other things too - the Waterfront does vg steak from the Duke of Buccleuch's estates. I used to think Fisher's in Leith was the best for fish but had a very disappointing experience there last time we went. I haven't tried Fisher's in the City for some time so won't judge it, but other posters here have praised it recently.

Both Black Bo's and David Bann's do very interesting & innovative vegetarian cusine. BB's is very casual, studenty even, & DB's is smart casual & v. modern . Both v. reasonably priced.

Incredibly cheap - a) the Mosque, Chapel Street/West Nicholson St (1-7pm I think, except Fridays), for more curry & rice/naan etc than you can eat for £3 (meat & veggie) - outdoors eating, though, so no fun if cold or wet; b) Palmyra on Nicholson Street - £3.50/£4.80 for vg chicken shwarma with salad in flatbread, or even cheaper veggie ones like feta or baba ganoush (£2.80).

I've never had good fish & chips in Edinburgh.

If you want recommendations for any other specific types of cuisine, please ask.

Caroline

A Robert Garioch poem, taught to most Scots kids at Higher.

In simmer, whan aa sorts foregether
in Embro to the ploy,
folk seek out friens to hae a blether,
or faes they’d fain annoy;
smorit wi British Railways’ reek
frae Glesca or Glen Roy
or Wick, they come to hae a week
of cultivated joy
or three
In Embro to the Ploy.
Americans wi routh of dollars,
wha drink our whisky neat,
wi Sasunachs and Oxford Scholars
are eyedent for the treat
of music sedulously high-tie
at thirty-bob a seat;
Wop opera performed in Eyetie
to them’s richt up their street
they say
in Embro to the ploy.
Furthgangan Embro folk come hame
for three weeks in the year,
and fi nd Auld Reekie no the same,
fu sturrit in a steir.
The stane-faced biggins whaur they froze
and suppit puirshous lear
of cultural cauld-kale and brose
see cantraips unco queer
thae days
in Embro to the ploy.
The tartan tred wad gar ye lauch;
nae problem is owre teuch.
Your surname needna end in –och;
they’ll cleik ye up the cleuch.
A puckle dollar bill will aye
preive Hiram Teufelsdröckh
a septary of Clan McKay
it’s maybe richt eneuch,
verfl üch!
in Embro to the ploy.
The Auld High Schule, whaur mony a skelp
of triple-tonguit tawse
has gien a heist-up and a help
towards Doctorates of Laws,
nou hears, for Ramsay’s cantie rhyme,
loud pawmies of applause
frae folk that pey a pund a time
to sit on wudden raws
gey hard
in Embro to the ploy
The haly kirk’s Assembly-haa
nou fairly coups the creel
wi Lindsay’s Three Estatis, braw
devices of the Deil.
About our heids the satire stots
like hailstanes till we reel;
the bawrs are in auld-farrant Scots,
it’s maybe jist as weill,
imphm,
in Embro to the ploy.
The Epworth Haa wi wonder did
behold a pipers’ bicker;
wi hadarid and hindarid
the air gat thick and thicker.
Cumha na Cloinne pleyed on strings
torments a piper quicker
to get his dander up, by jings,
than thirty u.p. liquor,
hooch aye!
in Embro to the ploy.
The Northern British Embro Whigs
that stayed in Charlotte Square,
they fairly wad hae tined their wigs
to see the Stuarts there,
the bleeding Earl of Moray and aa
weill-pentit and gey bare;
Our Queen and Princess, buskit braw,
enjoyed the hale affair
(see Press)
in Embro to the ploy.
Whan day’s anomalies are cled
in decent shades of nicht,
the Castle is transmogrifi ed
by braw electric licht.
The toure that bields the Bruce’s croun
presents an unco sight
mair sib to Wardour Street nor Scone
wae’s me for Scotland’s micht,
says I
in Embro to the ploy.
A happening, incident, or splore
affrontit them that saw
a thing they’d never seen afore –
in the McEwan Haa:
a lassie in a wheelie-chair
wi naething on at aa;
jist like my luck! I wasna there,
it’s no the thing ava,
tut-tut,
in Embro to the ploy.
The Café Royal and Abbotsford
are fi lled wi orra folk
whas stock-in-trade’s the screivit word,
or twice-screivit joke.
Brains, weak or strang, in heavy beer,
or ordinary, soak.
Quo yin: this yill is aafi e dear,
I hae nae clinks in poke
nor fauldan-money,
in Embro to the ploy.
The auld Assembly-rooms, whaur Scott
foregethert wi his fi ers,
nou see a gey kespeckle lot
ablow the chandeliers.
Til Embro drouths the Festival Club
a richt godsend appears;
it’s something new to fi nd a pub
that gaes on serving beers
eftir hours
in Embro to the ploy.
Jist pitten-out, the drucken mobs
frae howffs in Potterraw,
fl eean, to hob-nob wi the Nobs,
ran to this Music Haa.
Register Rachel, Cougait Kate,
Nae-neb Nellie and aa
stauchert about amang the Great,
what fun! I never saw
the like,
in Embro to the ploy.
They toddle hame doun lit-up streets
fi lled wi synthetic joy;
aweill, the year brings few sic treats
and muckle to annoy.
There’s monie hartsom braw high-jinks
mixed up in this alloy
in simmer, whan aa sorts foregether
in Embro to the ploy.

Wow - er, thanks Sheila ! I've e-mailed you btw.

Caroline, thank you so much for such a detailed response about restaurants in Edinburgh! I will be sure to print that out and take it with us. :)

I am getting really excited about the trip!

I can tell you didn't really mean that, Caroline:(

Well, I´m hijacking this thread, but as Caroline sent such a nice restaurant list ...

I´ll be in Edinburgh at the beginning of next week, prior to joining a tour to the Orkneys. I have gone mad, and done bookings at the Fringe and the Festival ( Eurobeat, Potted Potter and Impressing the Czar ), so in between trying to fit the National Gallery (I want to see the Naked Portrait exhibition), the Scottish Parliament (outside) and some walks, I doubt I will have time to have lunch.

So, my question. Any good and interesting pre-theatre dinners, maybe near the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on Monday?

And any rain will be more than welcome after the Madrid heat ...

Thanks a lot, and kind regards, Cova