Our flight to Scotland was delayed several times. We weren't bothered, though, since we had no pressing plans in Edinburgh. When we finally got on board, the pilot explained that he was a replacement, since the original pilot had taken ill. He told us: "An hour ago, I was in my blue jeans, slowly preparing for a later flight to Glasgow." It was the first time I'd ever started a flight with a guilt trip.

We dropped our bags at the hotel and walked The Royal Mile, a tourist-heavy road stretching from Edinburgh Castle to the Scottish Parliament. The Castle was lovely, like all castles, but they wanted money to go inside so we just wandered around instead. The tourists were insufferable with their screen-staring and general obliviousness.

Diane was tired, but decided nevertheless that we should hike up a mountain. The cliffs to the southeast of town feature a spot called Arthur's Seat, so we headed toward it. The view was lovely, but I got worn out halfway up — we'd been walking for four hours — so we went back down.

Rested up and got dinner at a lovely place on St. Edward's Square. We ordered a scallops appetizer, and one crab linguine entree to share. I was still hungry afterward, so we ordered another appetizer of shrimp 'n' squid. It's hard to fathom how unorthodox and adventurous it felt to order our dinner in such an unconventional way. It's almost unthinkable to proceed in such a fashion, as if the standard modes of food acquisition are etched in stone. But it all worked out fine.

Then we wandered around until we found a nice little Mediterranean place with a dessert sampler: baklava, profiteroles (cream puffs), ice cream, and crème brulée. Yum! Tomorrow we head into London. Then home.

I'm getting ready for home.

In case you forgot

Typical sunny Scotland

Ach! A castle!

Our room had a balcony

For the Prodigy fans

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