Friday Aug 24, 2018
We spent nearly seven hours at the Oxenholme station on the 24th as the weather forecast was spot on – it did rain every hour or so and sometimes it was a heavy shower. I managed to use the time to come upto speed with the London part of the tour. As we got into the train to Edinburgh, we had the first experience of a rude Brit. Most of the folks we had met till then were truly polite and sweet. As I was waiting near the luggage rack trying to adjust our big bag and put in one of our smaller bags, a rather tall and big man came up from behind and dumped two of his suitcases haphazardly leaving me no room to put one of our smaller suitcases!! I was not expecting that :):) and Krishnan glared at the man to no avail. We managed to find another spot on a different luggage rack to put our smaller suitcases and then sat down to enjoy the two hour train ride.
Here are some glimpses of the countryside as seen from the train … the entire lake district is stunning. The grass has almost three colors, bright green, light yellow and dark green and when the Sunlight falls on it, its magical. Then there are windmills all along …
Since the train had started nearly 15 minutes late, it reached Edinburgh (Waverley) 15 minutes late. We got out of the train and I tried calling Sriman as there were two exits – Market Street and Princes Street. Sriman asked us to come to the Market Street side. We took the elevator and as soon as the door of the elevator opened, Sriman was right there to pick us up.
Sriman is my classmate from 7th standard and I have known him since 1980. We haven’t managed to meet in the last four years but that doesn’t matter much – with WhatsApp and phones, you are hardly out of touch. As soon as we put the bags in the car and looked up at the city, the beauty of Edinburgh just overwhelmed us. I said as much to Sriman. While London’s parks were stunning and it has a long history as a world city, Edinburgh just captivates your heart. The old stone buildings, castles and cobblestoned roads – its just stunning. The two photographs below taken by Krishnan from the car, would give you an idea –
We reached home and met Kiran and the kids. Sachin has no recollection of meeting us in Chennai .. it is a long time ago and he was almost a baby then. Nikki of course remembers us and she has grown into a tall and very pretty young girl. We sat around and chatted for sometime, had tea and a light dinner before crashing.
The next day, we had an early start and with two Taureans (Krishnan and Sriman) leading the way, poor me had no choice but to get up early and be ready in time :):). Wait till I post the pics from our day trip on the 25th … someone will have to remind you to breathe.