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Venice – Day 2

I was up and out the door after breakfast early and made my way to the ferry dock. As I waited, an older gentlemen with a daschund walked by and it was a pretty cool looking dog so I asked if I could take a picture of him. The man was amused and let me take a photo and pet the puppy. Afterwards he asked in broken English if I was waiting for the ferry, and I said yeah. He told me none of the ferrys were running today because of a strike (seriously, what is up with Europeans and not wanting to put signs anywhere???) so I’d have to walk to my tour. He was very nice, and directed me to the Accadamia Bridge which was the closest one and then another guy at the bridge directed me where to go again and I figured it out from there. Shout out the Venetians for being patient with tourists during the disruption! Fortunately I had left plenty early and got to the meeting point in time. I did a walking tour of the city with an English guide, and met some very nice people in the group from Florida. After the walking tour, we got in a gondola together and did the 30 minute loop through the canals.

During the walking tour the guide mentioned a hospital that we passed by which had open areas inside home to about 50 cats, so I doubled back there and hunted down the cat area because that’s just who I am as a person. I only saw about 15 or so, but the place was huge with multiple areas and plenty of hiding room. A lot of the cats seemed afraid of people and didn’t want to be touched, but there were two black cats and a black and white one that just laid in the sun and lavished the attention of passersby so I hung out with them for a while. I continued on my way to the Bridge of Sighs and then went back to my hotel for a bit of a walking break before my next tour.

After a couple hours cooling down in the hotel, I headed back out for my next tour of the Doge and San Marco Basilica after closing. The Doge was pretty cool, the rooms are beautiful and you get to walk inside the Bridge of Sighs. I didn’t go to the Basilica during the day, but at night it was gorgeous. They put you in the main chapel and turn off ALL of the lights for a few seconds, then slowly turn them all back on as the old electrical system kicks in and slowly illuminates it gradually like a rising sun. The tour even took us down to the underground and around to the golden wall. It’s a little pricey, but I thought it was worth it for the special access.

The tour let out into the Piazza. There were three restaurants that had hired three bands to play music to lure in guests. These are restaurants where one (1) glass of wine is $30 and a bottle is $200, so they could afford to hire the bands. Anyway, one band would play, then another, then the other so the tourists watching would keep shuffling back and forth to listen and I did too for a little bit. The first band played a nice romantic slow tune and all the couples were dancing together, the second band played a really upbeat tune and people were clapping along, and just as I was about to leave the third band started playing and what started out as E.T. turned into an almost 10 minute movie theme music montage that was just amazing. I missed the first minute or so on video since I had to run over there, but managed to record the rest and it was epic!

I’m pretty sure I have the route to the hotel almost memorized now, although I did make a wrong turn down an alley at one point and when I turned around a huge yellow lab was standing there waiting for pats. So of course I gave him a pat, and he moved so my hand would be on his rump, so I scratched his back, so he collapsed and started kicking his leg as I hit his sweet spot and was just being a super cute pupper for probably an 80 pound lab. When I stopped and walked back to go the right way he followed me for more pats (of course I obliged) and I eventually found his owner in the main square for that area who thanked me for bringing him back…even though I had no idea the dog was lost, it was just following me and I happened to run into the owner. So FYI, Venice is set up like a maze, and Google Maps is completely worthless, so you actually have to pay attention and learn which pathways and walkways and canals and alleys go where and expect to run into random friendly dogs (that last part is the opposite of a problem). I made it back to the hotel without incident after that, and crashed. Onward to Rome!

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Edinburgh Day 1

I guess I was tired, since I slept until 8am before getting up and heading out.  I stopped at a cute coffee shop for a mocha then wandered over to a nearby church and headed to Edinburgh castle.  I ended up spending 4 hours at the castle, in part because it was gorgeous, but also because they have a military museum with family service and death records as well as a historical association that has researched over a million Scottish clan names.  Since I knew both Shelton and Booth are Anglo-Saxon names, I spent the better part of an hour just scouring through the records trying to figure out where my ancestors were primarily located.  Apparently, the Booth family were seafarers who often were lost at sea and were largely concentrated in the Aberdeenshire area, although they were located all over the region and were a combination of two huge families in the 12th-ish century.  There were a lot of military records to be found for the name Booth.  For Shelton I didn’t find that many, even though our name is of Scottish origin.  Turns out the Sheltons were big landholders and farmers in the Nottinghamshire area, and when people were encouraged to move to and occupy Ireland we packed up and went to Dublin and became government and law enforcement folks for a long time which is why we didn’t have much of a Scottish military presence.  It was all really interesting.  I also think I love Mary Queen of Scots, that lady had an attitude in a “big mood” way.  She openly criticized her husband and family, working her distaste for them into her needlework which is on display today.  It’s pretty funny, too bad she was ultimately betrayed by those same people and killed despite being a fair and beloved ruler of her people.  Anyway, after spending so much time at the castle I didn’t have time to go to the palace, so instead I wandered down the Royal Mile and ducked into the Angels with Bagpipes restaurant, a Michelin rated place, to try haggis neeps and tatties, a really good artichoke root based soup, and this local drink that was made from strong vodka, champagne and strawberry flavoring.  The weather decided it had no intention of clearing up, so after eating I wandered over to another graveyard and took in the spooky atmosphere before heading to my hotel to dry off and drop off my bag.  Then I headed back to Mercat circle to meet the tour guide to the underground catacombs around the former south bridge.  The tour was a perfect mix of informational and campy, and our guide Alex did a great job, it was really hilarious given the seriousness of the topic at hand.  The tour highlighted some of the killings, hangings, burnings, and the shitty way people generally lived back in the day including the poor conditions. Afterwards I trudged back to the hotel in the pouring rain and discovered that my shoes which I thought were waterproof are not, so add that to the list for tomorrow. I got my free pint at the hotel bar and went to bed after a hot shower to warm up.

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London to Edinburgh

I once again was up and at the coach station at 7:45am, but Expedia had the time wrong and it didn’t leave until 8:20am, which sucks because I could have stayed at the B&B and enjoyed a nice breakfast there.  Anywho, I grabbed a coffee and boarded a really neat vintage double decker bus for a tour around town.  Due to the climate protests all over central London our tour was altered and traffic was heavy, but we stopped at Buckingham Palace for a while then drove past the Eye of London, down Fleet Street, past St. Paul’s Cathedral, over the London and Tower Bridges amongst others, and then stopped at the Millbank Millennium Pier to catch a boat.  The boat tour was pretty quick, basically over to Tower Bridge and back, but offered wonderful views of Parliament, the Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben (covered and under construction until 2022 though I think) and everything else along the water.  Honestly, if I did it again I’d do it at sunset or at night, I bet that view is gorgeous.  Once we got back to the coach station I picked up my bags from the B&B and took the Victoria line to Kings Cross station.  Of course I needed a cheesy photo taken at Platform 9 ¾ and I sat and waited for my train.  Unfortunately, someone was hit by another train along our route and there were trespassers along another major route, so almost all of the trains were delayed or cancelled.  My original 3:30 train to Edinburg was delayed, then they loaded us in, then they kicked us off and cancelled it.  There was about an hour of confusion before I got confirmation that I could jump on any of the other trains that were running, so I jumped on the 4:30 train and crossed my fingers that I’d eventually get to Edinburg.  Fortunately I was sat next to two lovely people and we chatted and exchanged stories for a couple hours (mainly me talking, travelling solo I don’t get my daily words out!). A Dr. Eeyan Pepper stayed with me until Darlington and was a super nice guy, travelled lots himself and owns a place in Florida.  The second leg I was pretty much by myself so I plugged the headphones in and zoned out for the rest of the trip.  It was after 10pm when we finally arrived, so I scurried through the cold to my hotel about a mile away.  Yotel is in an old building but they completely modernized it, so everything is new and neon and very eclectic.  I was starving, so I went around the corner to KFC and got an interesting combo bucket including a chicken sandwich one (1) thigh piece, a weird salad, and fries. Then went back to the hotel and crashed.