Day 3 University of Edinburgh

The University is a 5 minute bus ride from the Royal Mile. We checked in around 6 PM and met for dinner at 7 PM. The place is full of student groups most of whom are here for the festival. The dining hall served over 1,000 diners tonight. We each have a single room with a private bathroom and the picture to the left is from my window.

After dinner we split into three groups - one heading downtown with Irl, one climbing the big hill behind the university with me, and a few stayed behind to hang out. Seth and Mark scouted out training facilities for tomorrow. The hill we climbed was very cool. It is the highest point in the city and commands a 360 degree view from the top. Once again, Matty Zane, our intrepid climber led the way. I also caught him scaling the side of the dorm - that boy will climb anything.

There is a grass courtyard outside our dorm and the boys have been playing hours of 4 vs 4. Seth put a 10 PM curfew in place and the boys played right up to the last minute. They are having a great time.

Day 3 Edinburgh Castle

The boys were very excited to visit the "Royal Mall" and were a bit let down once they understood that we were visiting the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle instead. But they recovered quickly and the coaches did a smart thing by requiring all the boys to take the 30 minute guided tour - if 20% of what they heard sticks I'd call it a victory.

The tour concluded at 2 PM and the coaches put some money in their pockets and we all arranged to meet at 5 PM at the other end of the Royal Mile. And yes Harper the Royal mile is in fact one mile long. Once untethered from the adults they were off like a shot and not seen again until 5 PM. With the exception of one nameless group of four (hint: included one boy fond of wearing yellow and the taller of the two coaches sons) all the boys made it to the meeting point without incident. The missing group showed some excellent survivor skills and hailed a taxi after getting lost.

August is festival time in Edinburgh and the streets are full of strange characters. You'll see a couple of them in the slide show below and it is rumored that Seth is looking to fill out the roster.

Day 3 Travel

The team bus arrived early this morning and the boys were packed and ready to go at 4:30 AM. Overnight the weather turned ugly with wind and rain - we were very lucky to get two great days during our stay.

At the airport, one boy who shall remain nameless (hint: related to the author of this blog) left his passport and ticket on top of his bag as he left gate security. Luckily, Skip found it on the floor and a potential crisis was averted. All the boys are learning important travel lessons.

Once on the plane Bill, despite his diligent efforts to thoroughly read and understand the safety instruction card, kept requiring special assistance from the flight attendant.

It was as two hour flight to Scotland and we landed at approximately 11 AM (local time is plus 1 hour from Iceland). We met our bus driver Ian and our tour guide Mark spent a good twenty minutes reviewing pedestrian safety rules in the UK. After about an hours drive we went straight to the center of Edinburgh. Weather is cloudy, cool and windy.

Here are a few pictures from the flight over: