Letters Home - Scotland
by Leslie Shalduha
October 26, 2025 Exuberant Spaniels and Street Hamburgers
This past couple of weeks has found us in Edinburgh, on another housesit, in what folks we have talked with say is a very nice area of the city. Here we are caring for two very exuberant spaniels, Loki and Odin, and two very independent kitties, Tiger and Tilly. We are staying in a very nice three-story stone townhouse with terrifying stone, curved stairs between each level. The kitchen is on the bottom floor, living room on the second and bedrooms up top. We are certainly getting our exercise. There is a long, narrow backyard with stone walls separating it from the neighbors where the dogs do their thing. The mama hostess seemed concerned about the dogs' ability to walk on leash so asked us to just play ball with them every day, which we did most of the time but Loki has a hurt paw so we have been taking it easy for a couple of days. The dogs live in the kitchen full-time; the only exception is we can bring them up with us when we are hanging out in the living room. No wonder they are so enthusiastic when we come down to the kitchen! Luckily, they have calmed down somewhat and are very sweet and cuddly boys when we all sit together for tv time.
Emma and I have been very interested in the history of Mary, Queen of Scots, for years due to the show, Reign. It is a dramatized version of her story, of course. And now we are in the area where she did her Queen thing! There is the official royal castle, Edinburgh Castle, and then the smaller version, Holyrood Palace, where she spent most of her time. In fact, the current royals spend their time at Holyrood when they come this way, too. We made our way to Holyrood the other day and paid to do the tour, where we LITERALLY stood in her bed chamber. Saw her actual bed. Tears filled my eyes as we entered the palace, such a softie. In her supper chamber, one can still see a blood stain where David Rizzio, a close advisor of hers, was murdered. It is quite a famous scene from her life; supposedly every time the blood stain is washed away or the floor boards replaced, it reappears. Spooky! There are also remains of the Holyrood Abbey which were beautiful to see, even in the state of ruin.
On our way back from this exciting visit, we stumbled upon the very fascinating New Calton Cemetery. Almost every grave had a 'room' or mausoleum to itself. Imagine a room with 3 walls and no roof, then put a grave in it. There is a tall, stone watch tower, built back in the day to protect the graves from grave robbers. It seems that in order to obtain a medical degree, students had to pass anatomy and apparently the best way to do so was to dig up a corpse from the cemetery!!
There is a terrible history in Scotland of witches being murdered. Emma and I have both encountered areas where we feel more pain than usual. Upon looking it up later, we found that the two areas that happened to us are places where these murders were concentrated. One, on the Foot of Leith Walk, was completely unknown to us. We were exploring the Leith area on Sunday Funday last week. While there, we discovered we were near where the Britannia was docked. This ship was the personal yacht of Queen Elizabeth II for much of her reign. We decided against the tour but regretted it that night when the episode we watched on The Crown was very specifically about it!! We may still go back to view it. We did, however, enjoy the gift shop like a couple of silly girls for a while. And when we left there, I was a little too delighted to find a random tiny baby hamburger toy on the ground. It does not take much to impress me. The other main witch murder area is on the Esplanade of the Edinburgh Castle. Dark and sordid history.
The weather continues to be really lovely. Not nearly as much rain and gloom as Emma and I prefer, but it is nice that the temperatures are not very cold. Sometimes the wind has a chill to it, but it is often around 50 degrees or more.
We have wandered the streets of Edinburgh for hours and miles—from Old Town to New Town, from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace along the Royal Mile, from Stockbridge to Leith. Stockbridge is a well-to-do neighborhood with cobblestone streets and snazzy stores. While we are still seeking The Perfect Cafe, Edinburgh has many to choose from; the problem lies in the amount of people roaming the streets here so it is often hard to find a seat. Lots and lots of people.
There are shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, souvenir shops and buskers galore in the city. We came across a man with a Great Horned Owl. People pay to have it perch on their arms for pictures. Men (so far we have only seen men doing this) play bagpipes on the street, some in full Scottish regalia and one young man in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The souvenir shops are all exactly the same and there are so, so many. The only good news is that they are all filled with cashmere, lambswool and tweed which makes me very happy. There are also an endless amount of whiskey stores.
We found the street that inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series. It was easy to see why the author found her inspiration there.
We visited the National Gallery of Scotland, a big and glorious art museum. The Gallery offers free admission which we thought is as it should be. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! Emma loves those sorts of things. We examined paintings, discussed and argued sometimes, and later, over dinner, looked up things we had more questions about. So fun!
This Sir Walter Scott memorial really touched me. I am afraid to say that I had no idea who the fellow was but I am working on fixing that now. It is exceptionally spectacular. This site says you can climb to the top but we saw no signs of that when we were there.
We are staying very near the Royal Botanical Gardens and enjoyed a stroll there recently. I found several trees to hug and we enjoyed watching a Moor Hen, who has very interesting greenish yellow very large legs for its size, for some time.
The bus service here is quite nice, not too expensive to ride and it actually comes when the schedule says it will. While we walk a lot, sometimes it is nice to catch a ride. Most of them are double deckers and we have become big fans of riding in the top level.
We enjoyed a fabulous meal at Mowgli, a tasty Indian restaurant set in a magical stone building with the ornate interior architecture one might expect in these old, historical buildings. At Element, the bartender gave us a lesson on how to properly enjoy whiskey in Scotland as we waited for a table. At Clark's Bar, where we stopped for a mid-afternoon nip just so we could sit enjoy the atmosphere, we met a musician from the band Holocaust, whose song Small Hour was covered by Metallica in the early 80's, putting them on the map and allowing him to buy his mother a house, which he said finally stopped her telling him to go get a real job. In our neighborhood, there is a pub called The Orchard where we have stopped in several times. On Sundays it is very common for most restaurants to have what they call Sunday Roast; a full dinner like Grandma used to make on Sundays. After perusing lots of options, we finally tried it at The Orchard and it sure was tasty!
We take most of our meals at home and Emma has become the main cook since we have been here. I gotta say that is pretty nice although that means I do all the dishes. It may be worth it, though! And I feel the need to share about cupboard bacon.....these two pups are extremely skilled at swiping anything off the counter.....so after I make bacon in the AM I have to hide it in the cupboard so Emma can enjoy at some point. Strange but true.
Have I mentioned laundry over here across the pond? Dryers are not really a thing so I have grown accustomed to hanging clothes all over the house to dry. This current place has a dryer, but it is outside, across a little courtyard and in a locked shed. So hang drying it is!
I finally broke down and invested in two nice pieces of luggage. The suitcase I have been hauling around is big, heavy and not very good in the rolling department. I finally decided quality of life matters and spent a stupid amount of money to get a nice suitcase. And today purchased a snazzy overnight type bag made here in Scotland, of wool. It will fit on top of my fancy new roller and I am looking forward to our luggage scene being slightly less awful while traveling. Oh, plus Emma and I mailed a box each away of things we have found we do not really need anymore. When we first packed we thought we were "moving somewhere specific" so had packed things that do not make sense for a life on the lam.....I mean, road. We continue to refine our packing and process. Before long we will be real pros!
Speaking of, we love it here. We really do. We can legally be here until the end of March but Emma and I are both beginning the job hunting scene. We will be looking very hard to find a way to make this more permanent. And it looks like Emma's beau will be coming to join us over Christmas and staying, too, so chance are those two are going to go off on their own adventure here in the UK. Send us the best of luck, if you can!
Today we wrap up this house sit and head to our next one, located in the village of Thornhill, near Stirling. There we will care for three chickens! The owners, a couple in their 80's, have invited us to come a few days early. I think they are excited to have some company from another country!
I hope you enjoy the latest chapter in this great adventure we are on. As always, I look forward to hearing from you. I have discovered two things can be true at once; I can be enjoying this adventure immensely and also be a little home/friend sick. So write me when you can! Give me the nitty gritty details of your lives, I love it.