Edinburgh in the Rain - Adventuring with the MacDougall - Part 2
After a night on the tiles in Leith a recovery breakfast was a must! We were lucky enough to have a table booked at Mimi's. This is a small cafe in Leith which serves breakfast, afternoon tea and amazing cup cakes. It was the perfect start to the day! Amazing breakfast filled with bacon, avocado and tea.
The decor was fantastic - it was very quirky and loads to look at - including the amazing cakes they were making. We were 100% going back for a cup cake later on once we had ventured out in the rain for a walk.
We were not deterred by the rain and embraced the drizzle to take a walk to Edinburgh City Centre. The walk took about ten minutes, but we decided to embrace Carlton Hill on the way in. We were hoping to get some good views of the city, but the weather was not on our side. The slideshow below shows some great shots of the fog. Apparently on a clear day you can see the sea!
From Carlton Hill you can meander down into the main city and onto Princes Street. This road leads you to the main shopping areas, the train station and the Scott Monument
As Garry had never been to Edinburgh before we needed to try and fit in some sight seeing. With this in mind we headed over to the Royal Mile and up to Edinburgh Castle. For those of you who hate touristy stuff - this might not be for you. The Royal Mile is full of tourists and shops filled with Scottish gifts. The best find of the day was the MacDougall clans tartan! If it hadn't been quite so expensive we would have purchased some for Nat.
We didn't venture into the Castle - but that is because I am a strong believer that Castles always look better from the outside and not inside! I am sure we may have been missing out on some gems, but for me outside was enough. This was a great plan until the rain started to get heavier and we had to evacuate to a coffee shop to dry out.
We tried to go to the Harry Potter coffee shop - and it looked lovely, but the wait to get a table was ridiculous. The reason I mention this is because there was a small coffee shop across the road. For the life of me I cannot remember it's name - but it is worthwhile checking out as the coffee was fab!
With a coffee in our hands we decided an indoor activity was required for the remainder of the afternoon. We decided to embrace our fears and venture to the Edinburgh Dungeons. We were not really sure what to expect - but the whole experience was loads of fun.
Once in through the door no photos were allowed. This was mainly as sections of the tour were in the dark and they needed to ensure the glow from phones and cameras did not affect the experience for others. The actors throughout the tour were phenomenal. Each step of the journey we were suitably scared. There were times we were plunged into darkness for ages, people appeared from no-where jumping out on us, seats we sat on moved from underneath us, and rides dropped us from the air. I had my doubts before going in whether it was going to be any good, but I was drawn into the whole experience and we all had loads of fun. This is 100% worth a visit if you have the opportunity - although I was surprised that the children on the tour were not more scared.
Although no photos were allowed during the tour - the company do take a picture as a souvenir. We couldn't resist purchasing this one for Nat as a present so she could remember out experience and visit. The photo cost about £9.00 but we thought it was worth it. It summed up a great afternoon.
With day time activities behind us we still had a whole evening of fun ahead. We didn't have any specific plans, but after a quick change of clothes and a
lick of war paint we hopped in a taxi back into the city centre.
The Amber Rose was our first stop off. It was very weatherspoon like - but it was cheap, cheerful and got us a few rounds of gins to get the night underway.
We then ventured next door to TGI Fridays. We thought this would be a fab place to grab a quick bite to eat and enjoy some elaborate cocktails. We were not disappointed. The service was spot on, the food was yummy and the cocktails were lush! We were even told about 360 rotating rings! Sounds dodgy you say.... well fear not - these are rings you can stick to your phone covers that help you not drop your phone! We were amazed! How did we not know these existed!
Once fed and watered we decided we should try out a few other pubs and bars. We did however get a bit stuck..... we ended up in a place known as the Shoogly Peg. It was a cute little pub playing live music so after grabbing ourselves a table we did settle in for a while. The music was so good and atmosphere so chilled it was hard to leave. You will see from the photos below that we were having so much fun here. Would have stayed there all night.
Our final location for the night was a bar called Element. Here Nat decided we should try coffee shots! They certainly warmed you up, but at the same time I think these may have been the down fall of the rest of our evening. We are unfortunately not quite as hard core as we thought we were and shortly after these we decided to call it a night. Element was very funky and had some good music. It was however relatively quiet - which was strange. We may have just turned up quite late and the party had moved on elsewhere.
Our night out in Edinburgh had been very chilled but so much fun. We visited a great selection of places, laughed all night long and had way too many gins!
