Author: Karen

The Odyssey Traveller Edinburgh fringe tour has quite a bit of flexibility, with free time to explore our own interests, so we decided to spend some time at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery after breakfast. This museum holds the national collection of portraits all of which are but necessarily by Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection. Since 1889 it has been housed in its red sandstone Gothic Revival building, which was donated by the owner of the Scotsman newspaper. It is the first building in the world to be built especially as a portrait gallery. We were very impressed with the architecture as well as the holdings.

Catching up in the Great Hall. There are also great views from the balcony, which you will see later. We started at the top floor, with historical figures, before going to the second floor for more modern faces.

This man, formerly known as Prince Charles, is the current head of the country, King Charles III.

A delightfully quirky portrait of actress Tilda Swinton

Second story Splendor

After a nice lunch in the gallery’s cafe—with the world’s best freshly made shortbread—we made our way back to the hotel for a little rest before getting ready for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The Gathering of the Clan is a joyous celebration of music and dance, designed to show off the cultural aspects of various nations who answer the call. The countries involved this year were the US, UK, Germany, Qtar and New Zealand. Each country provided entertainment to show the best their country had to offer. It is presented at the top of the extinct volcano which became Edinburgh Castle, on the Esplanade. We were extremely lucky to have a ( relatively) warm, rain free evening.

The word “ tattoo” originated in the 17 th century from the Dutch phrase “doe den tap toe”, meaning “turn off the tap” of the ale taps, so soldiers could return to their barracks and go to bed. Ii evolved to mean the last duty call of the day, as well as a ceremonial form of evening entertainment planned by military musicians.

We opted to go to the Cannonball restaurant before the show to experience The Drummer’s Experience, where we were served a light meal, like an afternoon tea, with crafted cocktails. The advantage of this plan was that we were escorted to our seats by staff. There were five of us and three were using canes, so when I booked, I was able to get accessible seats in the row above the wheelchairs, with just a few steps.

We were the last to arrive because we walked up the hill to the castle and didn’t realize the number of people crowding the street and we had to walk slowly because of the uneven pavement and cobblestones. We did make it and were greeted warmly by the proprietor of the restaurant.

The menu: a savory platter with homemade sausage roll with apricot purée, venison bonbonswith mushrooms catsup, haggis bonbons with whiskey gel, cheddar scone with whipped Crowdie with onion jam and a cheddar crisp on top,trout pate with Sicilian lemon purée on toast, five kinds of cheeses. There was also s selection of DELICIOUS petits fours. Coctails: Mandarin spritz, Cloudy Sky ( pictured) and nonalcoholic hot mulled apple and spice, served throughout the meal.

There was also entertainment at the end of the meal, and Ann and I ran into the drummer at the ladies’ restroom.

Had to show you these fantastic desserts—a plate for two.

@

It was almost one of those “ You’ve got to be there” type of events, but if you google “ Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo “ + videos, there are many videos online. The performance started promptly at 9:30, ended at 11, and was narrated by Roger Rankin, of “ Outlander “ fame in his thick Scottish accent.

We found the facilities before tromping down the hill, slowly, slowly, and were helped by the young eager volunteers who managed to get a taxi for us. It was a long day but well worth it.

Today we saw a one man show in the theater catagory, doing a dramatic interpretation about the first man who swam the English Channel. It was held in the dissection room, which reminded some of us of the dissection room we saw in Bologna! Quite a master class in acting. After that, we went to Holyroodhouse Palace, the royal residence of the Royal family. We were lucky enough to be able to tour the private family quarters, which are open for only a short time. It was a very intimate tour, even visiting the late Queen’s dressing room. No photographs were allowed. We also did a self- guided tour of the palace, which had the opulence onewould expect. What we didn’t expect was the tragic history of the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots, as we were even allowed in the room where it happened. We had a sumptuous repast there before the tours, and got rained out just as we headed to the gardens. We had dessert instead of dinner, since we had a hearty lunch, and are playing catch up tonight.

Beatrice reminded me that the royal family’s private rooms have never been opened until now. They are only open for 100 days to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of the late Queen. Perfect timing for us!

As the clouds roll in, and the rain falls, I will leave you with the original ruins of the palace, the abbey. More coming. Stay tuned.

We are getting used to our new hotel, the Leonardo hotel Haymarket. It’s a busy place, filled with tour groups and families. Breakfast is included and is plentiful.

We were scheduled to leave for our walking tour this morning, and walk we did! Our guide, a delightful local, had lots of stories to share and kept us entertained throughout our trek. There are two of us using canes and the pace was brisk, so Cindy and I opted to get a cab for the first part of the journey because the terrain, we were told, wasn’t as interesting. We began our tour at the Grassmarket, where we had just stayed for three days!

We focused our tour on the people who have made the city memorable over the years and a good place to begin was the cemetery at Greyfriers, where the most important resident is Bobby the dog, commemorated in everything from statues to tote bags!

Bobby was the terrier who was the faithful companion of John Gray, an Edinburgh City Police nightwatchman. Around this time Bobby would follow John Gray when he was at work. According to records, policemen were obliged to have watchdogs with them. Gray reportedly died of TB in February of 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. For 14 years the dog stayed at his master’s graveyard before he too died. The dog was not allowed to be buried in the churchyard because dogs were not allowed in consecrated ground, so Bobby was buried just inside the entrance, at the gate, a very short distance from his master’s plot. His grave is a popular tourist destination.

The graveyard is the eternal home of many and is also the site of many ghoulish stories of grave robbers, which were recounted by our guide in excruciating detail.

It’s a good place also to enjoy the beauty of untamed nature and sit while listening to the many stories about the residents of this monument to former residents in the heart of the city.

We continued our trek by visiting the Royal Mile, now a pedestrian thoroughfare where lots of street entertaining was taking place. We had one last look at Bobby. Visitors like to rub his nose. For good luck?

St Giles Cathedral has been here for 900 years, from its early beginnings in 1124, founded by King David, to its current standing as a modern Presbyterian church and High Kirk of Scotland. This area is also home to many municipal areas, including the Old Tollbooth, which held early meetings of Parliament and also served as a jail. Public executions were held here. The Edinburgh city chamers are also here.

We ended our tour here and four of us had lunch across the street at Luckenbill’s before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

This bowl contained lots of good grains and veggies. Very tasty. Others had Scottish salmon on brioch bread, sort of a panini.

Many people enjoy being a part of the action outside, but we preferred the quiet of the restaurant, which is part of the hotel. Cindy and I opted to take a taxi back. When we returned to the hotel, we discovered that Ann had arrived and we caught up a bit. We had about an hour’s rest before attending a comedy show, which was another 25 minute walk, this time in the rain. We have been incredibly lucky to have clear skies so far. The comedy show was another hour. Five of us joined our guide Cecile for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Home and bed by 10! I managed to walk 4 miles which was less than my favorite sister and traveling companion, because she didn’t take taxis. The knee is holding up and actually feels stronger. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow is free as far as the tour is concerned, but Beatrice, Ann and I have tentative plans to visit the National Portrait Gallery. Five of us will be attending the Drummer Experience at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo this evening. Fortunately clear skies are forecast. If you haven’t heard of ghis event, google it!

Can you believe it? We discovered that there are many kick ass cafes and hostels erected in Edinburgh , part of the Salvation Army. Who knew? Obviously we were destined to visit this wonderful, sprawling city.

This particular location is in Grassmarket square area, where we have stayed for three nights. We move today to join the fringe group. It’s been very restful to spend three nights in this bustling area, in a charming hotel with triple paned windows, allowing us to see ( but not hear) the action. It’s filled with centuries old pubs with a remarkable history. It’s very busy, day and night, filled with tourists and wannabe stars of the future, showing us their talents on the streets of this two block oval area, located in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle. It’s the oldest part of the city, and, to my mind, the most quaint.

Here’s what I have managed to capture on our time spent here.

We spent the last two days on the BigBus hop on & off bus. We didn’t hop off the first day. We just rode around the city on the redline, taking in the views from the top of the bus. The second day we had a destination: the Royal Botanical Gardens, on the blue line, where we hopped off for lunch. Here are a few snaps to show you. The weather has been perfect: temperatures in the 60s with light breezes. Fingers crossed it stays like this.

Back at the Grassmarket, we zipped over to a charming Italian cafe to use the facilities and indulge in a delicious decaf cappuccino!

Yesterday we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens and indulged in a cheese board for two.

..and two desserts! I couldn’t resist the shortbread!

This scavenger was hoping that our eyes were bigger than our stomach. They were, but we got a doggie bag.

Back on the bus, back to Grassmarket for a rest and get ready for dinner! Since it was our last night we wanted to go to a French country cafe where the French onion soup was authentic and the dessert was divine! There was no decaf coffee so we had peppermint tea.

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Time to get up and start a new day. The Fringe festival tour begins!

since my last post. Life has interfered as aging and injuries have kicked in. I am now the proud owner of three joint replacements. My left hip came first, in February of 2024 and I was able to go on the Road Scholar QM2 cruise without much discomfort. Visiting Hawaii was a fun way to spend the Christmas and New Years holidays until I fell and broke my right hip! It could have been so much worse. I stayed with my sister and five weeks later I flew home. I have another skilled surgeon and excellent care.

When I got home, I saw my surgeon. He was pleased with my new hip and we discussed my knee replacement. Yes, I had been bone on bone for two years and it was definitely time! My surgery was in June of 2025, over a year ago. Recovery is much slower but I took a practice trip to visit my friend Marilyn for a few days in May and did well. We had a low key visit but were able to visit with her daughter and have a visit to a unique used bookstore with fabulous architecture and two in house cats.

My bag is packed. I still need to pack my carry on, a difficult task because I have a lot of paperwork and will have to carry essentials with me: toiletries, vitamins and medications, my iPad and electronic gizmos, plugs and the perfect airplane book. My traveling companion/ favorite sister arrives in a few days. We take off a few days later and I will be in touch.

i have been thinking about this trip for two years. Giles Ramsay, our lecturer on the Queen Mary 2 history of theatre cruise, recommended it; in fact, he led Road Scholar tours here but they were canceled after Covid. Road Scholar didn’t reinstate the tours but I found an Australian tour company that does have small group “gentle tours for seniors and solo travelers” here. Our friend Ann from England will join us and two other ladies from the QM2 group will be with us as well. There is another couple from the US and one lady from London who will complete the group.

We will be attending a world famous festival in a wonderful medieval city and after that my traveling companion and I will be cruising around the country that housed the festival.

Any guesses? Stay tuned!

I didn’t plan to write this post until after I got home, but since we are delayed for an hour and a half at Heathrow, I thought I would do it now.

Ann was coming to our hotel and we were going to spend the morning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, but I got funny tummy at 3:00 AM. I think the lobster was just too rich for me. We met Ann but I begged off the excursion. I had been there twice before on other trips, but Beatrice had never been, so they spent the morning there.

The big show was “The Songbook Trail of Taylor Swift,” with thirteen stops to show the costumes she wore. Many mothers and adoring daughters were there.

She also enjoyed watching the kids play in the pond outside the museum.

While they were gone, I slept in for an extra hour and checked in with British Airlines. There was a problem with her confirmation number, so I called the travel emergency hotine at Road Scholar to get it sorted out. I said good bye to Ann. We are considering a week in Nice the end of September.

We had to be dressed for the evening at 2:30, since we had two workshops and not much time in between activities. Our first speaker was Matt Wolf, the drama critic from the International New York Times. He is from New York and started writing for rhe Yale Daily News when he was an undergraduate, and just sort of slid into writing about plays for other publications as a freelancer. . He had been taken to plays since he was very young , since it was easier for his parents to pay for an extra ticket than it was to hire a babysitter. We discussed the pros and cons of the three plays we saw. My personal favorite at that point was “ People and Places and Things,” since the actress playing the main character was so powerful. Addiction and recovery are heady subjects for a play but there was even some black humor that added to the show. “Witness for the Prosecution “ was well done. It gets a heavy tourist crowd since it’s been ongoing for several years, like “ The Mousetrap,” and is performed in a courtroom. “The Grapes of Wrath” had a fine cast ( with Cherry Jones, for you fans of “ Succession”) but seemed long and too heavy.

After Matt’s presentation, we had a discussion about the tour with personal highlights covering Giles’ lectures, Kevin’s help as Tour Leader, the ship itself, and our time in London. We rated the tour five star.

We ate at a quiet lovely Italian restaurant in the neighborhood

We traveled to the Barbican to see our last play, “Kiss Me Kate.” When it was built, Londoners hated the architecture but I enjoyed the fact that it was easy to get around and that there were lots of bathrooms!

”Kiss Me Kate” was spectacular! It was fun and joyous, with a well- honed cast. The musical opened in June and rhe actors have grown into their roles. The lead was very strong and everyone else followed along. The choreography was fantastic.

A good time was had by all.

We can say the same thing about the tour.

It’s almost time to find our gate.

If you have any questions, please add them to the comments.

I thought that Monday would be low key, but it didn’t turn out that way! After breakfast we had an introduction to British politics led by one of the leading journalists of the day, in an interview format led by Giles. There were lots of questions and comparisons made with the political scene in the U.S. today, especially with topics like Brexit and immigration policies. We broke for lunch and had traditional pub fare with our new friend Penny, a nurse from Wisconsin.

After lunch, we met an expert in acting who explained how actors interact when they first meet to work together on a play and we did exercises to loosen us up and get to know each other. Many people were a bit wary of this workshop (including myself, with no theater training) but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. By the end of the workshop, we had developed a character and were “ interviewed “ by the instructor to see if we could stay in character. They were amazing! The time flew by. I transformed myself into Suzette, who started speaking in French but was then told that I had to speak English, so I did it, with a very broad, bad French accent. I was 34, lived in Paris, wanted to play Marie Antoinette but before she visited the guillotine, and so on. Beatrice was Scarlet, the great great great granddaughter of the “ other” Scarlet, who spent her days on the plantation drinking mint julips. She bemoaned the fact that life just wasn’t the same as it used to be..she thanked everyone who was there for visiting her because she didn’t get much company nowadays.

We had a nice steak dinner at the hotel then set out to see “ People, Places & Things,” a revival of an award-winning play with the original cast. It shows a young actress in the throws of addiction, beginning with a botched up Hedda Gabler on stage and ending up in the funny farm, and at the end, at her parent’s house. It was a brutal though occasionally funny play and the subject matter was not for the faint of heart. I thought it was brilliant. Others hated it. They wanted to be entertained. We discussed our views on the way home on the bus. Giles asked us a lot of probing questions. He said he was to blame if people didn’t like the plays because he selected them and wanted to give us a variety of options. He said, “We can’t have ‘ Kiss Me Kate’ every night.” That will be our last play, which we will see Wednesday night. .

An extra added attraction ( if you want to call it that): two young girls were making out in front of us, but, thankfully, not during the performance. I am not used to PDA, I guess.

Today’s Royal opera house tour at Covent Garden was sensational; however, we were unable to take pictures inside the house. We met Ann at 1:00 at the National Portrait Gallery and had a lunch with a view. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day. Ann and I had fun at the gift shop, posing her as Queen Ann of the Crooked Crown. We managed to see some pictures before it was time to head back to get ready for our evening’s entertainment.

Tonight’s play was “Grapes of Wrath” at the National Theatre. I will discuss it later because I am completely out of steam. Tomorrow will be non-stop busy and I probably won’t be able to finish up this blog until after I get back, when I have time to do it justice. Wednesday – tomorrow – is our last full day. We leave the hotel Thursday early morning to fly back to San Francisco.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back..

We said goodbye to the Queen Mary 2 by going up in the glass outside elevators for a spectacular view of Southampton. The size of the ship is mind boggling. It was a warm and sunny day and we were ready for part two of our program, visiting London for four days and seeing four carefully selected plays. .

We had a very easy disembarkation and we arrived in London ahead of schedule. The small hotel was not ready to check us in, so our bags were stored and we had a buffet lunch at the hotel. We’re in a very central location, on Tottenham Court Road, next to the Warren Street tube stop.

At 2:00 we were driven to the theatre for our first play , which is located in the Lambeth area, home to the London Eye. .

The name of the play is “ Witness for the Prosecution,” written by Agatha Christie and made into a classic film starring Charles Laughton, Elsa Lancaster and Marlene Dietrich ( which you should see if you haven’t). The “ theatre” is actually London County Hall, which, for many years had been the seat of local government. Since 2017, the old council chamber has been been the home to this site- specific production. Imagine a courtroom drama being held in an actual courtroom?! It was incredible.

The play was sensational and an appropriate way to start our playgoing.

Our driver took us around the iconic buildings of central London as we made our way back to the hotel.

We just had a short time to check out our rooms before it was time to go to dinner. We went to Hugs and Bites, a very small, very delicious Mediterranean restaurant owned by two Turkish guys. The food was fabulous! It was a short walk from our hotel.

We were sharing the dishes but when the halva dessert came, I thought it was all mine, but the two other ladies protested. It was sooo good. The other offering was baklava.

We checked out the neighborhood as we walked back to the hotel.

I would like to check out this pub. It looks like fun.

Street art at Warren Street underground station

We spent the rest of the evening unpacking and organizing ourselves for the next four days. We have three more plays and will be seeing our friend Ann Tuesday and Wednesday for two museum visits. It will be busy but fun.

Time for bed! We don’t need to be anywhere until 10:30 tomorrow, when we will learn about the political scene with a short lecture. There will also be a short workshop in the afternoon. It will be a low key day. We see “People, Places & Things” tomorrow night.

We started out today with our usual routine but we did explore a new venue: the casino. It was empty but we were told that it gets busy at night. No, we did not play but we enjoyed seeing the decor. It was more elegant English than vulgar Vegas.

Today’s highlight was the Masquerade Gala Evening and people were dressed to the hilt.

We had surf n turf for dinner, saw the tenors sing show tunes, watched the dancers trip the light fantastic in the Queen’s room at the Masquerade Ball, then finished off the evening at the Commodore’s Club, where we chatted to a charming couple. They are both professors at the University of Oklahoma and he surprised her with this trip to celebrate their 20th anniversary!

Here are some photos from this extraordinary event:

The ladies brought Roaring 20s attire but that worked too.

A masque as a headband worked for me, and it gave me the added advantage of being able to see the party- goers.

I started this post after we returned to our stateroom at close to midnight and gave up on it at 2:00 AM, since it took time for the photos to download. It is now after 7:00 am and I will be up at 8:45 to get ready for our last full day at sea. It’s Saturday and we will leave the ship early Sunday morning. Today will be packing day.

We will be in London Sunday afternoon, to begin our four days of seeing plays. We will also be having lectures. We will have some from free time; we will see our friend Ann Tuesday for lunch at the rooftop museum of the National Portrait Gallery and will visit the Victoria & Albert Museum with her Wednesday morning. . .

the masquerade bsll ended last night, but the adventure continues.

At the last post I mentioned that we were invited to a cocktail party hosted by our two instructors Giles Ramsay and Spencer Jones from the Churchill group . It was quite an affair. It was fun to mix and mingle and get some insights into each group.

I wore the same dress that I wore to the red and gold gala night and had an Apero Spritz, which matched my dress. I hope that I don’t look like a refugee from a ethnic folk dance group. The gold elephant purse was a gift from my nephew, who brought it back from a trip to Thailand. I still look sleep deprived. More on that later.

Kevin, our tour coordinator is a hoot. He keeps the group organized and laughing.

Our instructor Giles is to my right and behind us is Campbell Simpson, the nightly pianist at the Commodore Club

After dinner, we spent our time watching the dancing couples in the Queen’s Room and finished off the evening listening to Campbell at the Commodore Club. He is a very talented artist and seems to play effortlessly without music.

Wednesday we had class as usual and we had a light meal at the Carinthia Lounge while listening to piano music. It was also a nice place to read.
After lunch, we played music trivia, but, unfortunately, we didn’t know most of the music! We did identify “ Venus,” by Frankie Avalon and “ Rocket Man” by Elton John.

We checked out the indoor pool but it was crowded with too many people, so we sat a while and read but didn’t go in. We returned to our stateroom to get ready for dinner.

We really enjoyed the main show, Dana Monique. She was one of the semi finalists on the TV show The Voice and had a dynamic show. The house was packed and the audience went wild. Two of her songs I especially enjoyed were “At Last” and “ Proud Mary.”

Today we ate at the main dining room but didn’t allow ourselves enough time. We did make it to class on time but it was a rushed meal. . I had my hair done at the beauty salon right after class and we went to the traditional tea at 3:30 with the waiters making a grand entrance with their teapots. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture. We had a lovely conversation with a young couple from San Jose. They managed to snag a deal, getting a stateroom that made their trip cheaper than buying an airline ticket! They quit their jobs and will be traveling for one month with a backpack each!

We listened to a lecture after tea about L.S. Lowry, an artist whose work was being displayed at the gallery. After dinner the nightly show had the dancers doing the “ Rhythms of the Night,” with tango, salsa, cha cha and other latin dance moves. Fun!

We have lost an hour almost every night of our journey, which means we are in a constant struggle with jet lag. Sleeping doesn’t come easy at night but we try to stay up during the day so we can sleep at night. This plan doesn’t always work; we both fell asleep in the middle of the art lecture today

It’s almost 2:00 AM.
TIME FOR BED!!

More news tomorrow. It’s our Masquerade Ball night! Will someone come as the Phantom of the Opera?

Tune in to find out.