We headed in to Edinburgh on a mission today. But before I tell you what is was, I'll tell you about our visit to the wonderful National Museum of Scotland. Any museum that has airplanes hanging from the ceiling and on the wall is okay by me, and this one had a collection of them along with many other very interesting exhibits. This museum as are so many others in town have free admission.
Next, guess what we got to do today - our mission for the day!
Pickleball is only played in two locations, one day a week each in Edinburgh, and we found and played at one of them. By doing so we met eight lovely ladies, some who have been playing since 2014 and some who have only recently begun. A woman named Margaret took up the sport when looking for something new when she needed a change from badminton. She has a loyal group that meets weekly in a community center for exercise and fun. They recently were able to get the old floor replaced and they now have a wooden beauty striped for pickleball and badminton with a net that adjusts for both sports.
If you're in town and looking for a game, look up https://www.joininedinburgh.org/activity/6010/ . They only have the one court for now, so there is time for socializing in between games and everyone is so friendly. Ky seemed to be quite alright with being the only fellow there. Bantering and teasing was given and gotten all around. Ky and I are a "tad bit" more competitive than they were, so we had fun with more aggressive play with each other and it made for some good laughs for all of us.
Afterwards three of them gave us a ride back in to town and they gave us good advice on local places to eat. The social aspect of pickleball is really amazing. and having an exercise related mission while traveling is a fun thing which allows me to eat things like a cottage pie, guilt free, for lunch.
After lunch we took a walk back towards town and climbed Calton Hill. In 1724 the town council of the city bought the hill and established it as one of Great Britain''s first public parks. In 1775 the first path was constructed around the hill for "the pleasure and amusement and health of the inhabitants of this crowded city..." Great Britain was pretty busy at that time in a bit of a skirmish called the War of Independence. Really glad they had time to build this park though.
At the base of the hill is the headquarters of the Scottish Government with the Parliament Building, and atop the dormant volcanic mound. there are observatories, iconic monuments and buildings as well as a very big view over all of Edinburgh. There is significant work being done to build a contemporary visual arts space, and there are several restoration projects underway as well as the development of a restaurant space which will have one of the best views in the city, if not the whole country. Good excuse to come in 2019 when it's finished!
Tomorrow is a quick move day. See you after it :-)
Hugs from Scotland!
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