Salisbury Court, Edinburgh, Scotland

Our day started off well enough - the usual routine.   Marilynn's alarm rang at 7:30 am, showered, ate breakfast, got ready for day of touristing.  We set off walking to locate the spot where our tour was supposed to meet tomorrow.  We walked down toward the city center and found Rabbie's where Prince St turned into something else, then we walked back up to High Street toward Edinburgh Castle.

That was the first of things to go wrong.  The castle was fully booked for today.  Then we went to Mary King's Close - an historic site that comprised an old and very narrow street (named after a prominent businesswoman) and the cluster of habitations built next to it from the bottom level which was for the poorest of the poor, to a middle level and than a higher level with richer furniture and larger spaces.  The bottom room served 12-14 people with no windows, a dirt floor, straw to sleep on and a bucket for waste that was then sloshed into the street when full.  The youngest inhabitatant had that job.  There were rats that led to the plague and we learned about two types - the black plague with the red spots of hemorraging and the bubonic with the huge boils that were cut, dowsed with vinegar and salt and then cauterized, all without anesthetic.  I can't remember the wealthier residents so well - maybe the photos will help.  But we did not enter the Close at this point because after Marilynn paid for her ticket, a fire alarm started blaring and we were all evacuated onto the sidewalk.  It lasted quite a while so we moved on.   I had said I was hungry so we stopped at a coffee shop restaurant named Coppersmith.  It looked very nice so we walked in and took one of the two tables next to the window.  Otherwise it looked pretty full.  We waited for someone to take our order.  Finally, Marilynn snagged a waiter and he took our order.  A couple came in and took the other table for two and their friends took the table next to them.  There wasn't much movement on the other tables, but Marilynn had looked at the barista and she was busy all the time.  We watched as the other two tables were given napkins and silverware.  Marilynn then told a waitress that we had been waiting a long time and that the other people came after us.  The waiter came back and apolgogized and said he would put in our order for priority and asked us to repeat what it was.  We continued waiting.  We had only about 45 mins. now before we had to go for our tour at Gladstone Land.  We waited.  Now we saw that the other people were being served.  We spoke to the waiter again and he apolgogized and took full responsibility and said he would prioritze our order....and what was it, again???  We gave our orders for the third time.  Then Marilynn said that she felt like leaving.  By this time, I had changed my order from avocado eggs benedict to scone with jam and cream, like what Marilynn ordered, because I wouldn't have had time to eat the eggs since we had less than 15 min left by this time.  We left.