We are up by 6 a.m. today so that we can get packed and then have breakfast in the Scholar Restaurant in the hotel. Breakfast is included with our room--we always try to do that as we just aren't ready to brave the world before we have some coffee or tea.  The breakfast buffet was great--all the ingredients for a Scottish breakfast plus fruit and pastries.  

  Then it is off we go for our final day in Scotland.  It was a beautiful sunny morning and the drive to Edinburgh went smoothly. The problem came once we entered the city where the GPS which we needed to help us find our way through the maze of streets wouldn’t work. It didn’t know that many streets were torn up while they build a new tram system.  The disembodied voice kept saying "Turn right! Turn right here! Turn right NOW!" In fact we were all yelling at the GPS as if it was a sentient being! Isn't that the craziest thing? Anyway the result was it took us much longer to find our guest house, Craigmoss, the same one where we stayed at the beginning of our trip.  

  We left our suitcases and everything else in the dining room and found our way back to Hertz to return our car.  They checked the car but thank goodness there were no scratches, or dents on it!!!  We (well I should say Mike) drove 1100 miles with no disasters!  We had confusion and scares as we tried to maneuver in those crazy little roads but a car is essential if you don’t want to go on a bus tour.

   We decided then to walk from the Hertz rent-a-car place to eat lunch at Nicholson's Conan Doyle Restaurant. They weren't ready to serve until noon so we walked around the area just enjoying our last day in Scotland. About 11:45 we returned and they let us come on in and be seated. We of course ordered a pot of tea for two and Mike had Thai Green Curry while I had Haddock Fish cakes which came with boiled potatoes and greens. After lunch we thought we would find Conan Doyle's statue which was supposed to be near. Nope couldn't find it even with our map and guide book. So we just walked to the downtown mall and shopped in a store called Pound Land (a Scottish Dollar Store), and in one called SportsDirect where we shopped for t-shirts. After meeting back up with Dennis and Sandy we walked back to the Craigmoss Guesthouse.

  Once back at the guesthouse we checked in and put our luggage in our rooms. We are in room 1 on the 3rd floor and this time the bathroom is in the room. Sandy was tired so decided to rest and Mike and I went back out for a walk. We walked up to the Leith walk and toward the harbor searching for the Royal Yacht Britannia again. We saw lots of boats but could never find the yacht. Apparently it is not for us to see it this trip as this is the 2nd time we have searched and not found it. I am now very exhausted so we found out way back to the hotel so we could also rest before dinner.

  We asked Harry the owner where would be a good place for dinner. He suggested a pizza place just up on the Leith Walk--about 3 blocks from the guesthouse--called La Favorita.  It was very crowded but we managed to get a table. Mike and I split the special seafood pizza and he had a rugalo e parmesan salad and I had an insulata mista. We also shared a 1/2 bottle of Valpolicella.  We all had a lovely dinner and agreed that Harry had sent us to a great place for dinner.

   We walked back to the room and packed everything so we will be ready to go first thing in the morning. We have an early day tomorrow so it's off to bed at an earlier time than usual.