Edinburgh, Day 3 (4/15/26)

After our (half) marathon walking day the day before, we were more than a little thrilled that we'd thought to plan a rest day, full of experiences, but not so much walking. We had stumbled upon Candlemaker's Row on our first day, while we were meandering through the city to get our bearings, so we knew just where to go for our Islander Bag Experience.

Here's a much better picture of Greyfriars Bobby.
You can see the damage that tourists have caused
by insisting on touching his nose "for luck".

I had been looking forward to building my own bag for months. The funny thing is, I rarely carry a purse, and when I do, it's a concealed carry purse, so to be excited to make one was not very like me. Jay is game to do just about anything while on vacation and he's pretty secure in his masculinity, so he wasn't worried about going to make a bag for himself.

So many options!

Once everyone got up into the craft room, we were given a quick introduction, then turned loose for about ten minutes to choose our pieces. It's a good thing that we were limited to ten minutes, because I could have stayed up at the counter for hours trying different combinations without ever making a decision. Red is my favorite color, and I'd planned on making a red bag, but the options weren't great for red. Instead, a gorgeous blue caught my eye.

All the pieces gathered, now to assemble.

The instructors were great with their instructions and helped us build our bags, step-by-step. After each step, they cruised each table and made adjustments as needed.

Jay was hoping for Iowa Hawkeyes colors, but
they didn't have any, so he opted for earthtones.

When I booked, I thought there was no way that an entire room full of people would be able to assemble their own bags in an hour, but the instructors have this class down to a science, and before we knew it, our bags were complete. It was fun to look at everyone's bags as they made them, and to see how different they each looked just by changing the accessories. I'll admit, there were combinations that I wish I'd thought of.

The blue was a very popular color. At least three people at our
table chose blue.

I've read some reviews that complain that the screws back out over time, but Jay and I have a plan for that: red loctite. I'll use my bag for fun special occasions, and Jay has turned his bag into his travel art kit. So far, we haven't had any issues with the screws. We were each given a repair kit with extra screws and a screwdriver, and a dust cover for storage of our bags. Overall, I was thrilled with the whole experience.

Our next experience was one that Jay chose within a couple of weeks of us deciding to travel to Scotland. Honestly, Scotland was never on his bucket list of places to visit, but it was my turn to choose, so he started looking for things that he'd want to do to make the best of it. Once he found Afternoon Tea, he started looking forward to the trip. And, oh boy, did he find Afternoon Tea! He watched video after video of reviews of different teas around the city and settled on the one at Signet Library. It's the most expensive and highest rated tea in Edinburgh, so he had very high expectations.

This amazing staircase greeted us in the
entryway. 

It might have been gauche to take a selfie,
but we had to commemorate the event.

The library was absolutely gorgeous, filled with shelves of old law tomes in each alcove. The tables were spread out enough to give each party a sense of privacy, and they even had tables tucked into some of the alcoves. 

The tabletops had a mirror over the table cloth, and the tea sets
were sterling silver.

While we waited for our food, we were served our beverages. Jay chose a flat white coffee, and I chose a tea that I didn't love. Luckily, they were very gracious about changing out teas, and I ended up with one that was astounding.

Look at how beautiful this berry hibiscus tea is!

I am not a tea drinker, but this was amazing.

Apparently, I've just been drinking the wrong
teas all along, because this was heaven.

We started off with an Amuse Bouche of tomato and red pepper soup that was exquisite. It seemed, right from the start, that our high expectations were going to be met and then some.

When our savory stand arrived, we were speechless, everything was so masterfully made and presented. I'm a notoriously picky eater, but being married to Jay has cured me somewhat. I will never be an adventurous eater, but I'm more open to trying new foods (as long as he can explain to me what it is, lol).

• Top tray:
• Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties tart
• Pao de Quieio, Romesco, and Almonds
• Middle tray:
• French Onion Veloute and Toasted Brioche
• Squash, Carrot, and Halloumi cake
• Salmon Roulade
• Bottom tray:
• Sweet Potato and Pesto Focaccia
• Miniature Pork Burger

Knowing what haggis is made of, I was nervous to give it a try, but thought that if I was going to try it anywhere, a fancy afternoon tea was my best bet for getting good haggis. I was right, and I really enjoyed the little tartlet. I would have eaten an entire pie of this.

Proof that I tried the haggis.

I'm not a fan of fish, so I passed on the salmon, which was a good choice. It was Jay's least favorite item presented, so if that was the case, I definitely wasn't going to like it. I also passed on the pork burger, because I was stuffed. The thought of putting another savory bite in my mouth was nauseating.

They cleared the stand, refreshed our drinks, and then the sweet stand arrived. Just like the savories, it was full of edible artwork. Despite being absolutely stuffed, I knew I had to have a bite of everything on the trays. Our server suggested that we start with the bottom tray and work our way up, so we did.

• Bottom tray:
• Plain Scone with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam
• Fruit Scone
• Middle tray:
• Chocolate and Salted Caramel Fondant Tart
• Sweet Potato cake
• Limoncello Baba with Pistachio Crema
• Top tray:
• Coconut Mojito with Champagne Caviar
• Oreo Mousse with mini Macaron

I was underwhelmed with the scones, but that's probably because Jay has spoiled me rotten with his. Or, I was just so miserably full that they felt heavy. It was probably a combination of the two.

Not to worry, though, because the middle and top trays more than made up for the mediocre scones. Being so full, it was an effort to try one bite of everything, but I dug deep and managed, even if I was embarrassed by my plate at the end.

My plate as I worked my way through
the middle tray. By the end, it was piled high
with half-eaten desserts.

While my plate was embarrassing, Jay's was immaculate. He cleaned up every crumb so that he'd have the perfect background for each of his photos.

They could have taken his plate to the back
and put it immediately back into service, it
was so clean.

They whisked away our sweets stand, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was amazing, but this girl's stomach was past miserable. However, we weren't done yet. Oh, no. We had one last item - a palate cleanser of Pineapple Sorbet.

My great-grandma always told me that ice
cream melts down and fills up the cracks, so
with that in mind, I found room.

I was in a food stupor when we left the library, and I honestly cannot recall what we did between afternoon tea and our last experience of the day, a ghost tour. I suspect a nap was involved.

The evening sky looked like a painting when we were walking up the Royal Mile to meet our tour guide. I told Jay that the sky reminded me of the painted ceiling at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, with the blues and pinks.

It was a shame that we didn't have such a beautiful sky the previous night, for our hike up to Arthur's Seat.

I love a good ghost tour, and this was a good one. We opted not to do the more popular Real Mary King's Close, and instead chose the Underground City of the Dead tour, which took us through the South Bridge Underground.

The only picture I took, in the first room we ventured into.
Skeleton prop courtesy of Amazon, lol.

Twenty-some years ago, on my first trip to Edinburgh with my friends, we'd taken an underground tour, and it might have been this one, but I don't remember enough about it to be sure. Our guide was entertaining, and a gifted storyteller. The history of the underground vaults is tragic, it's no wonder they're so haunted. Jay doesn't believe in ghosts - at all - but I do. I spent a lot of my young childhood in a house with ghosts. Despite not believing in ghosts, Jay did have to admit that he felt a full-body chill right before the lady standing next to him said she felt the little boy's ghost touch her arm. I felt a tiny, pinprick sensation on my ankle once or twice, but nothing like a hand laying on my arm or holding my hand.

The stories the guide told us were the ultimate in campfire ghost stories, and had we not been able to leave the vaults and go back to our room, I wouldn't have slept a wink!

I'm not sure how we managed it on our low-key rest day, but we still recorded over 29,000 steps (11.53 miles). Our ghost tour was less than a mile, so maybe in my food fugue state, Jay and I wandered the city.