Quick visit to Edinburgh

I had a trip to one of my favourite cities in Europe, Edinburh, planned for all week. Unfortunately, I had a bit of an accident installing a Japanese-style toilet cistern during the weekend, and did my back in. Result: 2 days bed-bound which felt a bit like a nagging reminder about the fact that I ain't no youngster no more. Darn...

Anyway, I did finally get off to Edinburgh Wednesday evening - even if my back wasn't completely sorted out (but my doctor assumed me there was no danger in travelling). So after a rather painful trip (which included a rather long stopover in Brussels), I eventually arrived in Edinburgh, checking into my hotel (which due to the last minute travel arrangements was rather far from the city centre, unfortunately...) around midnight.

After checking out (and of course, as you can see, photographing) a rather stunning sunrise, it was time to have a breakfast (of the Scottish variant, with a bit of haggis on the side!) and then head over to the office. After a somewhat frustrating day at the office (as the first day of these sort of trips often are, as we try to set everything up to work properly), 'twas time to head to the pub! I started off with dinner at the Queen's Arms in Frederic Street with my colleagues Sandeep and Etienne (had chicken stuffed with haggis, pretty good actually!).

From there, I headed off to the Guildford Arms (where else?) for my rendez-vous with Andy and Jenni. After some nice catching up (about the recent referendum about Scottish independence, amongst other things!) during which a couple of beers were consumed, we carried on to Whistle Binkies.

Now that just proves how some things NEVER change over the years - Whistle Binkies was where I used to come drinking with the mountaineering club chaps during my student year in Edinburgh (predictably, we ran into Iain there - and equally predictably he was, erm, slightly tipsy, let's say).

So a real nostalgia trip then! The next day was a little bit difficult, with a full day at the office followed by a rather laborious trip back to Nice (changeover in Frankfurt this time).