The car had to be returned by 10 am, so we had a relaxing morning in our little attic apartment atop the spiral stair. The living room had a large bookshelf with a wide assortment of books, so we spent some time looking at the selection. We had plenty of time, so we ventured out for a quick run. It was a Sunday morning and the city was still quiet, almost like we had it to ourselves as we ran around the hill at the base of the castle. A most satisfying run! Our host provided us with some breakfast snacks, so we didn’t even need to venture out to get food before the car was due back.
I had come to enjoy our little rental car, wishing that the sub-compact market in the States would be as bountiful as in Europe. We passed by the rental place, and stopped at a fuel station, topping it off before the return. It only required one tank for our journey with an impressive 50 MPG (converted for U.S. gallons). We dropped off the car and walked the trail back toward the center of Edinburgh. We had picked a place to grab our daily dose of clotted cream and flat white coffee.
The rest of our day was spent walking around town, traversing the various ‘closes,’ side passageways that lead to other streets, basically alleyways that are covered. We spent some time at Holyrood park, overlooking the city in the late afternoon, as the sun started to lower in the sky. We did our share of souvenir shopping and closed the day out doing what we did most, walking about the city.
This was our last day. The whole of our time in Scotland was restful, just what a few stressed out Americans needed. A reset of time. But, it was coming to a close. We had an early morning ahead of us, one that would see us going back to our daily lives. Diving back into the routine, willing ourselves to work. It was a great week in Scotland!
