We are getting to this blog a couple of days late, which means we may have lost some of the details. It was our departure day from Venice........heading to Edinburgh. These transition efforts are always a bit stressful! Our departure time from Venice was not bad at 10:55. That meant getting up around 6:45 in order to be ready for the water taxi at the Cini dock at 8:00 AM.
Looking back, the day worked out fine, but what a series of crazy events! I will try to summarize in sequence:
1. CHANGING WEATHER
We were up and out of the apartment on schedule. The Concierge was waiting for us to unlock the gate.......and the water taxi pulled into the slip just as we arrived. The weather was supposed to be cloudy, but we thought we saw some breaks. It had obviously rained heavily the night before. In fact, we were up several times in the night due to heavy thunder.
2. WILD BOAT RIDE
It now seemed ok, but started to darken as the boat headed to the airport. Our taxi 'pilot' asked that we stay inside on the boat and we were a bit surprised to see him snap on a couple of canopies and plastic protectors. Going through the canals was not a problem, but when he hit open water he sped up substantially, going through some rather choppy water and the beginning of more rain.
We made it to the airport in about 35 minutes.......glad to be back on solid ground. We took the 10 minute moving sidewalk ride to the main terminal and spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out where to drop our bags. Long story short, Easy Jet (our airline) was somewhat obscure in its location. We eventually found where to go and appreciated having paid a little more for 'fast boarding' as it made life much easier through the baggage drop and security line check in.
3. THUNDERSTORMS / DELAYS
We made fairly good progress through the passport control and security lines......and fairly directly to our gate. We were even about 15 minutes ahead of our own schedule. The flight actually started to board much earlier than we expected, almost an hour ahead of departure. It turns out that this was one of those boarding sequences that includes walking to a lower level and waiting for a bus to shuttle you out to the plane......then walk across the tarmac and up stairs to the plane.
In any case, we got to go first as we had some kind of 'easy boarding' status. We went down the elevator with our carry-on bags and arrived at a double glass door, with the bus waiting about 50 feet away. The concern was that is had started to pour. There was some measure of protection with an overhead walkway, but the puddles were building. We made a run for it and even found a seat on the bus. Now that we were on the bus it started to thunder.......and they shut the doors and stopped boarding. We waited for about 10 minutes and then the agent came on the bus and said the pilot had announced a delay, for both weather and technical reasons. We were asked to go back into the terminal again and wait for further notice, probably in 30 minutes.
We got back upstairs to the gate area and it was now mobbed.......must be another flight in the area. I wandered over to the local bar counter and grabbed a quick cafe espresso and a water for Andrea.
We waited about 45 minutes and they called us back to the gate again and we went through the same process. This time everything was a bit more pressured as they clearly were trying to make up for the lost time. We made it on board.......and the flight was packed. We actually had a middle seat open between us until the very last minute! Anyway, I shifted over and we headed off to Scotland!
4. FINALLY MADE IT........but what is with the Edinburgh airport today?
The weather actually started to clear and we had some nice views departing Venice. The flight was only 2 hours and 15 minutes.......so not too bad. We actually ordered a 'Ham and Cheese Toastie' on the plane that turned out to be really good! I was also able to get some work done on my computer......so it all worked out ok!
Also, we had a great view of the Swiss Alps along the way!
We thought we might be out of the woods........but in Edinburgh we hit a crazy 'people jam' at the passport control! Multiple flights must have landed at once. It was a bit of a zoo, but what can you do!
5. NICE DRIVE TO GULLANE
Time passes and we finally escape to get our rental car at Hertz! The good news was also that the weather was clearing here also! The drive to our hotel in Gullane was about 40 minutes to the southeast of Edinburgh. It is always an initial adjustment when you jump into a car with everything on the other side! There is always a sense......both that you are going to do something really stupid and cause an accident. For us, I concentrated on driving, while Andrea is amazing at providing both navigation and general 'alert' warnings as I drift around trying to get reoriented! Actually, it is rather fun once the stress levels lower a bit.......particularly going through the roundabouts backwards!
6. AMAZING HOTEL AND GARDENS - GREYWALLS
The hotel for the evening is called Greywalls. We were really looking forward to coming here for several reasons. Greywalls Hotel is a five-star Edwardian country house uniquely situated on the edge of Muirfield Golf Championship Course just 20 miles from Edinburgh. Built in 1901 as a luxury holiday home, it has all the warmth of a private house but with the style and grandeur of a first class hotel. It offers 23 individually designed bedrooms with views of the rolling East Lothian countryside and Firth of Forth and highly renowned fine dining at its Chez Roux restaurant.
Most important to us, however, were the legacy of the building and its grounds (built in 1900-1902). The building (manor house) was designed by Edwin Lutyens (a favorite of ours........and a reason to come here on its own!) and the gardens were designed by Gertrude Jekyll (probably our favorite landscaper architect of that era). Lutyens and Jekyll worked together for more than 20 years on some spectacular residential properties. This is reputedly one of their most successful collaborations.
We ended up getting a wonderful room in a one-storey wing of the building overlooking the golf course. Everything about this place was enchanting and the ability to arrive here on a sunny afternoon just accentuated the power and charm of the place.
ONE LAST SURPRISE.........THE IMPACT OF THE EARLIER STORMS IN VENICE!
We checked into our room and after a little exploring around the grounds got into the business of getting a bit unpacked. We had not noticed this previously, but our bags must have been left outside in Venice during the surprise thunderstorms. We have never had suitcases get saturated like this.......but that's exactly what happened. It was amazing how much water leaked in through the zippers? or even through the cloth of the bags. What a mess. We ended up unpacking quite a bit and hanging things all over the place. The two lifesavers were the heated towel rack in the bathroom and the set of double 'dutch' doors leading to the terrace from our room. This was also aided by a nice afternoon breeze.
7. PHENOMENAL DINNER - CHEX ROUX
Michel Roux is an English-French chef. He owned the 2 Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche in London, which was opened by his father Albert Roux and uncle Michel Roux,
Chez Roux has been inspired by Michel Roux's childhood memories of life in rural Kent in the 1960s with his father, Albert Roux, who worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family. It also pays homage to the first menus from Le Gavroche in 1967, which closed after more than 50 years of trading in January.
This place was a lot of fun. We stopped for a drink in the bar and managed to get submerged in conversation with the two couples next to us........totally about golf. They were from Milwaukee and were excited that we had visited Whistling Straits, the dunes course on the lake outside of Kohler, Wisconsin.......small world.
The manager/concierge/waiter/sommelier and his cohort seemed to be doing everything, along with a waitress from Toronto. The manager was from Delhi and we had a nice discussion out the work that Lutyens did for the government buildings in Delhi. He seemed to enjoy talking about his experience of knowing about Lutyens in India and then ending up at this hotel.
They took our order in the bar and we were called to our table about 20 minutes later when the appetizers were ready. It was a beautiful evening and we had a nice table with a view of the golf course. The food was amazing........and we won't even try to describe the courses. It was just another great celebration of our "50th Anniversary" road trip!!!
THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT 9:50 AT NIGHT!
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