We had a beautiful last day in Edinburgh today. The weather was sunny and almost warm (by Scotland’s standards…we were still wearing our parkas). We caught the bus into town and went to Scotland’s records office where you can search for Scottish ancestry through their records. The staff were lovely and extremely helpful. Only one person can go in at a time so I was the chosen one searching for my three times grandmother Ann Sutherland who was born in Lanark in 1817 and immigrated to Australia in the early 1850s. I found her birth record, the record of one of her brother’s birth, and marriage record of her parents in 1814. There is more to find but it was fun to do some searching in the archives.

After that we walked into town and wandered around the New town. Mum and I had coffee and a scone in a lovely tea shop in Frederick street. Then I bought a pair of floral suede desert boots. We also went into The North Face later in the day and spent a lot of money. I now have a fabulous zip up long sleeve top and my parents have new jackets. After we ate a leisurely lunch at The Scottish Cafe and Restaurant with my aunt and uncle and from there we said farewell to them. They headed to Holyrood Palace and we headed off to find The Oxford Bar made famous by Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels. We found it easily and took some touristy photos. Then I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Radley shoulder bag in teal. In my defence it was 30% off. I have instructed my mother to speak extremely sternly to me if she says me looking to buy anything bigger than a postcard or jewellery for the next two weeks. My suitcase and bank balance simply will not cope.

Tomorrow we head off early up through Inverness to the highlands where we are staying at Bettyhill.