we finally made it!

well, after a four hour delay on saturday we boarded the plane at 8:30pm...only to sit for another two hours in a sweltering plane as KLM worked on the malfunctioning cabin cooling system. they let us off (only into the jet way) for a bit to cool off and we really wondered if we were going to end up back at our apartment in houston that night. fortunately, they got things fixed and we took off a little after 11pm. we were on our way to amsterdam! dust and i slept most of the way and woke to sunny skies above the city...below the clouds was a different story! amsterdam was cold and rainy but we were so thankful just to have made it there. we had to wait in a really long line at KLM with all the other travelers aboard our plane since the delays caused problems with everyone's connecting flights. fortunately, we made ours...but barely! we were running through the airport but got to our gate as they were boarding. we hopped on a bus which took us out to the tarmac where we jumped on a short flight from amsterdam to edinburgh. we even saw our bags get on the flight as we waited in the rain to board...we were not expecting to be so lucky! much to our surprise, we flew business class on the short flight and ate yummy food and sipped tea in preparation for what would be a beautiful introduction to the city of edinburgh. as we flew in, the sun was setting and the surrounding farmlands were beautiful and every shade of green and yellow. we took a cab ride into the city where i understood about 30% of what the driver said...dustin had to translate the rest. something about the murrayfield football matches and an old hospital that they refused to sell to the queen. :) who knows!? i was just soaking it all up. we got to the hotel at about 4:30pm, dropped our stuff, and headed out while it was still light out. dustin took me to princes street where you get a panoramic view of all that is edinburgh: from the neoclassical new town (where we are staying) to the medieval castle and gothic/romanesque churches in between. this place is unreal. we ventured out to a place called 'slug and lettuce' for dinner and enjoyed a tasty meal, after which we tried to postpone sleep so as to adjust to the time change.

passing LOTS of time in the international terminal at bush welcome to edinburgh! :) princes street panorama from underneath storefront