I returned late last night from a little trip to Edinburgh.  I had to be there for work on Monday morning and decided to go early and take the opportunity to spend some time with Lara.  She is only an hour and a half on the train from Edinburgh so she met me there 🙂

I caught an early flight and arrived just after 10am.  My first food of the day, apart from a cuppa at home, was a coffee and a ham and egg sandwich from EAT.

I arrived to a very sunny Edinburgh.  The buildings in Edinburgh are quite stunning, especially in the sunshine.  This is the view from the outside of my hotel, across Waverley Street train station towards Princes Street which is the central shopping street.

I stayed at Jurys Inn which was well located for the centre.  The perfect sized room too for an economy hotel,  as our room had 2 beds.

Unfortunately I had to work all morning and when Lara arrived it was very overcast but still beautiful.

These are the buildings at the end of our street which are typical architecture of that part of town.  Up the steps is the Old Town, where we headed for the evening.

We set off, over Waverley Bridge, to get to the ‘Royal Mile’ which is the shopping district. Not in the market for a kilt! Look how beautiful this is.  On one side of the street are shops which look out over the castle. The Autumn colours were a bright and jolly contrast to the austere and bleak castle.  Austere and bleak in a dramatic and stunning way.  I really like it.

Very dramatic and quite lovely.We mainly shopped though for the afternoon.Neither of us had lunch and we were hungry late afternoon so we popped in to a Patisserie Valerie.  I resisted all their gorgeous cakes and chose a not very diet friendly but at least sugar free or low sugar (do croissant have sugar in them?) croissant with Gruyere and mushrooms.

A mediocre meal but I was really enjoying my girlie afternoon and was not at all bothered by the averageness of the food.Hmmmmmm ……… maybe not!
By late afternoon it was dark and raining which did nothing to dampen our spirits.  We set off up to the Old Town to find a cosy pub.It didn’t take long.  In fact this little gem was halfway up the first stair case we went up.
I asked for a whisky and was asked which one.  “A single malt please”.  At which point I was informed they had 40 to choose from!!  Now you don’t get that choice at home ! This is just about all of the interior!  It really was tiny and just perfect.  It was cosy, warm and friendly and I really enjoyed my beer and whisky.   It seemed so decadent and such a treat to sit in the pub on a Sunday afternoon.  Well, I suspect more so for me than my glamorous companion! We strolled on.  There are so many alleyways that look very intriguing.  I really wished I had more time to look around. The weather did not encourage walking though so we stopped at another pub – the Jolly Judge.  Another splendid array of whiskies to choose from.I have not seen directions on the pavement before but what a good idea – especially when it’s raining as it saves you looking up for a street sign and getting water in your eyes.
We ended up in a fantastic Indian restaurant I had been in before – Indian Cavalry Club.  Quite possibly the tastiest Indian restaurant I have ever been in.  The decor and service were excellent too.  I blogged about this restaurant previously here.  We nibbled poppadoms which were completely perfect while we browsed the menu. I had ‘Afghan Rice’ which had spices and chickpeas in it.  With an onion bhaji, sag alu and  a Bori Massallam which I have never had before.  At the Cavalry Club you choose the meat or fish or vegetarian option and then the sauce and they recommend the side dish for you to accompany it.  I chose lamb and the sauce was thick, piquant and just lovely. If you are ever in Edinburgh, I can not recommend this restaurant highly enough – unless you are on a budget as it isn’t cheap.  I didn’t eat the chocolates by the way!

We enjoyed a hotel breakfast together (2 slices of toast with 2 eggs for me) and then Lara caught her train and I went to work.  I was glad of a good breakfast as I didn’t have anything else all day, apart from a latte, until I was at the airport at 6:30pm!

I had a Tom Yum from EAT but I didn’t like it much.  It was very bland but spicy which may seem contradictory but if you tried it you would know what I meant.  I ate about half of it and then bought a baguette with ham and Jarlsberg which was much better! I couldn’t wait to get home – I was very tired after my busy 2 days in Edinburgh.

I only ate twice today too.

I took a latte in to work, skipped breakfast and munched this while I worked through lunch.  It was brown Basmati rice, tuna (in water), cucumber, red pepper, celery and carrots. Supper was very quick to prepare; a salmon fillet, with a baked sweet potato, spinach and peas.  While it was cooking I ate about 10 almonds and I did add butter to the spinach and potato.  But that was it.Apart from the latte, I only consumed green tea (no milk) or water all day.  So a reasonable days eating today.  I didn’t snack between meals at all in Edinburgh but my meals were high calorie ones so I need to cut back so I was pleased with today’s efforts.