Edinburgh

Today we went into the city of Edinburgh. Fortunately Bec was well enough to tentatively join us. After arriving too late for the service at St Giles cathedral we had lunch at a cafe we found in a back alley (photo of my unusual lunch attached!). The most eventful thing that happened during the meal was definitely when a 50cm sliced off portion of wood fell out of nowhere and hit Hugh clean in the face! It was lucky that it missed his eyes. We also discovered a new Scottish drink called "Irn Bru". I can testify to it being absolute rubbish, however the kids seem to like it (photo of Jane attached). We then went to the castle. I enjoyed seeing where the Stuarts lived, but the rest of the family disappeared pretty quickly to listen to a lecture about medieval torture techniques (all except Elizabeth that is, who staged a walk out while the boys listened with excellent concentration and behaviour). After this we went to a service at St Columba's Scottish Free Church (main photo). It was a blessing in disguise that we missed the earlier service at the cathedral, because this church was great, and very similar to what we're used to. The main difference was definitely the hymns, most of which are just straight psalms sung without any instrumental accompaniment. This actually sounded much better than you'd expect. We also had a sermon on Psalm 127 which talks about big families being a blessing from God. This was a great and timely encouragement as Bec and I have often spoken in the past few weeks about how much less welcoming Britain is of big families than Australia. After this we had another fine Scottish meal before going home (extra photo of me having a drink with Hugh while we waited). The final extra is taken in front of the Sir Walter Scott Monument (which like most of Edinburgh has never been washed).