Date Nights

One benefit of going to the gym is the kids club (called Club V). I'm able to get about an hour a day to exercise and have guaranteed quiet. And, I've met some nice young ladies in Club V that have agreed to babysit our girls! The girls are excited whenever we have a babysitter over. They know that they get to stay up a little later and they really seem to have a lot of fun. And, Cole and I really enjoy going out to explore the city without the kids. This means we can eat in nice restaurants and more importantly we can walk our own pace without lugging around 40 pounds worth of stuff.

The first night, we went for a long walk down to Princes Street. We walked to an area of the old town that looks kind of like an Acropolis and climbed around. We then walked through an old graveyard and saw the gravestone for the philosopher David Hume. The next two times we went out Cole's foot was not feeling right. We still walked around town, but we tried to take it a little easier. On Tuesday night, we climbed Arthur's Seat! It was so wonderful to be outside hiking again. We understand that it is merely a hill, but it was definitely a workout. After our trek, we went to a wine store and purchased some beer to take to Kismot (the Indian restaurant). They don't sell alcohol there, but you are allowed to bring your own. We had such a lovely time. 

We were supposed to go out this coming Friday, but on Wednesday morning I learned that we couldn't. One of the ladies at the gym said that she could babysit, but only on Wednesday night. Katie begged and begged for Miss Susie to come over. So, we gave in and decided to have a babysitter two nights in a row. This time, we went to explore a different part of Holyrood Park, and in particular, wanted to find some old ruins that we had spotted from atop Arthur's Seat the previous day.  

The ruins are from a very small church named St. Anthony's Chapel, which was built not later than the early 1400s.  It overlooks St. Margaret's Loch, and gives great views of the city.  

After hanging around here for a little while, we decided to see if we could spot a fort that was east of the park (we couldn't) and ended up climbing up through the park in search of nothing in particular.  We ended up right next to Arthur's Seat again, but given that it was getting late, we skipped the brief climb to the top and headed down.

Admittedly, we were hungry and not feeling particularly creative in terms of restaurants.  And so, it was back to the beer store and then to Kismot.  It was great that we'd interacted with people at both places the day before.  The divinity major who works at the beer joint -- and really knows his beer -- remembered us and suggested a few beers that he'd forgotten about the day before.  When we got to Kismot, the waiter took our order, hesitated, and said, "ah, and I remember that you wanted it spicier this time!"  

And it was.