I last visited Edinburgh on a very very short visit back when it was heading into winter in November. At this stage Rache was still living in London. That trip was kind of a weird one because though I could technically say I was in Edinburgh … I don’t think we really did any sight-seeing type stuff at all. The visit this time wasn’t that much longer to be honest but it was still a good visit nevertheless.

I took a half day from work to catch the mid-afternoon train up. The train was late by leaving by about half an hour, which caused me a little bit of concern that we would be late for dinner but I needn’t have worried as our 9pm booking gave me more than enough time to make it to Kitchin. Pretty much that was all of our Friday night!

Saturday saw a fairly relaxed start to the day. It was actually festival time in Edinburgh which is always a fantastic time to visit the city as its all abuzz with all the artists in town, not to mention loads of tourists, who are annoying in normal situations, but give Edinburgh quite a lively atmosphere at this time of year. In hindsight I wish I could have taken better advantage of the festival and really booked in some more shows however, as time was limited and my primary goal was to spend time with Rache, I didn’t want to overload my time up there getting carried away attending shows.

One show we did see was called Your Days are Numbered: Maths and Death. The show title really tells you what the show is about – though the subject is dark, Death, the show sets about establishing how it is that each audience member had a 0.000043% chance of dying … umm …. Yeah. So, slowly as the members of the audience “died” off by various causes – we are taken through a journey of what statistics mean in the concept of death, e.g. you are more likely to die from smoking a cigarette than taking a tab of ecstasy … right. It was an amusing show but did have its slower moments when I was fighting off sleep (but I blame that entirely on the late night the night before …)

After the show we headed over to the Foodies Festival at Holyrood Park. The festival has nothing on what we have in London – but what it did have was that added touch of combining comedy and food. We were lucky to get into the Tim Vine show – a hilarious guy who thoroughly entertained us for his slot. I think I like his boxing popcorn the best – the new way to get fit.

We also went in to see the guys from the Rutland, one of Edinburgh’s top dining places. Sadly this was a little less funny and entertaining than Tim Vine’s show but we did have the added bonus of getting to try some cocktails and a lovely dessert.

For the evening we headed somewhere (I have no idea) for a booze cruise with a bunch of Rache’s friends from here work – where we had a live band and got to see a beautiful sunset.

Though it finished at 11.30 I don’t even know what time we got home between not being able to get a taxi back into the city, stopping at a night club (I think we left around 3am), stopping for some cheese and chips at one of those places you stop after being out all night and where we met this Hugh Jackman look-alike, or should I say Wolverine, getting rejected by the bouncers at the casino because one of us, I won’t name names, was too drunk!, and just walking around. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been nearing sunrise by that time .. don’t get me wrong though – I had an awesome time!

The strip club was an interesting experience. I’ve been trying to get the boys in London to take me for ages but I think they’re too embarrassed! But luckily Matt and another of Rache’s friend was well up for it. The first strip place, the Pleasure Palace, wouldn’t let us in because they had a no girl policy. I could understand – I mean, how hot are Rache and I! ha ha! The Sapphire, the next place we tried, was much more accommodating. Inside girls danced around three poles on the floor – because of the mirror behind them I think they spent most of their time looking at themselves! If they weren’t on the poles (about every 15 mins or so there would be a “performance” they were lounging about on the loungers or speaking to the punters). In the performance some took off their tops and others didn’t. In all it was a lot more modest than I imagined it would be! We had a really good time there however as the music was really really awesome, fantastically sexy of course, drinks were reasonably priced, it wasn’t overly crowded and we had a pool table to entertain us!

As a result of Saturday, Sunday was pretty much a write-off. All we had time for was brunch at Two Thin Laddies where I had possibly the largest pasta serving I’ve had in my life for one sitting … before Rache walked me back to the station to catch the train back to London. It was a great weekend though – and was very happy to spend the time with Rache.