Our last 2 days in Scotland (Apr 30|May 1)

Monday we checked out Calton Hill then spent most of the day checking out pubs and shops around the Grassmarket area. While looking for another place we stumbled upon a pub called Brew Dog where they serve their own microbrews. It was such a nice change not to see taps with all the regulars: Stella, Tennents, Guinness. Real ales are not as easy to come by as we thought they'd be. We tried a hopless American Saison, a black lager, then shared one that has 15% alcohol, achieved using champagne yeast. Servings were restricted to 1/3 pint but it was a real treat!

We ate supper at a Spanish tapas place then went back to the hotel to get bundled up and went back to Calton Hill for the Beltane Fire Festival, a moving performance involving dancers, drummers and fire progressing from station to station. It is put on every year to signify the change of seasons and is based on pagan celebrations of the past. There were around 11,000 people taking in the performance.

On our last day in the city we went to Edinburgh Castle then had a late lunch and wandered a bit, settling on a pub that turned out to have a very sweet resident black Lab. We then headed to Divino Enoteca wine bar where we each had a flight. Great fun comparing notes and tasting eachother's selections. We had supper upstairs at Italian restaurant Vittoria's then headed back to Frankenstein Pub to have the test tube shooters promised to Jeff that we tried to have the night before only to have the power go out in the block a few minutes after we'd arrived. We ended the night by dancing a not too bad military two step at another ceilidh. This one is a weekly event put on by the Edinburgh Ceilidh Club. Lots of fun and great dancing!