Holiday Scavenging - Last Thing In Scotland

Where did we get to with my first installment with Scottish scavenging ... oh yes, the lack of garden gnomes!  There were quite a few items I struggled with, but more because I was in "holiday" mode rather than "spotting-obscure-items-along-the-way" mode - I kept forgetting to look for birds on a wire (#3) and there was NO way I was getting up early enough to photograph a sunrise (#13)!

Another item I was struggling to find was a mascot ... I did wonder if

a Scots Piper was emblematic of Scotland and would count ... or perhaps a cute Scottish bear, cuddly Nessie or furry long-horned sheep might fit the bill?  Perhaps this photo including someone else's hand could tick off Mascot, Horn *and* Photo-Bomber?

#10 Handy Photo Bomber

OK maybe not - but there were real horn handled knives in the next window along!

#11 Horn

One sunny evening we climbed the steep stepped hillside to enjoy the view on Calton Hill, including a sunset over the city sights.

As the lights went on we descended again and passed several stunning lampposts:

#17 Lamppost(s)

We enjoyed a great trip out to Leith Docks to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia (no garden gnomes there either funnily enough ... not much garden either!)

#12 A Mascot

But there was a Rolls Royce on board ... with the Rolls Royce mascot "Spirit Of Ecstasy" :-D
The lift doors in the adjacent shopping mall also gave me a chance to capture a juggler (sorely lacking amongst the street entertainers we'd seen)!

#15 A Juggler

On our final day in Edinburgh we ascended the tower containing the Camera Obscura, getting some fun photos along the way:

As well as a bird's eye view of a painted bus ...

#20 A Painted Bus

#21 A Photo Of Me With Something Representing The Season

... and Mum took a photo of me (with Hubby & Child No.3) wearing seasonal sunglasses!

After lunch we popped around the corner from our rented town-house to take a look at the gloriously weird new Scottish Parliament building ...

#16 (again) Signs in a language other than English

... where I spotted (lots) more Gaelic and was able to Zoom In (for the 29th time with Helena) on some very fancy letters for the blind!

#16 (again) English, Gaelic, Braille & Moon

Well how did my holiday scavenging do?

Part 1 scored: 8/21 (1,4,5,6,8,9,16,19) and one substitution (B for 2)
Part 2 scored: 7/21 (10,11,12,15,17,20,21)
Plus our journey home (ZIZO #26) added two more (7,18)

Total score: 17/21 + B (Missing #2 Gnome, #3 Birds On A Wire, #13 Sunrise, #14 Parade)

Not toooo shabby for such a short trip; now it's back to normal hunting for the rest of the summer - are you scavenging with Rinda too?

Holiday Scavenging - First Trip To Scotland

Last year I did succeed in completing Rinda's 2013 Scavenger Hunt entirely during on our Scandinavian road trip.  Which was just as well, because my scavenging outside the holiday didn't manage to tick all the boxes.
This year, I thought it would be a taller order to complete the 2014 Summertime Scavenger Hunt in a week's break in Durham and Edinburgh ... and so it has proved :-(
Let's see what I managed:

First there was another visit to No.1 Son and his lovely girlfriend in their new house ...

and I knew where to Zoom In (for the 28th time) ... to find a tattoo on a person:

#8 A tattoo on a person

Please don't ask me what the chemical symbols are ... trust me, you don't want to know!!
After a couple of days visiting with them, we drove on to Scotland where we were thrice welcomed:

#1 Welcome to Scotland (in Gaelic too)

#1 Welcome to Edinburgh

#16 A multi-lingual sign outside a pub

We stayed four nights in a lovely 3 bedroom town-house near the Royal Mile and our walk to the city's attractions would either take us past a bakery ...

#9 A bakery

#6 An urban street scene

... or some amazing graffitti.  Our first stop was the Tourist Information Centre, where we spotted (you guessed it!) tourists ...

#4 A group of tourists

#5 A rack of postcards

... and postcards!  Having picked up a map or two we made our way past the Princes Street Gardens and spotted Edinburgh Castle in the distance:

#19 Public Gardens

Substitute B A birdhouse

What an amazing ornamental clock ... plus a bird house instead of a garden gnome!  I could not spot a gnome anywhere ... the Scots must have too much taste!

Score so far: 8/21 (1,4,5,6,8,9,16,19) and one substitution (B for 2) plus ZIZO #28
Part 2 of my Holiday Scavenging coming soon!