Line em up day 8

The Last Day, sob sob.

We won't have any words from our Outlandish Spirits directly for the final day, because we didn't carry the blog machine around Edinburgh today.

Gale force winds buffeted the Western Isles and we felt just the tail of it on the Royal Mile.  Bracing!  Very authentic for Claire-returns-to-Edinburgh-1768.

We did all the wee side streets and closes that feature in the book, testing the guests along the way to see if they knew which scene was played out in the place they now stood. Julia was, and has been through the tour, the most.. erm... devoted reader (there's always one on the Jamie and Claire tour whom we suspect has a box of cross-referenced indexed cards with every character and scene cataloged -lol- that would be Julia on this tour.  Hello Danelle from last year to name but one.)  Which of you was it on the Grain Tour?

Debie has not stopped grinning throughout the trip (see yesterday's picture of her with a gnome friend).  Today was no exception.  She kept saying that she was just going to stay in Scotland and not go back.  I'm sure her family can come up with a story about Stones and Gems and being lost in time.

Line em up one more time - Jacobite Glasses

Sam gave "a few wee gifties" as she calls them to our guests (above).  A rare 18th Century style of glass, traditionally engraved with a Jacobite symbol.  Line em up!  Just sayin'.

Sam went running about some local shops and discovered some that specialize in proper Scotland items, made in Scotland and not some foreign land and came back with the locations for our Outlandish Spirits to visit later.  She also ran into and had a good chat with Mike Katz and Alasdair White of "The Battlefield Band".  Alas, they were not playing in town this day.  But she recommends that you buy one of their cd's and enjoy some good Scottish music.  She has seen them in concert in the past.

After most everyone said goodbye, I decided that we should do a pub crawl for some local ales and 'convinced' Julia, Monique and Glenda to join in.  Luckily it was on their way to their accommodation (complete with swimming pool and spa - another J&C Tour first) so the lasses didnae have far to stagger, I mean walk.  Then more goodbyes and aye fond farewells as the song goes.

We shall truly miss this group of haggis eat'n, whisky, ale and sambuka drink'n, bunny chasin', and most important Jamie chasin' (except for Ron, who kinda likes Loighaire) Outlandish Spirits ... Just sayin'.