It was a lovely afternoon here in Edinburgh, so my wife and I went out for a few drinks to a few pubs near our house.
We had blue skies and beautiful sunshine, so the plan was to find a beer garden somewhere.
First stop was the Murrayfield hotel, where we had a couple of Menabreas - an Italian lager - quite nice too ! Very refreshing. We managed to get a nice seat outside the pub. We were sitting under a cherry blossoms and the table was covered with the dropping blossoms, as it has now passed flowering !
We are close to where Scotland plays its international rugby - murrayfield stadium, and this pub gets absolutely mobbed on game days. They must make an absolute fortune each time Scotland plays at home ! Its a nice enough pub, although a little expensive.
Across the road from that pub is the Chinese Embassy ! I noted that the flag seemed to be at half mast.
We decided to go for a wee pub crawl and hit the four bars that are along this street. Next stop was The Hampton, which was just a few doors down.
In here we had a few Coors - American lager this time. It was quite a nice pub, and I think we have only been in it once before, maybe over a decade ago. The food looked pretty nice, and the prices were good, so I think we will be visiting again !
And onto the next pub. Walking on down the road we passed Murrayfield Rugby Stadium.
We also passed the Rolls Royce dealership. Just waiting for HIVE to moon before I pay them a proper visit !
The next pub was called the Murrayfield, which we quite like.
I went for a Heineken lager (Dutch) while my wife dropped onto Chenin Blanc wine. Had a nice wee chat to the barmaid in here, and she had just finished her final exams on her international languages degree course. It turns out we went to the same University, although 30 years apart !!!
The murrayfield is interesting in that it has some fake trees inside it !
Then for our last stop we went to the other corner of the block, to the Roseburn Bar. Its a great pub !
I had a McEwans 70 shilling (a Scottish ale) while my wife went for Pinot Grigio white wine. And we fancied a few crisps/chips to go with our drinks.
There was a good crowd in the pub. The Roseburn is a very popular Edinburgh pub, so its always got a decent crowd. And it sells good beers, holding quite a nice selection, with a good number of guest ales.
From there we decided to head home. It was still quite a nice evening.
We passed this plaque on the bridge at Roseburn - quite an interesting piece of local history !
We then got settled at home to watch the Eurovision song contest. And of course, being British, we had to have some bucks fizz (prosecco and orange juice) - seeing as that was the name of one of our most famous winners.
For those that dont know, its an awful television show that happens once a year where all the countries in Europe put forward a song to win the competition. To be fair, the majority of the songs are usually terrible - I've no idea why they pick them, and last night was no different. My fav song from last night, the German entry, came last, and the UK was second last ! Sweden won - their tune was ok. Its a bit of a thing to watch it here and I have done so just about every single year since I was a kid. Its crap but fun !
Anyway, that wraps up or mini-pub crawl and Eurovision watching. Hope you all are having a great weekend !
All the best from Scotland !