Crochet Guild of America: Tour of Ireland and Scotland Day 14: April 11, 2003 Edinburgh report by CGOA member Barbara Pretzsch

Friday, April 11^th, our last day, we could sleep in! No deadlines to meet.  I decided to go with Delma, Nancy and Kitty to the retired Queen’s Royal Yacht the Britannia.  It was a great decision although hearing others’ adventures any of the possibilities would have been great.

This bus went to “Ocean Side”, the end of the line, so it wasn’t hard to know where to get off.  I had to hold my hand out to the bus driver with what I thought was the right change.  It was!  If I had been there longer I might have gotten used to their money.  I collected my ticket from the machine and went to sit down.  We were whisked away at what I thought was excessive speed – but then most of the traffic was going that fast.  Mo st of the traffic was buses too.  He wove in and out of the traffic making stops along the way.   15 to 20 minutes later we pulled up right in front of the Ocean Terminal Shopping Center and the home of the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

The Center consisted of about 3 stories of shops and restaurants like an American Mall, but the Britannia was berthed just outside.  An audio tour was part of the purchase of the tour.  Many pictures of the Queen and her family lined the walls of the hallway leading to the yacht.  We received our “telephone” with instructions on operating it as we wandered at our leisure through the ship.  We started at the top with the bridge and ended with the engine room at the bottom. In between were some really amazing things.   

Royal Yacht Brittania

The quarters for the Queen and her family was very nice although not as spacious as I would have expected, but the formal State Dining Room was glorious. The crew’s quarters were crampe d, but I guess any ship is about the same.  The galley was spotless and the laundry was huge.  After all, the men on board had to be 100% all the time so it was said that sometimes they changed their clothes 3 times a day. 

The fittings of the ship were beautiful.  They displayed the launch they would use when taking the royal party ashore.  The Rolls-Royce Phantom V that would be unloaded to use on shore was on display. 

We had lunch at the Britannia cafeteria overlooking the harbor and the yacht.  Wandering down the shopping center after lunch I noticed that there were more eating establishments than stores although one end had a nice looking department store. 

After dinner we all gathered in a seldom-used corner of the dining room to say our farewells to each other.  Lots of pictures taken and some crocheting done and pretty soon we were all off to pack for the trip home.

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©2004 Crochet Guild of America. Article and Photographs: Barbara Pretzsch Webweaver: Pam Oddi

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