views from two hotel windows

I travelled up to Glasgow yesterday, via Edinburgh, for a project team meeting the day before a workshop we ran today, in Edinburgh.  So yesterday evening I travelled back from Glasgow to Edinburgh, to overnight here before the workshop.

A nice sunny morning in Edinburgh. 
Some reflection of the double glazing, which was a foot deep and not openable.

We held the workshop -- about 20 people discussing quantum optics and photonic computing -- and then the team travelled back to Glasgow, ready for a project debrief tomorrow (to be followed by me travelling home in the afternoon, via Edinburgh).

A nice sunny evening in Glasgow.

travelling back south

We got up at 7am, and, after breakfast at our Edinburgh hotel, we went into the city centre, where we visited three bookshops in a typical book-buying spree: Blackwell's (9 books), Till's (6 books), and McNaughtan's (5 books).  Our tastes are quite eclectic, and so we were intrigued, but nevertheless not tempted, by these:

We then drove down to Bishop Auckland, to attend Kynren.  This historical re-enactment event must be the north of England's best kept secret. Neither of us had ever heard of it (before Googling for things to visit on our travels), yet it was huge: several thousand in the outdoor audience.  It was amazing (we were fortunate with the weather), with a large cast of actors, horses, sheep and geese, telling the history of England from a northern perspective.  

The Kynren staging makes full use of the path, lake, and surroundings.

Their website says "There are plenty of award-winning toilet facilities around the site" and they are not joking! I have never seen such plentiful and excellent facilities anywhere else.  We had a great time, and even managed to get out of the huge car park relatively quickly once it was over.

We then continued our drive south, arriving in York at about half past midnight.  A long day: I clocked up 55 "heart points" and nearly 20,000 steps.  I slept well!

view from two hotel windows

The Inverness hotel overlooks nice greenery, but there is a big dual carriageway on the other side!

We went back to the Tesco's for breakfast, then into Inverness to go to Leakey's second hand bookshop, where we bought 11 books.  We then drove down to Edinburgh, stopping at Aviemore for lunch.

The view from the hotel window in Edinburgh was not as pretty as the one in Inverness:

But at least the advertised EV charger existed.

A rather weird design!

Another evening charge while we have dinner.

A long day ahead of us tomorrow as we head further south.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time XCVIII

The latest batch, which includes a couple of sub-batches of birthday presents.

ambrosia in a small black bag

My flight from Edinburgh was delayed for an hour this evening, so I had a chance to investigate all the food outlets for something for dinner.  In WHSmith, I came across "bananas in raw chocolate".  It sounded intriguing, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Oh yes.  70g of heaven.

view from a conference centre window

I'm in Edinburgh, at the PPSN (Parallel Processing Solutions from Nature) conference.  I have learned about a new surrogate model optimisation technique: Kriging.

My room doesn’t really have a view from the (very high) window, so the standard photo doesn’t make sense.  Instead, here is a view from the conference centre itself, of a magnificent Scottish mansion: St Leonard’s Hall.

v. good name for a defence lawyer?

Seen recently in Edinburgh: