Leaving Edinburgh was easier than leaving Salisbury, but perhaps that has a little to do with being a bit more comfortable on the 'wrong' side of the road as well as having a better handle on where we were trying to go! 

We packed up our lovely Edinburgh apartment and drove to the airport where we picked up a good friend of Jennie's who was arriving for the wedding.  It was a fairly easy 45 minute drive out to Greywalls, in Muirfield.  The British Open just wrapped up here and they are quite literally in the process of taking down and removing huge temporary buildings and enormous seating areas.  It's so interesting to be able to see it like this, and it will be fun to compare it when we're leaving to see how much progress they have made.  What a gigantic undertaking - from our room I can literally see at least 4 huge set of stands that must hold at least 1000 people each, and we're only looking out at one side of the course!

The hotel itself is so pretty, it was built in 1901 as a holiday home and has 23 suites - now that's what I call a holiday home!  There are some very interesting pieces of furniture in our room, and what we thought was a little seat turned out to actually hold a little bedpan/chamber pot.  Thankfully our room contains a bathroom so we won't be needing to use it, and I feel sorry for whoever had to empty that thing back when it was in use!

We unpacked our suitcases and got ourselves a bit organized then headed out to the beautiful Edwardian garden for a refreshment.  Refreshments go one of two ways here… either cocktails or tea.  We chose the first way (I chose a Pimms , the girls were pragmatic and went for still water, while Jeff jumped right into the English/Scottish garden scene and stuck with a traditional gin and tonic).  My parents arrived shortly after and were meeting up with Chloe and Julia for a traditional tea (scones, cakes, cucumber sandwiches, etc) while Jeff practiced his usher role at the wedding rehearsal.  I flounced around between the tea (I was hungry), the rehearsal, and various other socializing activities.  The entire venue is rented out for the wedding which means that every single person you run in to is somehow connected to the bride or groom.  That makes it a pretty special event and very comfortable.

We had a fabulous dinner BBQ in the garden with the most amazing shrimp - who cares about the other stuff because it was crazy good.  The conversation, food… absolutely everything was fantastic and we had a great evening meeting people who cared as much about the couple as we do.  Simply great.  We are really looking forward to the nuptials tomorrow and Jeff and Hap will kill some time in the morning with a round of golf while the girls do something else, as of yet undetermined.  I'm hoping to walk into the cute little town of Gullane to do a little sight seeing… but maybe we just sit in the delightful garden, who knows.

Tomorrow I wear my fancy hat!  :)