Suddenly I saw this woman charging at me

William Playfair's sculpture of Queen Victoria atop the Royal Scottish Academy on a cloudy Edinburgh morning. 

After an overcast morning in Edinburgh reminiscent of our first trip to Scotland in 2012, the sky cleared into a brilliant cyan which seemed to make the buildings pop.

Like Elizabeth, I felt like I was experiencing a completely different city than the one we saw six years ago on our first visit – even from my first few hours that day. 

Some flowers in the Princes Street Garden with buildings of historic Old Town in the background. 

So there I was enjoying my first sunny hours in Edinburgh and taking some photos of a façade when out of the corner of my eye, I see this woman running toward me. I started to step back to let her pass, then realized that she looked familiar. Really familiar.

The reunion on the streets of Edinburgh. (Photo credit: Alyse Kittner.)

Elizabeth and her group stopped the taxi when they saw me on their way to tea at the Palace of Holyrood House. While they ate their dainty finger sandwiches and enjoyed their Earl Greys and “Vanilla Toffee Treat” teas, I walked up to the ridge of Arthur’s Seat to check out a wide-angle view of the city.

At the Holyrood Palace cafe's tea. 

A shot of the Scottish Parliament building early on my climb up Arthur's Seat. 

As a bonus, we even saw the arrival of His Grace The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, who was staying at the palace from May 15-26. (It’s a good thing we toured Holyrood the first time we were in Scotland because the palace was closed for His Grace’s stay.)

VIPs unloading in front of Holyrood Palace. 

One of the guards in traditional garb at Holyrood Palace.