SLOW SUNDAY

'Drago mi je' he said as we shook hands and parted ways. We were at Sainsbury's across from lovecrumbs. I was looking for sparkling water as the other Sainbury's did not have any bottles in stock. So, I stopped by this one on the way back to the flat.

I noticed three younger guys speaking with heavy accents. Not Scottish. Not British. Some sort of Slavic, I figured, and thought perhaps Croatian. I have heard Italian, German, and French during my stay thus far but nothing close to the language I grew up with.

I walked around to the small produce section and heard one of the guys say something about Bosnia. At that moment I dared asked if any one of them was Slavic as I did not wish to call attention to a specific language due to possible cultural sensitivities. Growing up, I called our language 'Yugoslavian' but that has since changed.

We spoke for one or two minutes with him explaining he is Bosnian, I think heard him say, but lives in England, one of his friends is Latvian, and the other guy from Slovenia. If but for a few moments, it was nice to speak my language since my children refuse to speak it to me at home. At one point I will learn Slovakian in order to speak with my boyfriend.

I recall the discussion I had with the guy and girl at lovecrumbs yesterday regarding languages. The guy said Americans and Brits are the worse when it comes to knowing a language other than their own. We all agreed that knowing multiple languages will get you further in life than simply relying on English and expecting everyone else to know English when visiting a foreign country.

Jetlag had its firm hold on me today as it has the past two days. After my mid-morning jog in Princes Street Gardens where I passed Scott Monument five times, I went home to shower and change for my trek to Wellington Coffee.

I read somewhere online that the scones at Wellington Coffee are the best in town and wanted to see for myself as I have tasted many scones on my travels. I sat outside in the downstairs patio though the shop itself was a few steps below street level.

The scone was large. So large I had to order another flat white with which to finish it off. Coffee is their specialty and the scone was good but my favourite coffee and scones thus far are from Suas Coffeehouse in Ennis, Ireland where the scones are fresh from the oven as they are baked onsite and the coffee made by Conor himself is the best I have tasted.. The scones at lovecrumbs are also good though the one I had the first day I was here was cold and dense as opposed to the desired light and fluffy.

I walked back to the flat, by way of Rose Street where I found a music shop and the Hourglass CD from Dave Gahan for £3. Then I browsed the wares at the gift shop of the Scottish National Gallery in Princes Street Gardens for a handful of minutes.

Once 'home' I decided to take a short nap before going to the cheese shop for a baguette and more cheese. However, my nap was longer than I had hoped. After close to two hours, I awoke and continued with my walk to I J Mellis then onwards to Real Foods where I was once again unsuccessful in locating the plain flour I needed.

My day started off later than I had planned. In the evening I hurried to photograph the sunset, which was not as spectacular as last night, but I was thankful for this slow Sunday and look forward to more days of wandering about this beautiful city.

Travel should not be about hurrying from one place to the next. Whatever our activities, we should enjoy the opportunity to be somewhere other than our everyday homes without the stress of seeing everything there is to offer.