December in Edinburgh

December in Edinburgh means Winter Wonderland. Princes Street is busy with shoppers and the Gardens are full of fun things to do. There's the Big Wheel, the Markets full of the smells of burgers, mulled wine, crepes and coffee. There's the ice rink and the rides. It's actually great fun.

On Saturday Rua and Orla had their annual Christmas Party paid for by IBM. Santa showed up:

Presents were given out, food was eaten, magician show was watched and balloons shapes were made. Martin took them while Morgan and I went and explored the sights and smells of the Christmas Market.









We bought a crepe and a burger, he went around the Ice Maze and had a go on the Helter Skelter. (That wasn't so good as he hurt his hand coming down.) Then we went to get a hot drink to escape from the cold rain. We sat and knitted and read while trying to look out of steamy windows. Then we did a little shopping and met up with the party goers. Orla was now out of her party dress and dressed more sensibly so we decided to go on the Big Wheel. Fortunately it had stopped raining by now and the light was rather wonderful. So after queueing for 20minutes we got on and off we went. It was lovely - we got some amazing views over the city and Martin took some rather wonderful pictures.

Here's me, Orla and Morgan having fun on the wheel: