Haggis, anyone?

Over the years I have been very fortunate to be able to travel to many countries around the world to talk about "The Future of the Internet", but for some unexplainable reason, I had never been to Scotland — until this week. It was a wonderful experience for which I am thankful. The Royal Bank of Scotland held a conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and it was attended by nearly 500 of their information technology and business team from around the world. With a connecting flight at London Heathrow, it was a long trip. I arrived in Edinburgh on Sunday morning and Andrew was kind enough to drive me to downtown Edinburgh where I was to stay at the Scotsman Hotel.

As often happens with overnight flights to Europe, the hotel room was not yet ready so there was time to kill. Fortunately, the weather was spectacular — blue sky and 70+ degrees. The first impression one gets of Edinburgh is that is a very old (and beautiful) city. In America we typically think of an "old" city as having been around for 300 years. I don’t know exactly, but Edinburgh is roughly twice as old.

The Old Town of Edinburgh has been at the heart of Scottish history for centuries.
The main thoroughfare is called the Royal Mile and it connects Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyrood House. It is one of those things that is hard to describe — you need to see it to believe it. Robert Louis Stevenson once said that Edinburgh is what Paris ought to be. (read more)