went back to find a fic I read ages ago that has jmart going about Edinburgh for a bit before going to the Safehouse so I can cross reference it with a map and decide all the exact locations they went
so I’m using the lovely “every good intention (is interpretation)” by @gruhukens right?
So in the fic the boys get into the train station (Waverly) and cross the street to hail a taxi. Considering they crossed the street we can tell they went to the right of the station (or left? considering they’d crossed? ANYWAY-) and thus they either went down Leith Street or across the North Bridge. Considering once they get to the hotel they go explore a bit, I’m gonna say North Bridge since that’s more central to the city.
Now here’s where I ran into some issues. I initally just wanted to post them up at good old fashioned Travel Lodge Edinburgh Central just off Nicholson Street. But then we come to where they got dinner. They went to a Thai restaurant, one that was nearby, because - “he’d said, apologetically, that he wouldn’t be up to much wandering, but they could take in a couple of streets at least” - so it would need to be a Thai restaurant - and it’s apparently a small one too - near Nicholson street.
There is a LOT of hotels down this way, but I’m gonna keep it simple and say they stayed in a good old classic, Travel Lodge Edinburgh Central. Barring “Noodle ‘n Rice”, a Thai place on Nicholson street because while it is sit down it’s a little… Corporate? Their only option left within a few streets would be “Shamoli”, which has a weird off-the-street entrance, where you have to go up stairs because it’s above another shop, and considering in this fic Jon has a cane and is, as previously stated, exhausted, I find it hard to believe when choosing any restaurant in the city he’d go to the one up some stairs, especially considering you can’t really see that it’s a restaurant from street level.
So now I’m adjusting the hotel again. This time I went by location of restaurants first and am working backwards from there. I considered that they might’ve gone somewhere close to the University of Edinburgh campus, which makes sense with the going down Nicholson Street in the taxi, but that makes our options “Soi 38″, which looks to be a little casual for perhaps their taste? Or the Teviot Place branch of “Ting Thai Caravan”, which has “hip” and “vibrant” on it’s google maps description which doesn’t really gel with the description of it being “a little sit-down meal in some small Thai place”.
So I move over to closer to the Royal Mile, and I’m looking at “Thai Orchid”. It currently shows up on google maps as a different Thai Restaurat, “Nok’s Kitchen”, as that has since taken over the premises, but on street maps, done in September 2020, it’s a closed down “Thai Orchird”, which as far as I can tell by Trip Advisor reviews, closed in February 2020, possibly later due to Covid. I.E, it still would’ve been there when the boys were there and it’s right next to the castle, something Jon probably would’ve pushed past pain to go see because he’s a nerd, thus mitigating the “would he have climbed the entire royal mile for that while tired?” question. EDIT: I checked and when it was operating, Thai Orchid DID serve Pad See Eew, which is what Martin ordered.
This COULD mean they stayed at the Ibis if we’re assuming they went for a brand name hotel, and that’d work with the Nicholson Street thing, BUT. Edinburgh’s Ibis is at the foot of Old Fishmarket Close. Which Jon would not want to sleep next to for obvious reasons.
IT WAS AT THIS POINT IN THE RESEARCH I REMEMBERED WAVERLY AS AN EXIT DIRECTLY OUT ONTO NICHOLSON STREET AS WELL INSTEAD OF JUST PRINCE’S STREET. I HAVE ELECTED TO IGNORE THIS AS THE OUTCOME IS LARGELY THE SAME, AND ALSO I HAVE ALREADY SPENT 45 MINUTES ON THIS.
ANYWAY. THUS. While it makes less sense to have driven to it from Nicholson Street it’s still possible (as the boys hadn’t been to the city before and thus didn’t know which direction the hotel was in they might’ve crossed just to get away from the crowd at the mouth of the escalators and stairs coming up from the train station) I think the final hotel destination I’m settling on is The Apex in Grassmarket, because it’s at the foot of the castle and has a nice view and I think that’s romantic :)
Also as it turns out, when you google maps it, the car journey brings you to Grassmarket via Nicholson Street and not via Lothian road like I assumed! So there’s support for this!
They also wouldn’t have walked up the full Royal Mile to get to it, thus meaning Jon doesn’t have to walk past Old Fishmarket Close, as they instead likely would’ve gone up the admittedly very steep, but very cool, West Bow, which Martin would’ve enjoyed the aesthetic of.
it is four am. goodnight.
