Day 7: In which we sample the food of Lerwick

 Today was far more active than yesterday, having made it up and down "Da Street" (Commercial Street) twice.

Our first outing was to The Dowry for coffee with Denise's fifth cousin, once removed, Helena Mackay.  The Dowry is so busy that she had to reserve a table just to have coffee!  I have to say, it was a great table as it looked out over the harbour.  Denise and Helena did most of the talking, but Eric, Nigel, and Laura, got a few words in edgewise.  We were lucky to meet Nigel, who is Helena's partner.  After an hour they had to leave as they had some shopping to do for this weekend's family reunion / birthday party.  We're excited to see them, and the rest of the family, on Saturday.

We had to walk back along the Esplanade as they're tearing up parts of Commercial Street for repairs prior to the Tall Ships arriving next week.  We enjoyed the view of the harbour.

We went to the Peerie Shop and picked up some souvenirs and even more postcards.  Some people reading this blog will receive them.  We talked a little to the employees in the store and while they're looking forward to the Tall Ships, there's also some anxiety as to how busy Lerwick will be.  This is one of the first major events (besides Wool Week and the yacht race) since Covid, and it's going to be the busiest thus far.

We have talked a lot about the convenience of where we are, in particular the closeness of the coffee.  To demonstrate, Laura took a picture of where we are versus where the coffee is, and then made some important edits to the photo as you can see below.

After our long and arduous walk in downtown Lerwick, complete with detour, we rested (with coffee from the Blyde Welcome) for the afternoon.  We had dinner reservations at 6.

Laura made arrangements with the restaurant No. 88 so that I could enjoy a nice meal out.  Not only did they rearrange the menu for me, but also extended our reservation time so that I would be able to eat it all!  The walk down was faster than we expected, and we were there 20 minutes early.  It drizzled the whole way down.  We have learned that when the weather report here says a 10% chance of rain, what they really mean is that it will rain 10% of the time.  We have yet to have a day without rain.

 The service at No. 88 was wonderful.  Karen is the manager and took care of all the special arrangements.  The was also a young lad who was very attentive, and he was so busy.  When I complimented him on the service, I got the requisite tin grin from the teenager.  

 

For dinner, I had lamb belly and lamb tortellini with mashed potato, and carrots.  I ate everything.  For those who know me, they know this is a compliment to the food.  Denise had braised beef, and Laura had also had a lamb dish.  For dessert, the ladies had a poached pear with pomegranate sorbet, and I had vanilla ice cream.  Denise would like it mentioned that she had a rhubarb drink!  She loves rhubarb.

On the walk back, it was still drizzling, but Denise held us up, as, surprise, surprise, she found someone to talk to.  I'm sure those of you who know Denise will be shocked.  

On the way home from the restaurant, I stopped in Market Cross and had a picture taken of myself in front of the Tourist Centre.  This is important not because of the Tourist Centre, but because I could wave at the webcam.  For those of you who do not know, Shetland has many webcams and I am a regular follower of them, and the forum attached to the webcams.  Hello everyone!

 Off to bed early as we're off to the islands of Yell and Unst (the two northern most islands of Shetland).