Imagine getting ready to board a plane and noticing your passport is missing... that was how I…read morestarted my morning from London to Edinburgh. After my initial freak out, I went to the person checking people in and explained the situation. As this was considered a "domestic" flight they allowed me to board with my driver's license. Phew! Ok, I was breathing a bit again, but still nervous as to what to do with my other two upcoming flights. My boyfriend, being a more experience traveler than me, immediately started looking up where the consulate was so that I could get a replacement ASAP. To our surprise and luck, it was located about 20 minutes from our hotel. So as soon as we landed we went there. They opened the door, told me were to go for passport picture and to come back at 2:30pm for the interview. With both a map and verbal directions to where the photo place was, we had no problem finding it at all. Very grateful for that. 2:15pm we were back and they allowed me to come in early. Security is high, as you can imaging but they treat you nice and don't make you wait long. In no more than half an hour I was out of there with my new temporary passport, a sense of relief and able to keep enjoying my vacation, and very thankful for their quick help.

We all know that government offices have no competition, and their staff aren't always examples of…read moreefficiency or friendliness. If I had a bad experience at this American Consulate, I couldn't exactly "take my business elsewhere," as they say. But thankfully, I wouldn't even do that if I could because I've had nothing but stellar experiences at the Edinburgh Consulate. Everyone I've dealt with at the Consulate, right down to the guard at the front door, have been competent, pleasant and helpful. I needed a passport renewal in a hurry this month and they didn't make it difficult for me in any way (well, other than putting the Consulate in Edinburgh in the first place!!). Though it will probably be a while before I have any dealings with these folks again, I am sure it will be a pleasure. So in short: America, F yeah!

While visiting Edinburgh, our apartment was located just around the corner from Scottish Parliament…read moreand so we decided to take a look. We were pleasantly surprised that a free tour was immediately available and we pounced at the chance to see the building complex past the lobby area. Our guide was a lovely brunette Scottish lady (Lauren, I think?) and she spent the next hour taking us through this beautifully designed post-modern complex by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (who sadly passed away before its completion). The buildings, both interior and exterior are meant to connect the Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to the landscape, people and culture of Scotland. Interestingly, the land was formerly occupied by a brewery...and now features many leaf and boat shaped motifs and building materials native to Scotland: gneiss, granite, Oak and Sycamore. The gardens have native trees- Rowan, Lime, Cherry and Oak as well as Scottish wild flowers and plants. The complex was built with sustainability and environmentally friendly goals in mind. Ask about the heating and cooling systems - fascinating! The debate chamber is stunning. The lintel all MSPs pass under is called the Arniston Stone and was in the original parliament building of 1707. This is meant to connect the past and the present. The seating design is elliptical and horseshoe-shaped so as to encourage a blurring of political parties and "encourage consensus". It's in stark contrast to the Westminster design of opposing parties facing each other in an adversarial sort of way. Other than the gorgeous debate chamber, my other favorite building houses the MSP offices. The windows jut out into what is called a "contemplation space". To me, it looks like a cool window seat where the politicians can gaze out over the city and ponder the day's issues. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Scottish Parliament and ended up in the gift shop, which is quite nice as well and recommended prior to exiting security. Note: To visit the gift shop, you must pass through security first. It is not accessible via the street. More info on the interesting design, controversy surrounding the site and general history is available on Wikipedia. Yelp Challenge 2018: 95/100

Let's see, only 10 people in line, 35 minutes to get those 10 people through security! That's just…read moreplain ridiculous! Wait, there's more. Another line to check your bags with only one employee slowly checking people in. And of course everything has to be hand written (no need to use a computer for efficiency in 2019). There was no indication from employees or any signage that suggested we needed to check a bag. But despite the lack of communication, and the fact that every bag had already been searched and x-rayed, and the fact that members of parliament weren't even present that day, everyone else seemed to be checking their purses, bags, etc. So we dutifully lined up. After 30 minutes in this line, we saw a tourist walk right past us and into parliament with an enormous backpack. She bypassed the line, waltzed right in, and no employee seemed to care. So one minute later we followed suit, departing the line and walking inside as well. My wife only had a small purse anyway. An official emerged from seemingly nowhere and told us "No bags, return to the line!" Backpack Lady was already well across the room, nonchalantly unaware of what she had successfully pulled off. So we begrudging returned to the line, along with the three people who had followed our lead. We waited longer while Backpack Lady, a potential terrorist for all we know, roamed parliament apparently unnoticed. While we waited, a heavyset gentleman (clearly a tourist) walked by with a backpack and entered the building. Again, no security! But my wife better hand over that tiny purses with almost nothing in it! Why even bother with security when they're clearly not doing their jobs? After about an hour to admit a mere 12 people into the building, and questionable security practices, we were in. Seeing the main room where parliament meets was interesting, although I was too nervous to stand anywhere near Backpack Lady and Backpack Man. The rest was not interesting, and the wait was certainly not worth the effort!

Here's hoping I never need to visit for legal reasons... but as a casual visitor for Doors Open…read moreDay, I was well impressed with this building! The main hall is beautiful and much bigger than I would have imagined had I any preconceptions of what the building would look like... The stained glass windows are absolutely amazing throughout. There are many corridors and many courtrooms and I only wish Courts 1 & 2 were open for us to have a nosey but alas the plethora of doors going into them were all locked. Well worth a visit if you get the chance.. They even had a selection of maces out.. heavier than you'd think! Never knew that they are still used daily to open each and every court session!!

Like Caz I don't want to be here apart from visiting or DoD but this was a great venue. WE GOT TO…read moreTOUCH THINGS! Yes, when you do the visiting of stuff that is old then everything is usually behind a rope or glass with the sign 'do not touch' but not here. The architecture is stunning - high ceilings and I can imagine the pomp and ceremony of old as the judges would swan in with the Macer - the Macer is the guy who holds the mace, still used to open court and may have been used in ye olden days to stop people attacking the judge. Naturally I went for the heaviest looking one to hold - I figured it would make a great weapon prior to hearing that it could be used in this manner (George III mace) and Tanya held the mace from our very own Queen Elizabeth - all mace's have been held by the monarch's they represent. Once we'd moved on from mace then we wandered about. We saw the SSC sitting room and one of the courts. Courts one and two which had all the different entrances were sadly locked, but the current court schedules were visible to see, including this week's which included an appeal by a famous Scottish killer. We didn't do the tour of the advocates library (had been told it wasn't worth it anyway) but we did have plenty of time to wander about which was great - and of course, try the mace...

They do what they can, under difficult circumstances but I would like to see more officers on the…read morebeat. Nothing deters crime and criminals that the presence of a police officer. Perhaps if the cops had less paperwork they'd have more time to police.

I haven't reviewed a fire station yet on Yelp, so as I walked on by this station in Burntisland, I…read morethought I would! It's not as impressive as other fire station's in terms of size or the amount of fire engines it has! Indeed the front door of the exit looks barely large enough to fit a fire engine into it! It even seems like someone has converted two old council houses and has converted them into a fire station! Apart from that, there is nothing too much to report back I'm afraid, probably the reason why I don't review many fire stations or police stations!

This is the Scottish Government building. Here you'll find policy operations and drop in centers…read morefor the Civil servants, ministers and other government employees. The building is huge! It has several wings and courtyards. Hot desks for visiting local and country officials. It is also houses the Revenue Scotland. Which deals with all devolved taxation from Westminster. It has a big restaurant, Costa Coffee, swimming pool, gym, exercise rooms and a driving range for those who need to practice their swing. Security is very tight. So it should be as there a quite a few people not in agreement with the current government. I like the building and feel very welcome after the first week. So this is my review of the Scottish Government building as a working place. It is not open to the public as such, but it is a big prominent building and important

This is part of the several locations that the Scottish Government uses for their directorates,…read more it currently houses their ICT Head Office, MET Office, Agriculture and SAAS. It is easily reached by public transport, as the tram, and bus 2 & 22 stop right outside the main entrance. I give it 3 stars as the building is quite old and in my opinion not really suited for the type of office duties that are performed here. The ceilings are very low and there is no real air-conditioning. It is shaped like a army hospital, with the 'wards' called 'spurs' instead. It has 12 spurs and they are across a central hallway. To give you an idea it looks like this --¦--¦--¦-O-¦--¦--¦-- There is no actual relaxing area, apart from a small patch of green outside and the restaurant. The restaurant is located on the first floor, provides breakfast and lunches and has a salad bar, warm cooked lunches and also a Costa coffee area. In all it is OK to work in. Provided on site is a small gym, but this is not something I use, so I am unable to comment further on that.

One of the many cute quaint towns throughout Scotland. It's not big so you could drive through it…read morepretty fast. It was a recommendations of something to do and see. The town itself isn't big. We got lucky with parking near the lake. I honestly think the lake and the castle is the selling point of town. You have the main strip where all the shops and restaurants are. Their Main Street you would call it. Loads of souvenirs shops as one would expect whenever you're in a major country. Walking along I did notice pretty much that there's loads of Turkish barber shops everywhere. Literally all over Scotland. It's like every other business is a barber shops. Then there's the fish and chips shops. Pretty sure there's a favorite for people in town. We popped in just after Christmas which was quite busy with people walking around. But what we couldn't find was a place to eat. We walked into 4 different restaurants only to be turned down. One wasn't taking any walk in as they were busy. Didn't seemed like it...lol... Another was only serving drinks and no food. While another kitchen was backed up and it would take over an hour and half just for food. Guess the holiday brings people out and about enjoying this town. Even the coffee shops were all pretty busy. People trying to stay warm after walking around. The whole main town is problem a mile or so long with everything situated all by each other. There's so many towns throughout the country so it was nice to experience another one that was new to me.