Upon arriving in Edinburgh on Friday afternoon we were met by our host David. We rented his flat in the city center and it couldn’t have been more lovely or convenient! We quickly gathered ourselves and walked to a pub around the corner, Mathers, before setting out for the afternoon, we each enjoyed our first pints and I had some delicious fish n chips.
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| Ahhhh…. GOOD Beer |
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| Fish n Chips |
Afterwards, we walked our way down Princes Street over to The Royal Mile where we stopped in St Giles Cathedral, one of the most beautiful and peaceful cathedrals I have ever been in. When a gent started playing the organ, I was at peace, it was just beautiful. The rest of our day we spent walking up and down The Royal Mile, which is one of the main roads in Edinburgh, named for the fact that it runs between Edinburgh Castle and Hollyrood Palace. We popped into the various shops, full of knick knacks, wool scarves and blankets, kilts and of course whiskey!
With the weather turning a bit chilly we decided to duck into The Royal Inn for a drink, then slowly made our way back to the flat for a short rest before dinner. We decided on a place nearby that David told us that just reopened and served Mexican food. It smelled amazing when we entered, but the food was pretty bland. However, it will suffice until we get back to The States in May!
Saturday I reserved us tickets for Edinburgh Castle, after a quick stop at Starbucks for breakfast and wi fi, we made our way over to The Castle, walking through The Princes Gardens, past Scott Monument and then made a quick stop into The National Gallery, viewing some beautiful works of art, my favorites were the Monet and Greer’s watercolors, which had just been conserved.
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| Why are there no Starbucks in Italy?!?!? |
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| Prince’s Gardens |
We arrived to the castle to find out that the next free guided tour left in an hour, so in the meantime we walked around and visited St Margaret’s Cathedral, the oldest standing building in the castle, they still hold weddings here today, however small weddings as it only holds twenty people. We then visited the Crown Jewels, once worn by Mary Queen of Scots.
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| Edinburg Castle |
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| St. Margaret’s Chapel |
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| The Queens Jewels are housed here |
After our guided tour of the castle by Ewan, we stayed around for the one o’clock shot, everyday except Sunday they shoot a light artillery gun off at one o’clock as a time keeping measure for the sailors.
We then made our way to visit The Greyfriers Bobby’s grave, a devoted dog who sat by his Master’s grave for 14 years after his death, I can only hope Renzo would do that for me. I guess if there was a warm lap and blanket there he would! After another lunch of fish n chips we again made our way down The Royal Mile, this time in hopes of seeing The Queen. While I didn’t figure she would be at her residence while we were in Scotland, I did find out that she only spends one week a year at Hollyrood Palace, the first week of July. I found this information, along with other fun facts from a couple that we met at dinner, James and Moira. James just happens to work for Her Majesty at The Palace, he is a retired police officer and is now employed at Hollyrood Palace!
Nick’s only two requests while in Edinburgh were to see The Scottish Parliament building and drink whiskey, well we were successful in both of these! After visiting The Scottish Parliament, which is a huge controversy in Edinburgh, which I understand as it is a very modern building that sits right across from the Queens Palace and it cost ten times its original budget, but I have to admit it was beautiful! Nick wanted a view from above of the building, so against my advice we climbed half way up to Arthur’s Seat! Even though I was cautiously watching Nick the whole time I’m glad we made the climb, the views were amazing!
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| Climbing to Arthur’s Seat |
The rest of our evening was spent hitting pubs on Edinburgh’s Whiskey Trail, Nick of course enjoyed whiskeys as I enjoyed pints. Our final stop of the evening is where we ran into our new friends, James and Moira. They were on a date night and were so kind to chat with us and tell us all about their city, which they beamed so proudly about. Moira attempted to teach me how to properly say Edinburgh… I wasn’t the best student and pretty sure I was offending her. We had such a wonderful time chatting with then and learning so much about the city they are so lucky to call home, and I got to talk to someone who works for The Queen!
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| A man and his whiskey |
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| Happy to be in Edinburgh |
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| Our new friends |
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| Edinburg at night |
