Okay, so yesterday I think I told you that I walked about 5 miles. I am pretty sure that today we walked at least 15 and most likely it was closer to 20. Almost all uphill or upstairs. I got a mighty fine leg workout I must say. The weather here is still beautiful although this morning when we set out on our journey it was a little chilly and looked like it might rain. However, by about noon the clouds had pretty much burned off and the sun was bright and warm....another perfect day to tour the city.
We left our hotel and headed straight to Edinburgh Castle, but found this cemetery first. We decided to stop in for a few minutes to see what we could see. Here are some of the things we saw...
Yes, that is Abraham Lincoln in Scotland...it is a monument to the Scottish American soldiers. And look, it was unveiled on my birthday! :)
One other thing I forgot to tell you that I learned in Scotland...Rick Steves knows everything. We bought a guide book about 4 months ago to help with our trip...it told us very little...then Steve downloaded Rick Steves' guide. What a difference. After the cemetery detour, we got to the castle shortly after it had opened and followed all of his tricks and suggestions. The castle was magnificent. I learned ALOT! Robert the Bruce and William Wallace were big names around here. We also got to go into the oldest building in Edinburgh and saw the famous crowned jewels. Sadly, we were unable to take pictures of the jewels, but they were pretty neat. Did you know that they were in hiding for about 100 years before Sir Walter Scott (yes, the same Sir Walter Scott that I visited yesterday) got permission to find them. Once he did, they were put on permanent display in the castle. Here are a few pictures from the castle...
The bust of Mary, Queen of Scots...she gave birth to James IV in the castle and was later beheaded in the Tower of London....
Found on the doors from the Prisoners of War
Dog Cemetery....
Yes, the cannon above shot these balls...they went almost 2 miles away...
In the oldest building in Edinburgh....St. Margaret's Chapel...weddings are still held here today....what a great place for Steve and I...however, we could never get married there....it only holds 20 people!!!
A staue of Robert the Bruce is on the left hand side when you walk in...
....and William Wallace is on the right.
After the castle, it was time for lunch. We had lunch at Greyfriar's Pub. It is the place of a great story about a sweet dog who followed his master to the Pub every day at 1:00. When his master died, he spent his days at the grave, only leaving at 1:00 for food. When the dog (Bobby) died, he was buried next to the grave of his master. He is the subject of many stories and paintings.
we walked back down the Royal Mile to the National Museum of Scotland. It was amazing....completely free and 6 floors of stuff! It was an archaeologist's dream place. You could have easily spent a day in the museum..since we only had a day for all of Ediburgh, we had to go through it pretty quickly. Here are a few things that we thought were pretty neat.
This is the entire skeleton of a pilot whale...interesting idea for art
Me modeling Viking dress
Mary, Queen of Scot's casket
Furniture used by James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots
My Knight in Shining Armour :)
After the museum, we continued down the Mile to get to Holyrood Palace. This is where Queen Elizabeth resides when she is in Scotland. Unfortunately, she is due to arrive tomorrow so we were unable to tour the palace. :( We did get a pretty good picture of it though
Before heading up to Arthur's Seat, we decided to stop into the Scottish Parliament building. It was just as boring as you might expect, but we had to say we had done it, right!
Then we headed up Arthur's Seat. Oh My Wow! It was HIGH and very steep. I had to stop multiple times...after two days of walking so much, my legs were beat! It was a beautiful view though. And on our way down, we met some guys from Tennessee. One was even wearing a Vandy shirt. After they left, I told Steve we should have taken a picture with them but I didn't think about it. So, I zoomed in on them climbing up Arthur's Seat (the hard, shortcut way...not the way Steve and I did it). :) What a small world!
After all that walking, we then had to head back down the Royal Mile where we stopped to eat some ice cream. I like Scottish ice cream....was there every any doubt? :) We tried to go to the Museum of Childhood but it was closed so we stopped at Deacon Brodie's Tavern and had a drink before going on the Real Mary King Close Tour...here is a picture of my new favorite drink. It was amazing!!!
Our last stop of the day before dinner was the Real Mary King Close Tour. It was an underground tour of what all the closes (AKA alleys) used to be like. It was super interesting, and we had a great tour guide.
Dinner for the evening was a Tass's Pub. Nothing exciting except that we did find Alcoholic Ginger Ale. It was really yummy.
One last thing...I listened closely to the Stone story. Apparantly the stone was used for the coronations of all the Kings/Queens of Scotland. After the last King was crowned and Scotland came under English rule, It was stolen by the English and placed under a chair in Westminster Abbey. Finally, Scotland got it back and it is now on permanent display with the crown jewels in Edinburgh Castle! Here is a little more info...
We are now back in the hotel room resting for another busy day tomorrow! Stay tuned for more!
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