Day 8 and 9: Edinburgh, Scotland

Flew to Edinburgh today. It was nice to leave the city behind. Love...love....love this place. It is gorgeous. Lots of old building and of course dominated by the castle on the rocky outcrop. Dropped our bags off and caught the bus for our 10 minute ride to the city centre. Headed first of all to Holyrood Palace and Arthurs Seat. Decided not to walk to the lookout. When you see the photos you will appreciate why. Edinburgh Castle was calling so we headed up Royal Mile, walking passed St Giles Cathedral, and passed under the gates...to a whole other world. We were intrigued with how the castle just seemed to emerge out of the rock face, clearly an imposing structure to all who dared. Spent a few hours exploring. Later in the afternoon we roamed the beautiful streets....lots of kilts, tartan and whisky. Made our way back to our apartment at dusk, checked in and was excited at our one bedroom studio. After the apartment in Paddington (which we really enjoyed) this feels like a palace..,.king bedoom, large bathroom, lounge and kitchen. We have scored well with accommodation so far...hope it continues. Cooked up a storm for dinner. Not haggis or any other odd sounding offel..... chicken and vegies. Tomorrow night ...steak (yum). Day 2 ... grey, looking like it will rain, but not cold. Made our way (again via bus) back to The Royal Mile to find Mary King Close to begin our tour: The Real Mary King’s Close.(see the infrared photo). This tour took us underground to explore the original streets. Quite intriguing. The top floors of these very old houses was vitually chopped off and council buildings built on top. Therefore under these newish buildings, below current street level, lie abandoned remains of houses and streets. Quite incredible and eerie to walk around – like an old underground city. Saw where poor families lived and how devastating the plague was...apparently a lot of ghost hunters head down. Well worth every cent. As the weather was holding headed over to Calton Hill to have a walk around. This is a big hill where the observatory sits as well as Nelson’s Monument and the very Greek looking National Monument. Up here we were able to get 360 degree views over spectacular Edinburgh - from the waterfront on one side to both old and new towns. Sky getting darker, raincoats out and off to...............The Scottish Whisky Experience. Began with a bit of a daggy ‘ride’, (bit like a ghost train- but about the production of whisky). But then the tour picked up and we learned about the regions of Scotland and their whiskeys. Got to choose a whisky to taste....Rick in heaven. Got to keep our special whisky glasses as a momento. Rick excited because he got to drink my sample...which just happened to be Prince Charles’s favourite (pretty yuk I thought). Strolling around streets again, we found a Writer’s Museum in a little street. It was a tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Burns. We pick up a car tomorrow morning and we leave Edinburgh. Taking 4 days to do the loop up Inverness and Ullapool and down through Loch Ness, Ben Nevis, Fort Willam, down to Glasgow, Hope we can fit in the Isle of Skye. About to search for how to see the saints........ hope I have success.