Exploring Edinburgh, Day 2...

May 27, 2012

Today was the day to see Edinburgh Castle.  The great thing about staying at Carolyn’s is that everything is within walking distance.  You can just walk up the Royal Mile to the Castle J  Some of the view of the castle is blocked as they are setting up temporary stands for the Edinburgh Tattoo (an annual, famous display of military bands)…

We began with a short 20 minute tour that just gives you the basics so that you know where everything is.  I enjoyed it because they told you what happened when the defenders of the castle ran out of boiling oil to throw down on attackers…  they just boiled up their waste because it was piling up anyway if they had been under siege for any amount of time.  This is our tour guide…

  

These cannons are ship cannons.  The reason they are here is because when Queen Victoria came to visit, she didn’t like the look of empty battlements.  So they brought in these cannons.  They have never been fired from here though.

This was after the Scottish Crown Jewels (no photos allowed) and the coronation stone, called the Stone of Scone.  No photos were allowed there for security reasons, although the stuff has been there since 1543.   It's the Royal Palace, although the royals always stay down at Holyrood Palace.

Queen Margaret (died here in 1093) later became a saint, and this is St. Margaret’s chapel.

This is the outside of the Scottish National War Memorial.

The bagpipes are the official instrument of Scotland…

We loved the PieMaker so much that we went back… Notice the sign that says “Pies so fresh they will pinch your bum and call you darling”  I just love that!!

Then we headed back to the National Museum of Scotland for several hours of free entertainment.

 Jason got to practice driving a Formula 1 car…

Danika and Jason at a masquerade ball…

I was fortunate enough to weigh myself against animals… I was more than an aardvark and less than a chimpanzee… what does that say????

David and I actually tired out before the kids… we are not sure that has ever happened before.  We ended up sitting down while they kept on going.  It was all we could do to walk back to Carolyn’s flat.

I am seriously tired now…

~Mary