We arrived at the train station about 6 PM after a 4 hour ride from London. The hotel was about 4 blocks away and no taxi wanted to take us. Central Edinburgh was extremely busy, like wall to wall people busy so we hauled our bags uphill to the and checked in. Looking for a place to eat we found everything was filled and booked. It seemed there was a big concert and other things going on that night. We did finally get some food and called it a night. It should be noted that Edinburgh is almost as far north as Stockholm or even Anchorage so being about 3 weeks away from the solstice means it is still light at 10:30 in the evening and light before 5 in the morning. While walking around looking for a place to eat we found that all statues apparently are required to have a seagull.
Randi got in about 9 and we were ready to start the big tour Sunday morning.
Sunday morning we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked around and had a couple hour tour. Had a lot of nice trees and flowers, like these nice blue ones.
For the most part the entire place was similar to this.
Edinburgh was a medical center during the 18th and 19th centuries so Sunday afternoon we visited the surgery museum. Since no photography was allowed inside because of having body parts skeletons and other stuff this is the outside.
It was not clear if they ever figured out what made these people green. After a wonderful dinner that night, I just don’t remember where although it might have been an Italian place we walked around. Somewhere along the way this picture was taken.
Monday brought an agenda of lunch at the Witchery, a high end restaurant that is one of those eat in the dark big plate small food places, and a visit to the Edinburgh Castle. The bus stop to leave to the castle area.
One building on the way had a statue of a guy playing quoits for some reason.
We get to the restaurant and the guy seats us and we order. I had the cold raw meat with a raw egg on top and fries. For those that understand such things I shot this at ISO 6400 just to show how dark the place was.
After lunch we walked up the street to the castle. I should note that all streets are uphill in Edinburgh.
Like most castles it had a bunch of history stuff. Because it is built on top of a big hill overlooking the city it has a lot of views.
With most of the city North of the castle when looking south things quickly evolve into countryside.
If you were one of the many cannon operators you had this view.
Listening to some important historical information.
After the castle visit and a late afternoon rest we wen to a 100+ year old pub for some pub food. The food was not great but the pint was OK and to top it off but who would come in and sit right beside us, that right, Mr and Mrs King Chuck King of England.
Randi was of the opinion that it was not them but I’m not so sure.
Tuesday we got on one of those bus things and rode around looking at stuff. London that was OK. Here it was pretty much all the same and not so good. We had a noon lunch at an oyster bar so we got off the bus and walked a few blocks uphill to the restaurant. I had the fish and chips but Mary and Randi had like half the fish in the ocean.
Late afternoon we went for a tour of the underground area which is whats left of some of the 1600 era streets and houses. It’s directly under city hall so no pictures but it did exhibit life of that time and the last plague that killed about 1/3 of the 30000 population.
Randi left to return home this morning and Mary and I will probably hit up a museum this afternoon to finis up our trip. Then tomorrow back to London to return home Friday.