The Grand Tour (Day 3): Edinburgh

Note:  I'm documenting this trip in more detail than I normally would just because I want to keep it as a sort of journal and to help up remember details about the trip.  I don't expect anyone to read through or enjoy this travelogue.  Just skip to the pictures like I usually do on blogs.

On Day 3, our internal time clocks must have still been off, because at 4 am, I was wide awake.  I was able to go back to sleep to get a few more hours of sleep, but we ended up getting up around 8 am.  Our hotel rate did not include breakfast, so we went next door to the St. Giles Cafe and looked at the menu.  They had "bacon waffles" listed as a specialty, so we both ordered them.  I figured there would be a few strips of bacon with a waffle or two.  But when we got them it was a Belgian-style waffle with thin, crispy bacon COVERED over the top about 1/4".  I've never had so much bacon in one breakfast and it was by far the best bacon I have ever had.  (Must be all the leftover Haggis they feed the pigs.)  But the funny thing to me was that in addition to the bacon and waffle, it was topped with a tomato, and had a side salad...all drizzled with maple syrup.  I've never had salad for breakfast, nor with waffles, but it was good.  As I came to find out, a salad, tomatoes, etc. and very much staples of the English breakfast.

I had my camera with me, but felt kind of stupid pulling it out to take a picture of it with all of the business people in there, but I Googled and found this picture of a plate of the Bacon Waffle from St. Giles  (this one shows the waffle with Brie cheese and ours did not have that.  I also remember the waffle being bigger.).

From there, we packed up our theft-proof backpack (My kids teased me for being paranoid enough to buy a pick-pocket-proof backpack online with hidden zippers, latches, etch.  It was very sturdy and worked perfectly.  It was just a bit heavy with all of our stuff in it to lug around with us all day.)  It was projected to rain fairly heavily later that day, so we had our jackets and umbrella in the backpack.  We tried to do some of the outdoor stuff we had planned in the morning when it wasn't raining and then do the indoor stuff in the afternoon.

We walked down to Princes Street Gardens where the Scott Memorial is, and where there are other statues and monuments to famous Scots.

The Sir Walter Scott Memorial

Dr. Livingston, I presume? Yes, he must be a famous Scot.

The Olympic Rings in Princes Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle.  Olympic symbols were starting to show up all over England and Scotland in anticipation of the London 2012 games.

From there, we walked back to the Royal Mile and walked East toward Holyrood Palace (Queen Elizabeth's official Scottish Palace.)  It was a long walk...presumably about a mile (since its the Royal Mile) but we later found out that a Scottish Mile is just a wee bit longer....about 1.2 miles.

This is the Canongate Tollbooth on the Royal Mile.  

From there, we walked down to Holyrood Palace, got our tickets and went through the tour.  They provided an audio guide where you would enter the number of the room you were in and it would give you a spiel about the room.  We found that when we first started, we listened to every single track of the audio guides.  But as the trip went on, we listened to fewer and fewer....eventually just skipping the audio guides all together.  That's what Wikipedia's for.  You can go home and read more about it if you want.

Entry fountain in the forecourt of Holyrood Palace

Front door to the palace

This is the wing of the castle (2nd level) where Mary, Queen of Scots lived, and where her husband was shot and killed (and for which she was suspected to have participated, leading to her downfall).

The palace originally started as Holyrood Abbey in the 1100's (ruins of the abbey below) and the palace was expanded next to in the the 1500's.

Path leading to the gardens behind the palace where Queen Elizabeth hosts a garden party at the beginning of every July.  She was scheduled to be there in 2 weeks and they were starting to put up the tents for the party.

By the time we left the palace, it was starting to rain more, so we went to a hop-on/hop-off bus stop hoping to ride back to the center of Old Town and go to the National Museum of Scotland.  But the bus never came and kept watching it turn several blocks down the road.  I'm not sure if they were on detour or if our map was wrong (it was posted as a stop on the shelter, too), so we finally walked 4-5 blocks to the next stop in the pouring rain.

This was our view out the front of our double-decker bus in the pouring rain.  We decided to ride the bus out to Leith to see the Royal Yacht Brittania.  We saw it in dock, but didn't get out or go on board.

We finally made our way back to the center of town and went to the National Museum of Scotland where we saw most of the museum highlights that were listed in the visitor guide.

The Lewis Chessmen (found in 1830 and are believed to be chess pieces carved in the 12th century).  We saw these pieces in Scotland, and the rest at the British Museum in London. 

Hmmm...I'm sure this was someone important's sword, but I can't remember whose.

But I do remember that this is Dolly the Sheep--after her visit to the taxidermist

From there, we walked back to the center of town and went into St. Giles Kirk.

In Scotland, the carved angels in the churches play the bagpipes.

The rain just kept pouring and pouring and the clouds got lower and lower.  As we were leaving the cathedral, the clouds had enveloped the top.

I was soaking wet, so we went back to the hotel to warm up and dry off a little, then decided to go out to find something to eat.  We didn't want to spend a lot, so we finally just went to the Pizza Hut a block away.  A group of men followed us in, and sat at an adjacent table and were acting very peculiar.  They ordered a LOT of food.  I was cautious, so I wrapped my leg through my backpack strap to secure it.  As we were finishing eating, the group made a commotion, and the bolted for the door, ditching the waiter and the bill.  I suspect the were after my backpack because they kept looking at me and whispering, and not finding an opportunity, they bolted.

We saw a patisserie across the street from Pizza Hut (itself, not very Scottish, and a patisserie is French, not Scottish), but we bought some pastries and went back to the Hotel to eat them.  (They weren't very good.)  So much for Scottish patisseries.

After getting some food, and resting a bit, I caught my second wind and talked Rebecca into walking up to Calton Hill overlooking the City, since the rain had stopped.  The hill has several military memorials located there, but its mostly known for its beautiful views over the City and out to the Firth of Forth (the river that flows through Scotland and empties into the North Sea).

Old Town Edinburgh with St. Giles Kirk and Edinburgh Castle on the top of the far hill.

We walked back to our hotel in the twilight and collapsed in the bed.