Edinburgh Castle + National Museum of Scotland + Christmas Market

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After 3 blue sky mornings in a row, this morning is a bit cloudy. Well this is winter. The Grassmarket newly refurbished hotel is so comfy that I'd rather linger in my bed today. Read my review here.After so many early trains, I need a holiday within a holiday.

One of the good thing about solo trip is you can do whatever you want. And today I want a late start. I enjoyed my breakfast in bed while watching some property show and holiday scam series, and actually enjoying this.

I walked along the Royal Mile, not that hard to find the Edinburgh Castle. Just before the castle there's a Whiskey Museum but you have to pay 12 GBP or so. Not drinking alcohol at all, I decided to give it a miss.

I finally able to push myself out of bed 10 am plus or so. I walked further to the Edinburgh Castle. Walk passed this hog sandwich place that looks very nice – I don’t eat pork but the skin looks so crackling. Yesterday they already ran out like 2 pm. Arrived at Edinburgh Castle, there's barely any queue at all. First entering the fort, you'll be greeted by the scenic view overlooking Edinburgh. There's a free guided tour every 30 mins, which is a more sensible option vs renting the additional guide which will cost you extra 2.5-3 GBP. I was a bit surprised that for such admission price, they still charged extra for the audio guide.

Although I have visited Windsor Castle, but the Edinburgh Castle is totally different. Its more of a complex actually. There are many small rooms and towers that are converted to mini museums. Its definitely not as grandeur as Windsor Castle or Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. Rather than their displays, I'm more interested in the city view you can enjoy from there. But then again, if you just want the view, you can see it even before you enter the gate. There's a courtyard outside just before the ticket booth and you can pretty much enjoy similar views.

Afterwards, I'm going to the Pizza Express I've visited the night before as they are quite nice. But the 25 mins queue put me off. Hence I decided to walk along the road that I haven't explored before.

It turned out to be good actually, cause I found the Greyfriars Bobby dog statue. I don't know what's the history behind it but it seems to be famous as I saw some postcards of it.

I enjoy my packed lunch at the National Museum of Scotland. They have a picnic area downstairs complete with sink to wash your plate afterwards of you are keen. The museum itself was free and seemed to be quite modern as they have elevators.

I was too tired to explore all halls, few interesting bits are the clone Dolly statue (apparently it was "made" here), F1 simulator for kids (that you can actually ride). There are also lots of interesting rocks that they actually encourage you to touch! (The sign really said "Pls touch!" Instead of "Do not touch". I also liked their animals hall which displayed real size dummy from all sorts of different animals - from polar bear to dino.

But of course, the main attraction is their viewing deck. Best kept secret! The view from Edinburgh Castle was good but the view from the National Museum of Scotland rooftop was amazing! You can see the old and new town from there (including the Edinburgh Castle at St Giles Cathedral), as well as looking out to the sea. Can also see Arthur's chair. And just my luck, the sky opens up that afternoon. No more cloudy white sky. Its just a blue sky with a soft sun kissed afternoon glow. Interestingly, their viewing deck fences are so damn high (at least for Asians). It is as if they just "accidentally" have a nice deck and not intended to promote it. I ended up climbing some pillars just to get a decent shot.

On my way to the Chrismas markets, I dropped by the National library (nothing special) and Edinburgh University (which was dead quiet for some reason, no one was around, so I went out immediately for safety reasons). I want to see the "1 Million Pound" currency but I was too late in finding the right museum (yeah, there's A LOT of them). I also skipped the Hollyrood Palace (well, if Edinburgh Castle was so so, I'm not confident on the palace).

I ended up enjoying the blue twilight hours looking at the chrismas market from National Scottish Museum courtyard (its a different museum vs National Museum of Scotland btw, yes, so confusing). At the background I could hear the a street performer playing a Chinese song with bagpipe (while wearing kilt!). I think the gentleman trying to melt the hearts of couple of Chinese tourists that took picture with him without dropping any coins at his bucket. Some people can be so inconsiderate.

I say goodbye to Scotland that night by bundling myself up warmly in my super comfy bed and watching back to back episodes of "Come Dine With Me". As I gobble on the tasty pesto pasta and thai shrimp I bought at M&S, I felt so happy. I could get addicted to this nomad lifestyle.

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Photos

Edinburgh's Christmas Market
Very pretty at blue hour ^^

View from National Museum of Scotland
Got blue sky afternoon, yayy

Museum on the Mound
It's so cool that the government actually allowed night market to be build right in front of old buildings

Famous Scottish Hog Rolls
I don't eat pork but those crackling looks amazing! This particular place ran out of their rolls early at around 2pm