Scotland and London 2023

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This morning we walked toward The Edinburgh Castle for a special place Chrissy picked out for breakfast. It was called The Deacon's House Cafe and was known for its traditional Scottish porridge and haggis breakfast sausage. It wasn't supposed to open until 10:00 so we took our time taking pictures and checking out shops that were open (most don't open until 10). When we arrived they had opened early but there was still one table open. We ordered the porridge (which is like oats) and the breakfast platter, which had scrambled eggs, blistered tomatoes. haggis sausage, bacon, beans, and wheat toast. We shared the items we ordered because we wanted to try their scones and shortbread too. The haggis sausage was amazing. The porridge wasn't far behind. The porridge was topped with red fruit which added natural sweetness...oh my, it was delicious.


From the cafe we walked in and out of shops on the street known as the Royal Mile, which leads to Edinburgh Castle. There are so many shops there plus beautiful buildings and churches. Its a pretty tough walk as it is straight up hill. You really don't notice it too much if you shop along the way. Our tickets were for 12 noon, so we had some time to look around. It wasn't too crowded at that time but when we came out of the castle it was packed!

Edinburg Castle was amazing. I had been there last year with Marsha and Shealyn, but we were on a time limit since we were with a tour company. Chrissy and I had plenty of time to look around. The castle was built in 1103 on rock which was formed as a result of a volcano eruption. It is known as Castle Rock. It is one of the oldest fortified places in Europe. It once was a military fortress as well as a royal residence. It is still used some by the military, but is now mostly a tourist attraction. King Charles I was the last person to live in the castle. He slept there on June 17, 1633, the night before his Scottish coronation. If you have trouble walking and climbing, never fear, you can still visit. They have taxis that take you to the top and back down again!

From the ancient castle we walked down the hill toward the Edinburgh Palace of the Royals known as Holyroodhouse. It is the official residence of now King Charles and was of his recently deceased mother, Queen Elizabeth. As we were walking towards our goal, we saw a crowd collecting. They were watching a man with a couple of locked boxes with holes in them. I really couldn’t imagine what was in the box until he put on a big glove and took out an owl. For 5£ you could hold the owl. The science teacher and nature lover in Chrissy couldn’t resist so she got in line and held the owl. It was a melanistic barn owl. It means instead of being an all white owl, it had a birth defect that caused it to be all brown ad black. It was pretty!

Further down te street we found Mimi's Bakehouse and since we had't eaten since breakfast we thought we'd check it out. It was perfect timing for afternoon tea. We ordered the Scotish creme tea platter which included tea, a mini plain scone, a mini hot cross bun scone, and a little sweet cake called tray bakes. It was excellent, particularly the hot cross bun scone! Once we were refreshed, we continued our journey down the Royal Mile to Holyroodhouse, also know as Holyrood.

I really had never paid any attention to the royal residence in Scotland, but Chrssy had and I'm so glad we got to visit. Most recently Queen Elizabeths body laid in state here prior to her funeral service last September. It is said to be one of her favorite places to visit! Right now they are doing a restoration of the quadrangle courtyard, but you could still visit that area. It really wasn't very crowded at this time so we were able to get right in for a self paced tour.

This place is beautiful and amazing! It has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century. The late Queen, Elizabeth, spent a week in residence at the beginning of each summer, where she carried out a range of official duties and ceremonies. It is closed when high ranking members of the royal family are in residence, such as the Queen or now King. It does remain open when some royals are there. I learned that Princess Anne was in residence last week and it remained open. She used a separate part of the palace during her stay. We were so glad we took the time to visit. Sadly no pictures were allowed.

Once we were ready to go back to our hotel, we found a taxi stand across the street. We'd been on our feet since 9:00 am and it was 4:30. It was about a mile and a half to our hotel, which I could have walked, but it was all uphill and I was carrying many packages! We had dinner reservations at 6:30 at a seafood place the harbor and we need a little time at our hotel to freshen up and charge our phones.

Our dinner for this evening was at a restaurant known for its seafood. It was called The Ship on The Shore. We had made a reservation, but we arrived about a half hour early. No worries. The were able to accommodate us at the earlier time. Chrissy had a cold seafood platter complete with oyster on the half shell, smoked haddock, salmon, mussels, clams, scallops, and brown crab salad. I'm not so adventuresome. I had fish and chips. It was amazing! We shared a dessert trio of cheesecake, creme brulee, and sticky toffee pudding. What a great meal!

Back at the hotel, we had to get ready for tomorrow is a traveling day. We are going by train to York, England, a walled city founded by the ancient Romans!



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