Wandering the Old Town of Edinburgh

---

Edinburgh Castle
Grandiose and has great views
Cobblestone pathways.

We had a slow start this morning. Grabbed some free brekkie and took our time just watching the latest breaking news on the bombings in London and chatting with a couple of people. Dee and I eventually took off first to the Haggis office to confirm our bookings for the bus and then headed towards Princes Park to check out the Homeless World Cup Footie matches that are happening in town but nobody was playing so we proceeded to the Edinburgh Castle to check it out.

At Edinburgh Castle we caught the free tour and probably stuck to it for about 20 minutes before taking off on our own. It was quite an impressive castle with great views of the city.

After exploring the castle and a few shops along the Royal Mile Dee and I headed to Princes Road. Or more specifically we were headed to Marks and Spencers for some food and snacks. We were able to pick up a relatively inexpensive lunch and we brought it over to Princes Park to eat on the grass and soak up some sun as well.

We then picked ourselves up and went over to the Art Gallery which I must add was free admission! There were some interesting pieces and many where I thought “why would you paint that?” Plus there were some ugly or rather I should be saying not so attractive people out there! And I wonder why so many sad and depressing scenes of war or just plain unhappiness are depicted in so many of these large and grandiose paintings? I only remember seeing one portrait with a person smiling and that was of a woman amusing a baby. I did like the Monet’s, Van Gogh’s and Degas’….the Impressionists.

Next up, we walked over to Calton Hill where we took some more scenic shots of the City and then walked back to Princes Road and browsed a through a few more shops and eventually ended up back at the hostel to rest up and eventually the “boys” came back. We all went to tea at the pub downstairs and then wandered off to the Starbucks for really sweet drinks. An early evening of just chatting in our room was pretty nice. I started telling these guys that I have a travel blog and that I write a haiku for every entry. Here are some haiku’s from the gang…

Rob’s Haiku attempt
Homeless soccer in the park
Weather good. Feeling fine.

Scott’s Haiku attempt (Btw, he went the “free form” haiku route and as you can tell is mocking a certain someone that was on our bus…)
What is this?
I don’t know.
Get me off the bus please!

Dee’s Haiku attempt
Hot. Cold. Can’t make up my mind.
Some free fudge samples.

---

Photos

At Edinburgh Castle.
Man, I've gotta work on my farmer's tan!