Advertisement
Published: June 13th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Edinburgh Castle
Here's Tom. Notice the good Scottish weather. Thursday, June 12, 2008
Edinburgh, Scotland
We like the hotel that we found in Edinburgh. We are not crowded; it has free parking, internet service and breakfast. Those are the essentials. Plus, we are near a bus stop where we have been able to catch a bus into the middle of town. The bus cost 1.10 pound each way per person. We might be able to walk from here but why when you can ride that cheap.
We started early on Thursday and went immediately to the top of the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Castle. We entered and paid the fee of 21 pounds ($42) for entry and a single audio tour machine. My Ipod headphones would plug in so we used the old Siamese twin trick and walked around bound at the hip listening to the tour.
We were fortunate again with the weather. It was clear and about 60 degrees. It was a little windy at the top but not too bad.
The castle was interesting with lots of Scottish military history. We liked some of the military art, including the famous “Thin Red Line.” This painting by Robert Gibb depicted a fierce battle between the Scots and
View from the top
There's a great view from the top. the Russians during the Crimean War.
The views around the city were spectacular. It is easy to see the Firth of Forth (the bay) from the castle. Or is that the Forth of Firth? I’m clearly not Scottish to say such blasphemy.
Jackie found the Scottish Crown Jewels most interesting. There is a long history to how the jewels were hidden for many years. It is too much to cover here but it makes a good read in history if you are interested.
After leaving the castle, we walked the famous “Royal Mile.” It is the main street that leads from the castle to their Scottish royal home place, “Holyroodhouse.” Along the walk there are hundreds of shops selling wool items such as scarves, kilts, cashmere sweaters, etc. We bought nothing since we are traveling light.
The end of the road has both the Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament building. The building is clearly the worse architectural disaster that I have seen in Europe. What were they thinking? Good grief, it is awful.
Anyway, we chose not to pay the Queen for a walk around her Scottish home. You know: “taxation without representation” and all that. So, we headed back
Jackie
She loves the flowers. to see some of the sites around town. The city is full of witches, ghost walks and such. I’m sure we will find lots of fun things to do in the evening.
Once back in the hotel, we decided it was time to map out the details of our Ireland tour. It took us more than three hours to plan each stop, purchase ferry tickets and book a couple of rooms. This effort brought to light a need to skip a few things that was on the original wish list.
In fact, it is now apparent that I will not be able to play the fabled St Andrews Old Course. It is so close it is hard to make this decision. But we need the day or so that would take to make sure we keep our schedule in Ireland.
As it stands now, we will spend two nights in Portrush, two in Galway, two in Kilarney, one in Wexford/Waterford area and then three in Dublin. We think that Dianne will meet us somewhere along the way.
After all this work, we decided to go back to town and have dinner at the Hard Rock Café. We took the bus
Dog Cemetery
In the castle, there is a special place for the Royal dogs... back and found the HRC right away. Only, next door was a nice restaurant that seemed to us to be more appropriate for a visit to Edinburgh. So, we ate there instead of the HRC. It was fine.
That’s it for Thursday.
Cheers,
Tom
Advertisement
Tot: 0.29s; Tpl: 0.036s; cc: 6; qc: 47; dbt: 0.182s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dianne
non-member comment
The Scots
I knew that you and Jackie would love Scotland! Can't you just see Ricky standing on a corner in his kilts, playing his pipes? Don't buy your scotch there, wait til you get on the plane coming home - cheaper! But, as a scotch lover as I am, go by one of the Scotch houses and have a sip.... it's fun! Hope that John and I see you in Dublin next week!