We arrived at my cousin’s house in Edinburgh about 11am, to dump our packs and enjoy a cup of tea before heading out. Doug gave us a great laminated map of the city and off we went to the castle. We stopped at market stalls on the way and kept walking through hoards of people, some wearing Rolling Stones t-shirts. Hmm, Saturday, Stones concert that evening at Murray field......no wonder there were crowds. Before entering the castle, we watched a couple of cranes installing the stands for the Tattoo. These stands are installed now, taken down after the Tattoo and then installed again for Hogmanay. What a palaver. Upon entering the huge castle we didn’t notice the crowds as much and we were very fortunate to be at the guided tour spot just as it was starting. The woman was informative and threw in some humour to keep us awake and interested. After the exterior tour we went into a number of the buildings on our own: St Margaret’s Chapel (the oldest building in Edinburgh), the Prisons of War, and The Scottish National War Memorial, where Lee and I poured over the various books containing lists of Scots who had died in battles from WW1 on. Lots of Mitchells, but none that seemed to fit with the birth places we had in hand. And just as we were entering the Memorial building, we saw the changing of the guards. Very cool.
The cannon openings allowed views of Edinburgh.......
and also an opportunity to lose your grip on a great map. (Good thing I wasn’t holding on to my passport!)
So, in an effort to find a replacement map, we were directed to Rose St. which is a lovely pedestrian only street, filled with interesting architecture and tons of restaurants, including Jamie’s Italian.
The menu was quite reasonable but our stomachs weren’t ready for food. Next time.
We headed back to my cousin’s and that evening enjoyed a delicious meal and interesting conversation and were shocked to find it was 11:30 when we got up from the table.
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