Day #20 – Edinburgh

Edinburgh is on a hill!

This morning had to start quickly as we needed to make a 10am train out of Cupar for Edinburgh.  We didn’t have tickets, so we needed time to figure it all out.  It was a mad dash, but we made it with minutes to spare!

The train ride into Edinburgh was a little over an hour, and the cost was quite expensive!  Thank goodness for our Family Rail Card (thank you Doric!)  We made it into Edinburgh around 11:15 and were on our way.  We headed over to the Royal Mile and decided to go uphill first, then make our way downhill.  In retrospect, we really didn’t handle the day very efficiently, but I guess you live and learn.

Look at that queue!  No thanks!!

First we walked up towards Edinburgh Castle.  It’s mostly ruins, but it’s on one of the highest points in Edinburgh.  The guide book said that while it was nice, it might not be worth the price of admission, and the line to get in was INSANELY long, so we looked, ooh’d and ahh’d, and headed back downhill.  There are stands set up all around the outside entrance of the castle for the Military Tattoo which happens during the Edinburgh Festival which is in about two weeks.  That’s when Edinburgh gets REALLY crowded (which is amazing as it was too crowded for me today!)

Look at that queue!  No thanks!!

As we turned back, we passed a camera obscura, which looked like a lot of fun, but everyone was hungry.  We also passed a tartan mill and couldn’t help but step inside to see how tartans are made, and I did end up purchasing some various Macmillan clan items (my grandmother was a Macmillan.)

Where J. K. Rowling wrote her books!

Anyway, after that brief shopping we headed back downhill and turned off part-way to have lunch at the Elephant House.  It’s a café where J.K. Rowling wrote a good portion of her books.  It’s really very nice and cozy inside with a view of the castle in the distance, which I think would be very inspiring for a writer.  Anyway, we weren’t very efficient in how we handled the ordering of our food, and they were really slow, so it ended up taking MUCH longer than anticipated for lunch.

We were finally out of the café and on our way back downhill in mid-afternoon.  As we wandered the streets we stumbled across a comic book store called Forbidden Planet.  Emily had hoped to see it!  So the Bumba’s went in and took a look around, and, of course, bought stuff.

We then headed the rest of the way down the hill to Holyrood Palace, which is still in use as a palace.  This was a place I really wanted to see!  We bought tickets, got the audio tours, and went inside.  The queen occasionally does stay at Holyrood, and in fact, her granddaughter Zari Phillips will be getting married in Edinburgh next weekend, and the reception is to take place at Holyrood!  It was fun to think that we were in a place where members of the royal family would be in just under a week.

The palace was beautiful, and the walk around the gardens was lovely.  The palace is next to the ruins of an abbey. The abbey was there first, the palace built later.  We were able to see Mary Queen of Scots bedroom, as this was one of her residences.

The Debating Floor

After our tour of the palace, we headed back outside.  Nicola really wanted to see the new Scottish Parliament building, so we all went in and took a tour around.  The architecture is really different and fun.

After a quick tour around, we headed back up the hill towards the top to see the Camera Obscura (built in the 1800s!).  The camera is on top of the building but the rest of the floors have fun items that trick your eyes.  We had a lot of fun on each level and the presentation at the top was really fun.  If you don’t know what a camera obscura is, look it up.  They are really cool.

After that, we headed partway back downhill towards the train.  It was a quiet train ride back as everyone was exhausted.  Once back at the castle, we had soup (Nicola made homemade soup from the leftovers of the feast the day before!)  and bread.  It was a nice, yummy end to a very busy day.  We’ve told the kids that tomorrow is a lay in day.  They were very excited to hear that!