Day 7 - Edinburgh

We woke early to have our full Scottish breakfast at Melville Castle. And, yes, Denise and I really did try some haggis with our breakfast, with all it's lamby-oatmealy goodness. Meh. Once fueled up, we headed into Edinburgh for our day in town. Sadly, it was another drizzle-filled grey day, but that didn't stop us from having a great day.

First up, was Edinburgh Castle.

As usual, we got there a little early and enjoyed the uncrowded space in the morning and were among the first to gain entry. Once inside, we picked up a map and Margaret got a kids scavenger hunt and we got ourselves set for the first guided tour of the morning. Our tour guide was very good and we had a nice 45 minutes walk through the main sites of the castle, followed by a couple of hours of touring on our own. For a while, things cleared up a bit and we got a little sunshine to enjoy from the parapets of Edinburgh.




We enjoyed seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels and there was quite a bit of history for us to read in some of the displays in the castle. Margaret completed her scavenger hunt and particularly enjoyed a visit to St. Margaret's Chapel - which is the oldest part of the castle. It was constructed by her son, David I to honor his mother in the mid-1100s. When the entire castle was destroyed in the early 1300s to keep it from falling into English hands, the chapel was preserved. It can fit 20 people total and Margaret is now debating whether to have her wedding at Disney or here. Evidently she will be trading up for more wealthy parents some time soon.

After the castle, we started to walk down the Royal Mile, taking in quite a few souvenir shops and lots of fancy Scottish shops. We headed just a little off the main path for lunch at The Elephant House, famous for J.K. Rowling spending a lot of time writing Harry Potter books here. We later learned that it was mainly the 2nd and 3rd books that she worked on while visiting this coffee house/restaurant. It was a nice little place with lots of elephant decor and truly unique graffiti in the ladies' restroom. Much to our benefit, we were seated at a table with a Scottish couple (who had spent some time living in the US in Chicago as teachers), who had some insight that saved us a lot of time. We had planned to head next to Holyrood House, the royal palace in Edinburgh, but it turns out that for Good Friday it was closed to the public. Most likely a good thing because the additional walking was likely more than we needed and the draw of the palace wasn't all that great to begin with. So, instead, we simply crossed the street and visited the Scottish National Museum. Lots of very interesting displays on the history of Scotland and we also checked out some exhibits on geology, animal vision, and Jackie Stewart. We were a little tired and had another half hour to kill before our next activity, so we took a little break in the museum.

But, now it was time for one of Margaret's biggest highlights of the trip, the Potter Trail. Our tour guide was Will and he was excellent. In fact, the tour was quite excellent. (and here's a plug if you happen to be in Edinburgh and interested  http://pottertrail.com/ ) The main features were seeing sights that inspired things in the books - graves of people whose names match characters and likely inspired Ms. Rowling, the private school that highly influenced Hogwarts, and the sights around the university where Ms. Rowling studied. Lots of great information in addition to quite a bit of fun.

After the tour, we visited a couple more shops on the Royal Mile (and picked up a few souvenirs) and then headed back to our hotel. The evening at the hotel did not go quite as planned - we had hoped to sit in the lounge and have a drink while playing a board game for Margaret to relax and enjoy, but there was a wedding going on and everything was focused on that and not the other guests so much. So, we grabbed the trivial pursuit and headed back to our room to enjoy. I leave this post with a picture from the Scotch Store on the Royal Mile. Sadly, this is not a drink we will be able to enjoy any time soon...