Ireland and Scotland Trip - Edinburgh, Part 3

We headed to tour Edinburgh Castle the next morning. 

A view from outside the castle walls.

 

A selfie at the gate. 

Brian listening to his audio tour and the bottom of the long stairs.

 

Views from the castle were spectacular. 

 

A view toward Calton Hill.

 

Laura with one of the cannons. 

 

The Governor's house within the castle walls. 

 

The back side of the building that now houses a war memorial. 

 

The Royal residence on the left, and the side of the war memorial on the right before we headed into the center square courtyard of the castle. 

 

Inside the courtyard. 

 

Brian in the small room ("closet"), where Mary Queen of Scotts gave birth to future King James I of England. 

 

Mary Queen of Scott's bedroom. 

 

One of the living areas.

 

The Great Hall.  

 

A few pics with Mons Meg. 

Inside the small chapel within the castle.  It's the oldest structure inside the castle. 

Brian in the guard post. 

 

Inside the castle prison. 

 

After touring the castle, we headed down the Royal Mile.  We spotted this close.  I can't believe they misspelled our name!

After lunch, we headed to Holyrood park to hike up to Arthur's Seat.  There were some gorgeous views along the way. 

 

A view down to Holyrood Castle the water and the highlands to the North. 

 

We made it to the top! 

 

 

More gorgeous views on the way down. 

 

Looking back up at the summit. 

It was quite the hike.  I think we earned another treat at Mimi's Bakehouse!  This time we tried a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bar.  It was really good, but not quite the caliber of the cheesecake. 

 

Then we walked up Calton Hill. 

 

A view of the National Monument on the left and the Nelson Monument on the right. 

Laura up on the National Monument.



Ireland and Scotland Trip - Edinburgh, Part 2

The next morning, we did another bike tour.  The day didn't look good, as it was raining on our way to the bike tour.  It ended up raining for the first 20 minutes, but it cleared up for the majority of the tour.

Ready to start the tour.

 

New town area. 

 

It's hard to tell from this pic below, but this picture was taken from the top of a very steep hill.  It was pretty challenging to bike up.  Only three of us rode up the hill; the others walked their bike up.  But you can sort of see the water and highlands North of the water over Brian's helmet.  It was a really pretty view from here.  

 

In St. Andrew Square. 

 

Calton Hill off in the background. 

 

Looking up below Dugald Stewart Monument on Calton Hill. 

 

On Calton Hill with the Nelson Monument behind us. 

After the bike tour, we stopped in a shop called Mimi's Bakehouse to grab lunch. 

 

The lunch was good, but the dessert was fantastic.  We shared the Oreo Cheesecake, and it was the best cheesecake I have ever had!  And we bought a mug for our Mimi.

 

The view down the street outside Mimi's. 

 

After lunch, we headed to the Ocean Terminal to tour the Royal Yacht Britannia.  It was so windy on the boat; it was really hard to hang on to my phone to take selfies.  Here's a pic entering the top deck at the start of the tour. 

 

The sun deck on the Royal side of the boat. 

 

Inside the Royal quarters. 

 

The Queen's bedroom. 

 

The Royal dining room.  There was a smaller dining room, where they would eat, when there were no guests on board the ship.  This table could seat over 30 people. 

 

The Queen's office. 

 

The Living Room. 

 

A bunk room, where crew slept. 

 

That night we went to dinner at The Scran & Scallie.  It was recommended to us by someone Brian knows from work, who lives in Edinburgh.  He said it would be an excellent Scottish meal.

 

Lobster ravioli to start. 

 

Fish and Beef entries.  They were delicious!