Edinburgh Castle |

Up early, so ran some chores.
Then out for a stroll
– confirmed the laundrette
– had breakfast at a nice place

Carried on to the castle. Quite the uphill workout. Don’t get this in Canada.
Took a while to get the ticket, which allowed me to update the blog.
Once in walked over to
– The Greys
– Royal Scots
Rather sad. All these battles fought, and for what? How come we all just can’t get along!
Must be all these books on Rome that I am reading. Back then, wars were ways of getting rich and climbing the greasy power pole. Guess nothing has changed in 2,000yrs 🙁

The nearby castle prisons looked quite nice. Memories of some of the places that I have stayed in! hahahaha

Looked at the National War Memorial. Nice building. Sad purpose, listing all the dead.

Popped into the Great Hall (minature Hampton Court).

Joined the queue to see the Stone of Destiny. The movie which I saw by accident (long story), ‎and Hamish Macbeth (tv series that I watched every week), have a lot to answer for 🙂

Lunch was a nice bowl of soup……
with the added bonus of being close to The One O’clock Gun. Boom.

Walked through the National War Museum. Another testament to homo sapiens doing something stupid, but with spirit, style and camaraderie.

A quick stroll took me out of the castle, and onto the Royal Mile. Hawkers to the left. Hawkers to the right. But they are in nice buildings.
Turned around, but the castle is hidden by the stadium for the Edinburgh Tattoo. NOTE: there are still excellent views from Princes Street, across the park.

First stop was St Giles cathedral. The tea shop 🙂 Pot of Earl Grey and a cream biscuit 🙂 Food for the body AND the soul.

On to a leather booth, where the kind gentleman put me onto this outstanding leather shop…….
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NICE work. Done on the premises. Do stop by when in Edinburgh. Not cheap, but not outrageous. And it is quality.

Then onto Holyrood Palace. Home of Mary Queen of Scots. ‎And the official residence of the british monarch. The murder of Rizzio took place here. Which led to the estrangement and murder of Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley. The things some chaps will do to marry.
Holyrood has a ruin. Once upon a time, an abbey.
Also a nice garden. REALLY nice lawn.
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Had walked by the Scottish Parliament. This post modern Building looks like a carbuncle. IMHO. Luckily it also looks like it will burn well:) Too soon?

Anyhow. Was after 5pm. Decisions. Decisions.
Climb up to Arthur’s Seat?
Or go for sushi?
Not a difficult choice. Especially when Stuart says “….a steep climb to the very top”. For those who don’t know Stuart, he’s a chap who thinks climbing Kilimanjaro is a nice family vacation! With kids. If you think that sounds like fun, read this page!

So a taxi and sushi…..

This was at Sushiya, across the road from my breakfast spot 🙂