Three days in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a beautiful and bustling city, filled with magnificent church spires,

old, old buildings and double decker buses moving at speed throughout the streets. Traffic lights are there to be ignored by pedestrians who are hurried in their passage through the day in this historic city.

Tourists seem to fill the streets,                    

easily identifiable because of the cameras slung across their chests or the cases they are pulling across the cobblestone streets.  Beggars sitting with their dogs, against the building walls, were confronting, especially when they chose to sit in the rain rather than under cover.  The buskers were aplenty, the variety varied and the

few pipers made the sounds of Edinburgh delightful

Particularly enjoyed watching a puppeteer working with a violin bow and his marionette - very clever.

The human statues are interesting to watch and they turn on a show if you give them a donation.                               One particularly intrigued us - he hung in mid air and no matter how many times we walked around him, we couldn't see how he did it, until we spotted an iron bar running up his sleeve!

The Castle stands like a protector watching over the city from on high, quite a magnificent scene,

and equally magnificent to visit, along with the thousands of other visitors.  The history is amazing - there is so much of it and the Scots are very proud of their roots, carefully  telling us that Mel Gibson's rendition of Braveheart wasn't even close to anything resembling the truth.  The whole complex of the Castle is rather large and obviously provided protection for many during times of conflict. The rooms of the Castle are filled with armour and weapons of war.

 Hopefully you didn't need to flee from the enemy, your speed would be greatly impeded in this getup.

The area where the prisoners were kept was fascinating, not where you would want to spend too much time, especially if you had a bad back.

The Castle is in the process of making ready for the Edinburgh Tatoo, which takes place in July/August.  

The 'stage' was much smaller than I expected.  I guess that means you would get a great view, even from the back stalls.

The Royal Mile seems to be in Edinburgh just so all the tourists can walk down it, shop in all the Indian owned 'genuine' Scottish wool shops and eat in the ordinary cafes.

The buildings are beautiful and make the Mile a charming place to wander along.

But George Street is the place for a really great cup of tea or coffee and a yummy lunch.  It took us a while to find it but it was worth the search!  Sorry you missed it Graham and Ammie...

We really enjoyed visiting Holyrood Palace, in fact we just made it.  Lizzy and Phil were coming  soon to spend a few days in house and therefore the Palace was shutting, to give them some peace and quiet.  During our visit we saw a display of the Queen's clothes through her reign called 'Fashioning a Reign'.

I particularly enjoyed the evening gowns.  It was very interesting to learn about the thorough research that went into a royal visit and how that played out in the way the Queen's clothes were designed. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.

But  we could photograph another ruined Abbey...

Arthur's Seat was calling us but unfortunately the rain set in and we deemed it unwise to attempt the climb in such conditions.

By the next day Allan's foot was very painful so climbing was out of the question.  It looks like he has Plantar Fasciitis and rest is the best cure.

On Monday we said a sad farewell to  Graham and Ammie, it seemed so strange to spend the day without them after over three weeks together.  In the excitement of our goodbyes, I forgot to take the SIM card for my camera out of Allan's computer and didn't discover my mistake until we were out and about. We contented ourselves with the phone and riding the bus around town and out to the Firth of Forth for a cruise around the Firth (Estuary) of the Forth River where it flows out into the North Sea.  

The Forth Bridge is a railway bridge over the Firth of Forth, it is a cantilever bridge and  iconic in Scotland - it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.    

 It's said that there are diamond studs in this bridge.

A view of the complete bridge 

Beside the Forth bridge stands the Forth Road Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Edinburgh at Queensferry to Fife  at North Queensferry.

 It replaced a centuries-old ferry service for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.  It is suspect in high winds and another suspension bridge is currently under construction to replace it.  The three bridges standing side by side are quite a spectacular sight.

A final check of where we could catch the Airport Bus completed our time in Edinburgh.  This beautiful city is certainly well worth the  visit and provides the visitor with many interesting venues to fully occupy 3 days.  We are now looking forward to the next leg of the journey - Ireland.