A Day out in Edinburgh

Well, today was certainly a gallivanting adventure, and let me just say that my body is certainly feeling it!  I'd say that we walked more today than all of our days combined so far!

I'm certainly not complaining.....but, then again, my back and legs aren't too happy at the moment.

It probably didn't help that my sleep was definitely short changed last night. Honestly......who would have thought that South Queensferry would have such a hopping night life?  The sounds travel right up and through the window into our room.  But that's OK,  it might just be as noisy in those parts of the house without this awesome view, so I think I can put up with a little noise.

I managed to get a great photo of the new bridge over the Firth early this morning.

And couldn't resist taking another of the Forth rail Bridge as well.

After a quick breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove to Dalmeny Station so that we could take the train into Edinburgh.  We are only a few stops away, so it did not take long for us to arrive, and step out of the station into warmth and sunshine!  How lucky was that?

Our fist stop was the Scott Monument.  Amy had spotted that in a tour book that I had brought along and she thought it would be fun to climb to the top to see the views.   We got there just as the place was opening, bought the tickets, and started climbing.

There are 267 steps.  They are spiral, like those in a turret, and are in a relatively narrow passage to the top, although there are several landings to stop to catch your breath.  Which I needed!

Here you can see the castle in the distance.

The Balmoral hotel with the firth in the background

Arthur's seat on Salisbury Crag

the three of us catching our breath!

and a selfie with the castle in the background.

As I made the journey to the top, I had presumed that there was another spiral staircase, running in the opposite direction back down to the bottom.

Guess what?   There was NOT!

It gets rather narrow at the top of the staircase, so when those persons at the top decided they wanted to come down, rather than wait for us to finish our track to the top, they insisted on passing by us to go down.  That involved holding tightly onto the center part of the staircase, and breathing in as far as I could muster so that they could squeeze past. Let's just say it required becoming very friendly with complete strangers.  Luckily, that only lasted a few moments.

And, we had no trouble descending the steps as it appeared that no one was crazy enough to attempt the climb to the top after we bought our tickets. 

The experience was worth the effort as the views were excellent today.  But this was definitely a once in a life time experience.  Mountain climbing isn't in my future, believe me!

 Here are a couple of shots of the monument from ground level.

From here we headed to Holyrood Palace for a tour.  

This place was a bit pricey, but when it was all said and done, the tour was very well done.  This palace continues to be used by the Royal family and the queen conducts private audiences in the Throne Room, which we toured.  

Mary, Queen of Scots stayed in this palace, and we were able to view her apartments as well as several personal items that she had owned.  The descriptions were sufficient to imagine her life there. Informative but not over done. 

The Abbey built in the 1100s by King David I still stands next to the palace, as preserved ruins.

It's not difficult to imagine how grandiose the Abbey must have been.

And along the back of the property are well groomed gardens, adding to the charm and beauty of the Palace.  Every July, the Queen hosts a garden party which involves approximately 8000 people in attendance in these very grounds.  

From here we decided to walk back up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.

It might not be obvious in my photos, but this place was packed today!

We took in some of the key features, but it was tough visiting the exhibits with so many tourists crowding about.

But we still managed to visit the key features.

The Royal War Memorial was designed by Robert Lorimer.  We learned about him earlier in the week, remember?

Walking through the interior, you realize the enormous loss of life that the Scots endured in the great war.  There are lists of books of those men who never came home alive.  In one battalion, over 10,000 men perished. The horrors of war, yet, an honor to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. 

We toured the Royal Apartments, saw where King James I of Scotland was born (it was a pretty tiny room), viewed the Crown Jewels, then decided to head out and walk around time a bit more.

We ended up stopping into the Scottish Museum, which, in itself, could take weeks to go through.  But we only spent a couple of hours before heading to dinner on George Street. 

The views of the castle from the restaurant were awesome!

After a scrumptious dinner (at least mine was scrumptious), we headed back on the train to Queensferry, and back to our B&B.

Did I happen to mention the name?

The Ravenous Beastie.

And, here is photo of the creature.

We almost had a ravenous beastie in the room with us, as her dinner was lacking some real substance earlier.  But no worries, we managed to find something to fill her tummy so she is no longer ravenous, and I'm happy to say.....not a Beastie either!

It's been a long day and I'm exhausted, so I'm heading off to bed.

Until tomorrow.