7/5/19 - Edinburgh Summary
/Scotland is less compressed than London. We have three full days bordered by two travel days. We arrive and are pleasantly surprised with the size and location of the flat. Perfect location right in Parliament Square on the Royal Mile. The flat, although another 5th floor walkup with no lift, is about four times bigger than the cramped London flat. I fully admit that with limited time to research and plan each city, there is definetly an element of luck in Air BnB. London not as lucky. Scotland definitely lucky.
We try to find a local Scottish pub to eat dinner the first night but to no avail. England is playing the US in the women’s World Cup semi-final and every Scottish pub is packed. We couldn’t have gotten a table for two let alone 7. So we settle for Bennie & Jack’s New York Italian restaurant. They aren’t showing the game so it’s fairly empty.
John has planned our second day in Edinburgh and is becoming quite the expert planner. We start the day at Edinburgh Castle. The castle is impressive from a physical standpoint with cool displays. We catch the changing of the Scottish Guard. One highlight was they have inside the Castle that you look up your surname (if it’s of European descent) and can buy a color scroll with the name’s history and coat of arms. My surname’s flag is a chicken leg & claw, the surname name means “a patch of farmland” and hails from the Kingdom of Bravaria. Leanne’s flag is a lion. Hmmm…in the GOT world, it appears I’m a Wildling while Leanne is a Lannister.
We then visit St. Cultbert’s Church, the site of the oldest Christian based church in Edinburgh. There is an impressive depiction of the Last Supper, modeled after Leonardo da Vinci’s work, carved in alabaster. They also have a cemetery outside surrounding the church with graves dating back to 1768. We see the world’s first floral clock made of 30,000 flowers. We see the National Gallery of Scotland with many religious pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary with some impressionists (Van Gogh, Monet, Serat, Degas) mixed in. We take a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia which sailed from 1953 – 1997. Impressive but everything looks like it was straight out of 1953 as opposed to 1997. Leanne and the girls have tea in the Team Room overlooking the harbor. We then go to the Holyrood Palace however; The Queen is in residence at the palace so it is closed to the public. We have seen and heard a lot about the royal family but alas no Queen sightings. We get our local Scottish dinner in and the brave ones in the group try Haggis (sheep’s innards). The day ends with me, Ashlynn and Justin going on a Ghost tour where we walk for almost 3 hours but don’t come close to being scared.
For the third day, we do a bus excursion to the Scottish Highlands. We see Castle Dourne which is one of two castles used to film Winterfell in GOT. We stop in Troussacs National Park and take pictures with highland cows which looks more like a cow crossed with a wooly mammoth and pictures of the tree sisters mountains. The highlight is exploration of a ruined castle and boat ride on the Loch Ness. I take a picture that I’m convinced is the Loch Ness monster but Leanne thinks its just a rock. On the way back we see the Forth Bridge which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lots of riding on a bus but worth seeing the vast countryside outside of Edinburgh.
The final day in Edinburgh is a travel day so we squeeze in a quick stop at St. Giles Church before heading off to Ireland.
Edinburgh / Scotland Snapshot
Overall assessment - amazing, mideval city with impressive architecture and stone buildings
Activities - castle exploration and boat ride on Loch Ness, Royal Yacht Britannia
Cultural / Historical - Edinburgh Castle, St Culberth’s Church, National Gallery of Scotland, Floral Clock,
Geography - Scottish highlands
Dinners - Frankie & Bennys (New York Italian), Albanach (Scottish), Pizza Hut (American)
Reminds Me Of - Prague (Edinburgh), Game of Thrones, Icelandic Highlands (Scottish Highlands)
UNESCO Sites - Edinburgh (Old & New Town), The Forth Bridge
