The Journey: Adventures in Edinburgh [part 3]

(May) We landed in Edinburgh just past midday. It was a return to the cold and chilly weather from which we'd had brief respite the last couple days in Spain. Our first afternoon, we caught the bus from the airport, located our hotel. We stayed in the Ritz :-D

We had this neat key to our room.

Elegant walls and sweeping staircases.

Centered in the room sat a four-postered bed. There was even had a sitting area. The window behind the couch overlooked the street; not the prettiest view, but a wonderful atmosphere.

 

The streets in this area were completely torn up because they are installing a tram. It made for a much quieter evening. 

We found an Italian restaurant nearby and ate a delightful dinner. However, even with the large portions, I was still ravenously hungry, so we found a Chinese restaurant down the road and got take-out from there of fried rice and chow mein. Finally satisfied for the evening, we only briefly wandered as a bitter wind blew. We returned to our hotel and settled in for a relaxed evening.

Heather's perpetual hunger was a very consistent element throughout our trip. I believe the cold (having to expend a lot of energy to keep me warm) and all the walking increased my appetite significantly. Simon kept being astounded by how much food I put away and was still hungry for more. I was always hungry. I used so much energy.

The next morning we wandered toward the Ediburgh Castle.   

We stopped in to see inside a few cathedrals. They are different from 

Spanish Cathedrals. Simon noted that in Spain, there are more paintings and more elaborate architecture. Whereas in Britain, the stain glass in most of the color and the building is made of sweeping arches--grand and majestic.

We approached the castle from the backside. It was interesting to see how it appeared to grow out of the rock.

Inside the Castle there is a cemetery for Soldier's Dogs, who lived in the castle at various points in history. The best thing we did here, was rent an audio tour guide. It made the castle much more interesting as it gave the history. We would not have gotten as much out of our visit without it.

Us overlooking Edinburgh. The fog is beginning to clear out. It took most of the morning.

We ate pita and humus for lunch. Look at the size of the flat bread we ate!

After lunch we walked down the Royal Mile and  took a tour of Mary King's Close.
http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_King%27s_Close
 A 'close' is what the narrow streets, on which most of the people lived several centuries ago, were called. This particular close was built over. Even before it was built over, it had gained a haunted reputation. Our tour guide took on the persona of someone who lived there and told us about his neighbors and how it gained its reputation, as well as about its being built over and its history into the modern era. It was definitely worth the entry fee. I highly recommend it as a stop if you should ever journey to Edinburgh.

We walked down to the gardens. They were very neat, but much further than we'd thought. My feet were sore by day's end and I just wanted to sit and sleep, but we had a train to catch. We collected our bags from our hotel--they kept them behind the desk for us, as we'd had to check out that morning.

We bought our train tickets, ate dinner at an Scottish pub and caught our train to Berwick (prounounced Ber'rik).