Left: entrance, Right: reception
Left: hallway, Right: me with the awesome stairway mural
Left: the stained-glass window, Right: our quaint and cozy room
Saturday morning we headed out into city center. After a
quick breakfast, we walked along Princes Street to catch our first view
of the castle. Then we went up to take a closer look. We took a tour and
managed to see the changing of the guards and hear the cannon being
fired for the Queen's birthday. The views from the castle were
spectacular as was the castle itself. We saw a chapel, church, the great
hall, Queen Mary's chambers, and the royal treasury (aka all the fancy
jewels). My favorite part was probably the dog cemetery though.
Left: first Castle sighting, Right: front entrance to Castle
Left: guard after he finished his dance, Right: Dog Cemetery
Left: doggie headstones, Right: cannons
Left: back of the chapel, Right: me with Edinburgh
Left: some more guards, Right: great hall
Left: Queen Mary's chambers, Right: church
Next we grabbed some lunch at a cute pub before
going to the Scotch Whisky Experience. Well boy was it an experience!
Imagine Hershey's Chocolate World except swap the chocolate for whiskey.
We sat in a barrel/cask and were moved through the history of Scottish
Whisky-making by our lovely, ghostly tour guide. Then we learned about
the different types of Scottish Whisky--depending on where in Scotland
it was made: Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, or Islay. Some were fruitier
where others smelled like smoke. Yuck. We got to try one so I went for
the Speyside (fruity) while Carly chose the Highlands (vanilla). Unlike
at the Jameson Distillery in Dublin, they did not give us mixers. Carly
and I each managed one large gulp but that was all we could bare. I'm
sure the whiskey was grand but I'm just not a straight whiskey kind of
gal. We did get to keep the glass which was cool! Last stop on the tour
was to the largest collection of Scotch Whisky in the world. I forget
the exact number but it was some ridiculous amount of unopened bottles.
After the tour was over, we decided to walk around and do some browsing
in the souvenir shops. Along the Royal Mile (mile between the castle and
the palace), there were a bunch of merchants set up. I fell in love
with a ring that was made from old china but it's price tag was a little
steep at £38 which equates to approximately $55 (aka out of my price
range). Oh well, I guess I'll have to search on Etsy. I did, however,
buy a Scottish wool scarf and some short bread. Yummm.
Left: Royal Mile, Right: Scotch Whisky Experience
Left: Scotch Whisky Experience, Right: Carly and I in the cask
Part of the ride!
Left: taste testing!, Right: Royal Mile
After walking around for awhile, we decided to go
check out the National Museum of Scotland. It was huge and a bit
overwhelming but we walked through the Scottish history section and
meandered over to T-Rex and Egypt before calling it quits. Then we
walked down to the end of the Royal Mile where the Palace of
Holyroodhouse. Since we paid for the castle, we skipped the tour but
took a picture outside and found a cute little cafe with a view of
Arthur's Seat to have our afternoon tea (I reallyyyyyy wanted to hike up
Arthur's Seat but with the rain and all the walking we had already
done, we decided against it--next time!). Best part was the great dane
(named Victor) and his little friend (don't know the breed or the name).
They were both adorable and I couldn't help myself so of course I pet
the little one (the great dane was a bit more shy and wouldn't leave his
owner's side).
Left: National Museum of Scotland, Right: Harry Potter?
Left: Buddha, Right: T-Rex
Left: Mary, Queen of Scots, Right: Scottish Parliament
Left: Arthur's Seat, Right: Palace of Holyroodhouse
We continued walking around for a bit, heading back
over to Princes Street before grabbing dinner at a cute pub on Rose
Street. We both ordered Fish and Chips and I was not disappointed. It
was delicious. After walking around a bit more we headed back to the
hostel. We ventured down to the bar where we used our £1 off coupons for
some cider and beer. After hanging out for a bit we called it a night
and got some rest--or at least attempted to on the very springy
mattresses. The next morning we checked out and headed for the Royal
Mile once again to go on a free walking tour of Edinburgh. The tour was
great--we learned a lot more about Scottish history and our fantastic
tour guide, Alan, threw in a lot of Harry Potter stuff for us so I was
in heaven.
Left: my man, Alan, Right: Greyfriar (graveyard where J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for many of her character names)
Left: Greyfriar's Bobby (cute story about a very loyal dog), Right: Professor McGonagall?
Left: Hogwarts?, Right: Tom Riddle?
Left: Mad-Eye Moody?, Right: window where J.K. Rowling wrote HP (view of castle and private school)
Elephant House--cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote HP
Left: Castle again, Right: Carly and I with Alan
After the tour, we grabbed a late lunch/early dinner
before heading to the airport. RyanAir failed us once again with a
technical failure so we had to switch planes and thus were delayed. Had
my nerves running since I had my first day of the internship the next
morning but we made it out and back to Dublin. Now its just me and
Ireland for the next eight weeks. Can't say I'm too excited to be
working my 9-5:30 job but I think once exams are over and studying is
off my place, I'll be able to enjoy my last few weeks here. So far, I
like my internship a lot. Everyone is very nice and though there has
been some down time as people get used to being able to pass jobs off to
an intern, they've kept me fairly busy. Well, off to study before its
bedtime!
Slainte!
