An Unplanned Year

We awoke to another gorgeous day in Edinburgh with temps of about 25 expected again. We raided the “summer clothes” bag to bare some limbs and stay cool.
When we were ready to head out we jumped on a bus to Leith to tour the Royal Yacht Britannia.

This was a really interesting tour that gave access to most of the ship from the bridge to the bedrooms and lounges of the Royal Family and crew, to the laundry, medical centre and engine rooms.

We stopped part way through to partake in a cream tea-how could we not?

This tour took almost three hours and was so detailed and interesting.
When done, we jumped on another bus to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Another really interesting tour with a great audioguide and good access to the site.

Leaving there we started up the The Royal Mile and stopped at a pub for a cool beer. Wandered a bit more, then stopped at another for an award winning cider before getting a bus home.

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Yet another gorgeous day in Edinburgh! Today we used the very efficient buses and headed to Edinburgh Castle. They’re currently installing stadium seating for an event (Edinburgh Tattoo?) so there were no photos of the main entry view to be had.

The bus stop was halfway along the Royal Mile so we walked that hill and the streets around it for about the 4th time since we arrived.

The cobbles are not forgiving to your feet and ankles!
Our entrance time was 0930, but we arrived with time to get a bacon & sausage bap for breakfast.
The castle, perched high up on the rock, affords great views over Edinburgh.

And as it was a clear day we could see for miles. We wandered around for almost 4hrs seeing everything from the Scottish Honours (crown jewels) to the dog cemetery and the 1pm canon shot.

We wandered down to Grassmarket and stopped at The Last Drop for a cold beverage and a snack.

We plan to take it easy this afternoon and start preparing for our side trip to Faroe Islands on Thursday.

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Another Edinburgh day.
Today we drove out of town to Roslin to visit the Rosslyn Chapel – famous as being the Rosslyn church in the second to last scene in the Da Vinci Code. We watched a youtube video about it before we left which gave us some additional history on the chapel which is about 600 years old.

A key phrase from the movie is:

“The Holy Grail ’neath ancient Roslin waits.
The blade and chalice guarding o’er Her gates.
Adorned in masters’ loving art, She lies.
She rests at last beneath the starry skies”

There are no stars on the ceiling of the crypt. Apparently this and the second secret chamber below the crypt were faked for the movie

We returned to Edinburgh and sorted out our bags for our week in the Faroe Islands before heading out for dinner at a nearby pub.