Edinburgh, Days 2 & 3

So I still seem to be running behind by a day.  Today was a day of bus rides and castles. After another lovely breakfast at the hotel, R and I headed out to walk the Royal Mile.  Our first stop was St. Giles Cathedral... which is not really a cathedral.  Those of you who were reading last year might recognize it.

Then it was off to Mary King's Close.  Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside.  So here's the sign.  It's pretty cool to see what the living quarters would have been like ages ago.

We did have some lovely views up and down the street.

We continued our wandering and ended up at the castle on top of the hill.  Throughout the city, Edinburgh Castle dominates the view.  It suddenly appears as you turn corners and look up streets.  It's massive.

And the views are almost unbeatable.

 We rode the bus around a bit after that to see a few more sights in the city.  Then we managed to stumble upon the Ghost Bus Tours.  Yep, haunted bus tour.  Part comedy, part history.  Cheesy as it sounds, it was pretty fun.

We ended the night with some lovely whisky tastings at our hotel.  If I haven't mentioned it, the fact that it stays light here until about 10:30 is pretty crazy.

Day 3.

We did four major things today and I'm mostly going to give you photos and not a lot of descriptions.  My apologies, but it's late and we have to be up early.

First up was Holyrood Palace and Abbey.  We had a lovely self guided tour, followed by tea at the palace.  (or outside it anyway)

Next was the Museum of Childhood.  Which everyone recommends, but wasn't too exciting.  Lots of creepy dolls though.

Next was Greyfriars Kirkyard.  Lovely old graveyard that partially inspired JK with Harry Potter.

Last of all was the Scotch Whisky Experience.  Lots of whisky, lots of fun.

So tomorrow we hit the road to Oban.  I'm sure I'll have even more to report from there!