UK Trip - Day 6: Edinburgh

This morning we had a complimentary "Scottish breakfast" provided by our hotel. It was cafeteria style in the (I'm guessing) University cafeteria. Being a complimentary breakfast, it was surprisingly substantial-- There was a LOT of food-- haggis (both regular and veg versions), meat of some sort (I can't remember, but probably ham and bacon), eggs (both scrambled and fried), oatmeal, dry cereal, fruit, coffee, juice, milk, etc... It was nice to be able to try out a variety of "Scottish breakfast" items, especially without having to pay for them all!

After that we took a bus down to the city centre of Edinburgh. Today was a more "touristy" day for us, going to such places as the Scotland Store, National Museum of Scotland, James Pringle Weavers (hehe), and The Scotch Whiskey Experience (No probably not what you're thinking, but a museum of the history of Scotch Whiskey, plus a store with a large selection of more whiskeys than I ever knew existed). We didn't want to pay to go into the museum but we did check out the store where I bought some Scottish Heather Cream liqueur-- delicious! They were giving out samples of this one whiskey (I totally cannot remember the name) but interestingly it was billed as having a "smokey" flavor-- and it really did, it was so weird! I've never had charred alcohol before, heh.

Views of the city centre:








With its 200 ft height and crazy, sooty towers, Scott Monument easily stands out.



Then we continued up the increasingly steep Castle Hill to Edinburgh Castle. There were a lot of people there, but the castle was also surprisingly (at least to me) big and spread out.


A view from the top, looking down on the city below.





The castle grounds are comprised of several different buildings, most of which visitors can freely explore. Inside some are exhibits including a display of the Scottish Crown Jewels and the "Stone of Scone" (hehe) and recreations of scenes such as prisoners' barracks. Aside from a few sets of fake food, kings and queens being crowned, and prisoners in hammocks, they do a pretty good job of avoiding too many Disney-esque cliches or over-the-top fakery.







After the Castle we continue wandering the Royal Mile...


St. Giles Cathedral is beautiful and impressive on the outside as well as in. It's unbelievable how massive it really is.