After that we drove to Edinburgh and dropped the car off. We got a shuttle to the tram station and took it to our new accommodation which is in the ‘new’ part of town. It is so beautiful here! We finally found our accommodation and went to the supermarket for dinner.
This morning we chilled at home for a while and then caught the hop on hop off bus around the city. We did a full loop before getting off at the Grass Market. We walked for a while and found the White Hart pub – the oldest in Edinburgh. Kyle and I were gifted some money from a friend in Feilding so used it to buy a beer and cider. The pub is apparently haunted so we had some good yarns with the bartender about that. Next we set off down the Royal Mile where we bought tickets to the Holyrood Palace to explore tomorrow. This is where Kyle’s direct descendants of King James I and II of Scotland lived and died.
A supermarket lunch and dinner (bacon and mushroom carbonara!) was what the doctor ordered.
The next day we went to Holyrood Palace via the bus – which was hilarious as it was quicker to walk but we didn’t realise. It was great to see something so historic with links to Kyle’s heritage – it made everything a bit more special. This is where the queen stays once a week every year and it was bitterly cold but sunny. We walked up Lions Head lookout and braved the wind. The view was lovely though and we reminisced about our fitness when we were doing the Great Wall of China and that we had basically lost it now. Walking through the streets again we went to John Knox’s house – the oldest house in Edinburgh. He hated Mary, Queen of Scots and there was a war between them. Ask Kyle re the history – I forget! But it was great being in the tiny house and seeing how they once lived. Later in the evening we met up with my cousin, Amy, who I hadn’t seen in 11 years. It was so lovely catching up with her and Kyle being able to meet another one of my cousins. For dinner we went to a Pakora House and had some lovely black pudding pakora but some average curry. The UK have nothing on NZ curries!!
12th September we went to Edinburgh Castle. It is magnificent as always with the beautiful view and setting. The dungeon was pretty cool to see and they had the rooms laid out as they would have been. It was a beautiful day and we got there as soon as the castle opened, so there were only a hundred tourists at first! It was warm in the sun but cold in the shade – however it was great to be back. Later that day we went to the Royal Museum of Scotland which was really amazing. The animal section was particularly good and we really loved it (since we’re writing this in retrospective, the London History Museum had nothing on this one!). We went for a quick walk after this to Lauriston Lodge which is a family history of mine. Couldn’t see much but was nice to know it was there! That night we went to a jazz bar – the oldest in Edinburgh, to see some “jazz”. It wasn’t really jazz but it was still a nice thing to do. There was a couple sitting near us in a booth pashing like they were 16 so that wasn’t very pleasant…however the rest of the audience were polite to the performer!
- Danielle