After Tuscany, we decided to go to Edinburgh, UK for a couple days. Quite the contrast, true? But it was a quick 2 1/2 hour flight and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go...so off to the castle we went. On the day after we arrived, we strolled down the Royal Mile and walked past a street rendition of William Wallace...and there it stood. Edinburgh Castle has quite the history and contains its own set of Crown Jewels. In fact, it also houses a coronation stone once stolen by the English and placed under the coronation seat at Westminster...it has since been returned but will go back for future coronations for the king/queen.
We enjoyed the Scottish National Gallery and marveled at the shades of green - the hills of the northern UK are quite lovely. Alyse insisted that we climb Calton Hill (just for you Steph). (Here I am at the top for my modeling shoot...sporting a rain jacket???)
"Catch me!"--Alyse
"Okay!"--Carlos
After Carlos' afternoon run in Holyrood Park, we walked to Arthur's Seat, a large hill east of the city center for gorgeous views of Edinburgh and the North Sea.
The palace was closed for a couple weeks, but we snuck a shot through the gates. (I've realized the royal family has way too many palaces--surely they'd let us have just one, right?)
Supposedly the architecture in the Harry Potter movies is based on the architecture around Edinburgh, can you tell?
A view of the castle at sunset around 10:30 at night. (Don't worry, sunrise is about 4:30 a.m.)
Hotels were ridiculously expensive, so we found a college dorm to stay in. It actually was ideal--we had our own little kitchen that we cooked in, and we slept well--especially after walking/running well over 10 miles (and a lot more than that for Carlos). The next day we enjoyed walking around the botanical gardens, and even enjoyed a short nap on a park bench. The weather was gorgeous, it never rained on us (we were very lucky!)
One regret, we did not plan enough time to go to the Highlands...but we still had an incredible time and loved everything about Scotland. Beautiful buildings, wonderful history, and lots of fun.
1 comment:
I loved Edinburgh! I stayed in Aberdeen for 2 months for some research with my MS degree and visited Edinburgh a couple times. I was there for the longest day of the year and the sun set around 12 midnight and rose around 3a. It was pretty wild.
Loved the castle and Royal Mile and Arthur's seat. You would love the Highlands and to see some Highland game action. Thanks for sharing!
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