Edinburgh Weekend - Part 2

When in Europe - do not eat McDonald's, but that is exactly what we do for breakfast. It's cheap, and you can get a small bottle of orange juice for no extra cost! One way to get the vitamins in.

First mission of the day, take the tour bus outside of Old Town. We zip through the tourist filled streets, past Princes Street into New Town, noting several famous residences and quiet modern streets before there's a stop at the Botanical Gardens.  In the spring and summer time, I'm sure this would be abloom with flowers. Now fall, I decided to skip it.  We follow a loop to the Britannica. I'm not into ships, but there is a shopping centre there for those who like to shop. A turn towards Leith and then we wind our way back up past our hostel and into the main stop, bypassing Old Town entirely.

Seems JM Barrie was here often back in the days. I would too.

Off next to Edinburgh Castle - depending on your interest in castles, you could wander here for either 1 hour or half a day.  There is quite a bit to see, though like the city itself, is fairly small compared to other well known castles.  On your way up to the top of the castle, pop by the 2nd gift shop, it should be on your left.  Sometimes they do whisky tastings, yum! See side picture. I wish I bought the cream version, it was a honey version of Bailey's, but alas, the non-cream lasts longer.  This whisky is not exported, so I do recommend trying it and picking up a bottle.  And if anyone is coming to Vancouver, I would love it if you bring a bottle back, even the size bigger than the little mickey.

The oldest building in Edinburgh, if memory serves correct, is Saint Margaret's Chapel inside Edinburgh Castle.  Guys - apparently you want your daughters to get married here because...it only holds 20 guests! It's tiny.  

We next make our way to Camera Obscura just steps from Edinburgh Castle atop the Royal Mile. It's a neat place to view optical illusions and play with some of the exhibits.  More fun and photo ops if you're with friends though.  It's one of those attractions you just gotta check out just because it's there. The Camera Obscura show is pretty neat and there aren't many in there world.

 

Continuing down the road on your right hand side is a Whisky shop where you can take a tour to see how Whisky is made. The enticing point is the wheelbarrow ride, but I've been advised that's the only cool part. As my Scottish tour in the following days included a distillery, I saved my time and my money.  Their shop though is worth a look around.


Went down the Mound to see one million pounds seeing as we had a pretty cool Mint exhibit during the Olympics and saw a lot of coin and held gold bars.  The million pounds - not impressive, just a box of bills.  It was free though, but I urge you to better spend your time.

    Last order of the day (darn the short daylight hours) was to climb Calton Hill.  It had looked daunting but really isn't.  A great view for a panoramic view of Edinburgh, though are there others - see my return trip entries later.  Edinburgh has been called Athens of the North. They even have a Parthenon, though half built because they ran out of money.  If you frame your picture just right, you might be able to fool your friends that you're in the real Athens.  Be mindful you don't get lost coming down from the hill though as I did - took the long way around, but had an idea of where I would end up.

Two packed days in Edinburgh. Time to get ready to see the rest of Scotland via Haggis Adventures 5 Day Highland Fling =)  Extremely affordable and loads of fun. If you're under 35 with an open mind, open to staying in hostels, this is one fun filled experience! Would do it again.