A sunny day in Edinburgh
Our first lesson of the day for Luis: it's pronounced ed-in-bur-rah or ed-in-bruh, not ed-in-berg like Pittsburgh.
On this trip, I planned for us to go to a new place, Calton Hill. This is a great view point alternative to Arthur's Seat as it still has view of the skyline but only a short walk up instead of a climb. The acropolis is just a 10 min walk from the Waverly train station, so we went there first. Today was a bit more foggy, but the weather was still sunny and dry, so we saw pretty far out. We even saw Arthur's seat from the top.
We also got a good view of the castle.
There were a few monuments at the top of the hill as well, so we walked around a bit after taking in the skyline.
Headed back down the hill, we headed for the Royal mile. Along the way I noticed these statues of giraffes, painted with different designs, placed all over. They reminded me of something I used to see in The States. Different states/regions would have different animal statues, all painted differently, placed all over tourist sites. By my hometown it was an alligator (of course), and in North Carolina we saw bears. Not sure if the giraffe is particularly apt for Edinburgh, but then I saw that it was for a charity project by the Edinburgh Zoo. It's called Giraffe About Town and each one is owned by a small business or education organization and decorated by locals. So I tried to snap a photo every time I spotted one.
Helpful tip: those stairs you see behind the giraffe? You don't have to take those up to the Royal Mile. We see people hauling suitcases and bags up those steps because the train station drops you off right in front and google maps will probably tell you it's the shortest distance. But if you just go right and follow the curve, it'll drop you off at the same place. Cockburn street, you can't forget it.
Once we got onto the Royal Mile stretch, we could immediately see the difference of summer tourism. It was packed! Besides tourists, there were street performers, flyer distributors, and bustling shops all around us. Luckily, even in Scotland, my flaming red hair is like a beacon for the guys to follow me through the crowd. I led them up to St. Giles, a cathedral we've seen a few times but have never been in. Today, we hit it at the right time to visit.
Look! The cone-headed statues have reached Edinburgh!
Tolbooth Kirk was still closed, but it is always cool see it from the outside with it's bright red shutters.
We had tickets for Edinburgh Castle, but our allotted time was a bit later, so we decided to find some lunch. I planned on us visiting the Grassmarket, so we headed down there through my favorite shortcut: Victoria St.
Found another giraffe!
The Grassmarket has two sections, full of a variety of things like food, jewelry, soaps, woodworking, leather goods, and more handcrafted stuff. We got to shop around a bit, picking up food and trinkets here and there, and Pedro ended up trying Ethiopian food for the first time. Pretty good!
Then we headed up to the Castle to a shop that we like, full of all things Scottish. Pedro and I ended up with baseball hats since it was so sunny outside. I was careful to pick out a plain 'Scotland' hat while Pedro ended up with an big 'Edinburgh' across the top. It's a bold choice for anyone living in Glasgow (the great rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh is similar to football team rivalries back in Florida).
We could see from the store that the castle still had a huge mobile stadium set up for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo Musical Festival.
We couldn't see the usual view from there, but once we got past the Portcullis Gate, we had another gorgeous skyline.
Another giraffe!
We walked through the various museums, though I know the guys' feet were killing them, so we took it slow. Around the National War Museum, Pedro sat down in the courtyard while I took Luis to see the Crown jewels and Stone of Destiny. It's funny how Pedro and I were so excited to see the War Museum again, and then we're looking up at the wall to ceiling architecture, and realized it looked smaller now since we've seen the Vatican.
After the crown jewels, we decided to head back to the station for home. But of course, we had to stop along the way for some ice cream and street entertainment; where else can you see a random owl?
P.S.
On our tour yesterday, our guide told us a story that I had to include here about Edinburgh. It may or may not be a true origin story about the saying 'sh*t-faced drunk'. Way back in the Middle Ages of Edinburgh, the plumbing in the city was non-existent. People would empty their overnight chamber pots directly into the streets. Their would give a warning shout, and then it'd be tossed out the window. So, if some were unfortunate enough to be walking home drunk, in the wee hours, and hear a shout, they might...look up. Sh*t-faced.