Today was the necessary Edinburgh day – I mean, ya gotta have it somewhere in the schedule…. It was a nice, slow morning, though and despite my many cups of coffee I still couldn’t wake up properly. It’s alright, though, it’s not like I was in zombie-mode and couldn’t function.
Because we walked across half of Scotland yesterday, we decided to hike a part of Arthur’s Seat so we didn’t leave the most exhausting part of the trip for last. Arthur’s Seat is on the same side of Edinburgh as the castle – you can’t miss it, really. On the walk over there we saw this really ugly modern building amongst all of the old-school Scottish buildings. This ugly concrete thing was the Edinburgh Parliament Building and right next to it, obviously gated, was the Queens residence in Edinburgh.
If Law Hill was a beast to hike, Arthur’s Seat was a bitch. We also found out towards the end of our hike that we had taken the service road and nothing close to a hiking trail. Still, the hike was beautiful and the views were stunning! And the hike down was a reward – all steep, downhill slopes where all you had to do was make sure you didn’t slide off the edge.
After this we definitely needed food like no one’s business. In order to get to the Castle from Arthur’s Seat we needed to walk up the Royal Mile – well, it was the most direct route anyway… talk about a tourist trap – this ridiculously long road is full of international people and silly shops. Let’s just say Anthony Bourdain would avoid this road even if his life depended on it. I mean, really, it wasn’t that bad, but I hate being stuck in mobs of tourists with maps and cameras staring at the sky and not knowing where they’re going. My mum spotted a little caffè/restaurant that existed through a little tunnel and in its own little courtyard. If this place was a pub, I have a feeling that it would be a lot cooler than it already was – it’s dark, cabin-esque, and quite cozy. And, of course, I can’t remember the name of it to save my life.
Onward bound, we finally made it up to Edinburgh Castle. Compared to the castle we saw yesterday, this place was huge and has obviously gone through restoration after restoration. And SO MANY TOURISTS! That’s alright, though, there weren’t as many as there are in front of the Duomo every morning. There were more museum qualities involved with Edinburgh Castle: I got to see Scotland’s Crown Jewels (um… AWESOME!), the grand hall, some bed chambers and private rooms… yeah, it was lovely. And everything was so clean and well kept…. There was a small dog cemetery dedicated to important peoples’ canine companions that was very cute with all its blooming flowers. Yeah… it was a neat castle.
When we were done there, my Dad wanted to go to a specific sore to get a sweater. We found the bus stop to get to this store. After a while of searching in false direction, we got on the bus and got dad his stuff at the shop.
It was getting late in the day and we were getting quite a bit tired from walking almost everywhere the past two days. So we all got on the number eight bus and went back to the apartment. Of course, we were hungry and thankfully got some take-out Indian food and wine.
A lot was done today and though it seemed to go by quickly, I felt as though we really had the time to enjoy everything thoroughly.
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