Neither of us slept very well last night even though we hadn't slept the night before either. We woke up and drove up into the Edinburgh downtown area and walked along the Royal Mile. We saw all the preparations for the Royal Procession which will be happening tomorrow. The Queen will be brought from Balmoral to the Holyrood House Palace. Then she will be part of a royal procession to St Giles where she will lie in state. David and I walked pretty much the whole length of the Royal Mile, and went in and out of some stores.  |
| The Royal Mile (and next picture) |
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| St. Giles |
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| Holyrood House Palace (and next 9 photos) |
Soldiers rehearsing prior to Queen's arrival in Edinburgh.
We also stopped at Baker's Close to see the place where the print shop fire happened in season 3 of Outlander.
At this point, we headed back towards our car as the parking meter would soon be running out. We got there with 45 minutes to spare so we stopped into a bar and had a drink. While there we chatted with the bartender and a Scottish couple who were there. After we took care of the car situation, we went to a small pizza place for lunch. While there we heard the manager answering the phone over and over again that they were booked solid for tonight till 10 pm. Glad we have dinner reservations!
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| Day drinking at the Thistle Street Bar |
After lunch, we went to the National Scottish Art Gallery. They were having an Impressionism show, so we spent some time there. Finally we headed back to the car and then back to our apartment to lie down and rest a little.
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| Cezanne |
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| Van Gogh |
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| Gauguin |
A wee taste of Scotland bagpipes for you!
I would be remiss if I didn't mention driving. Here in Scotland they drive on the left side. It is absolutely harrowing to constantly feel like we're turning into oncoming traffic! Even walking across the street, I keep looking left and right and left and right again, cause I'm never quite sure which way the traffic is coming. To further complicate things, people park facing both directions as in the picture below!
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| Our car is in the middle, in front of the red car |
After the Gallery, we went back to our apartment, napped a bit, worked on this blog a little, showered and changed. Then we drove back downtown to near our evening's restaurant, The Devil's Advocate. We had "fun" trying to find it because many streets are now closed. We ultimately parked and walked a little. There were groups of soldiers rehearsing for tomorrow and tons of people who stopped to take pictures.
We started with drinks. David got a whisky (that's how it's spelled in Scotland), which I tried (not my thing) Then we got a smoked fish platter for an appetizer and then our entrees.
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| Before drinks/food |
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| Trying whisky |
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| Before drinks/food |
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| Tasting his whisky |
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| Smoked fish appetizer (after we started picking at it) |
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| My fried haddock (delish!) |
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| Dave's venison |
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| The Devil's Advocate outside |
We headed back to our car parked in Grassmarket Square near Victoria Street. This was a super cool neighborhood filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Earlier today we saw some kind of craft fair here. Victoria Street was built in the early 1830's and is Scotland's most photographed street. It's believed to be JK Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley.
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| Victoria Street (and next picture) |
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| Grassmarket Square |
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| Edinburgh Castle on hill as seen from Grassmarket Square (and next photo) |
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| Our apartment complex in Edinburgh |
