5/31 Edinburgh Castle

I had planned to visit this ancient stronghold this morning, but unfortunately, all the tickets for morning had been sold out, so I was not able to get a ticket until 2:00 pm.  That gave me an opportunity to sleep in a bit.  It had really been cold last night and was expected to be cold and rainy today, so I wore a short-sleeved shirt, a light cotton jacket over that, and my rain jacket over the whole thing.  (Cold is a high of 54℉ with some wind.  It does feel a bit warmer when the sun comes out, but you can tell from my photos that mostly the sun stays hidden.)  

Walking around this town is a lesson in architecture.  Luckily, most of the old buildings in this city are protected.  The incredibly impressive building below is the Balmoral Hotel.  It was originally built in 1895 as a railroad hotel and is directly across the street from the main railroad station.  It is also well-known as the hotel where J.K. Rowling stayed for six months to finish her novels.  Note that this hotel is very expensive so this was AfTER she sold her first novel!

Not sure what this is, but it is impressive.

I had walked about .6 of an uphill mile, so I was pretty beat by the time I got there, except it was too early to go inside, so I found a small cafe to get something to eat.  It also was full, other than one table for four that looked as if they were getting ready to leave.  

I had been chatting with an older man from Lancaster who had brought his grandson to Edinburgh for the day because it was a school break.  While we had been waiting, I suggested that we share the table that looked like it might be empty soon.  The waitress was going to break the table into two smaller tables, but I told her to leave it as it was because we were all going to share.  Sharing a table is a great way to meet interesting people!  And it was great to talk to both the grandfather and his almost-13-year-old grandson!  

Onward into the castle, in spite of on and off sprinkles.  The following are some views of the castle.

One thing that made this castle a secure fortress was that it was built on volcanic rock, as you can see here.

Lots of views of the town from this high rock!

Uh, this does not really look like a historical cannon, but I am guessing it can be fired.

Lots of soldiers like to wear medals, but this one started out as an enlisted man and won so many medals, he could not possibly have worn them all. 

This room was filled with historical battle ribbons, as well as some regimental silver.

This is the inside of the oldest part of the fort--St. Margaret's Chapel.  It is very tiny, but impressive.

Most of these buildings were originally barracks and also part of the royal apartments.

I find ceilings sometimes more impressive than the things below them.

Headed back to my hotel, after a quick stop to get a lemon iced tea at Starbucks and a salad and dessert take-out at Pret a Manger.  Only problem with the salad is that I thought it had chicken in it, but it turned out to be tuna, so I only ate part of it.  (Gnawed on the chunk of Dutch cheese I bought and had a couple of crackers to go along with it.)  Walked the entire .6 mile back to hotel.

 

 

Following my GPS back to the hotel led me to what are called The Scotsman Steps.  Oops, last thing I need are more steps, but here is the entrance to this several level curved staircase.  I do not want to fall on this trip, so I was very careful and made it down OK.

 

 

This is the tower of the steps from the bottom. 

Very glad to get back to my hotel and recharge my cell phone.  It has been going dead each day, so I really need to get one of those charging packs since I have not been successful at finding a place to charge it during the day. 

Tomorrow morning, I check out early and take the train to York.  I have a car reserved there and plan to spend a couple of nights touring the city.  Once I have the car, at least I will be able to use my car charger during the day.  I have lots of spare batteries for my camera, so no danger of running out of power for that.  

And Friday, I will check in at the cottage I have reserved at a farm where my great-great-grandfather worked and lived when he married my great-great-grandmother in 1845!  Not sure where they lived together, but they had a son soon afterwards and emigrated to Canada right after his birth.  I have the cottage reserved for a whole week and plan to take photos of all the church gravestones and do more research on them both. 

Fitbit says I walked 10,077  steps today for a total of 3.95 miles!