Edinburgh

Well readers, the whisky report from last night could take up this entire blog entry. We planned on just having a couple of whiskies at the Guildford Arms but then we got yammering with a couple of locals, a father and daughter. His plan was to meet his daughter at Guildford Arms and then go for dinner, their plans went awry as well. He explained, Guildford Arms is a meeting place and has been so since his dad was in WWII. The dad was very entertaining, five hours and I don’t want to even think about it, sooooo many whiskies later and no dinner, there we were heading back to our hotel. We had to order a bit of crappy room service food which is horrid for a couple of food freaks but what the hell.

Yesterday, we set out for Edinburgh Castle in the morning, it was fairly busy with visitors and got busier as the day went on. There is so much history there, I just loved, LOVED the Scotland War Memorial at the Castle. In WWI, 148,100 Scots were killed and the war memorial is a fitting tribute to the soldiers who gave their lives.

When we were getting back around to the entry area a crowd was gathering, they were waiting for the one o’clock gun to be set off. It was really funny, all these people had cameras at the ready and then bang, and that was it, I bust out laughing.

Then we walked down the Royal Mile and freaked out at the number of shops selling Scottish kitsch. Edinburgh is a gorgeous city with beautiful buildings and statues everywhere, what a city, we love it.

We then visited the Museum of Scotland which is the very best museum we have ever visited. We aren’t much for museums but this one is so well done. On the lower floor is the exhibit of the early people and has numerous pictish stones. I asked a guy where the stone was from the Brough of Birsay in Orkney, he didn’t know so sent another guy to help us. This guy was so awesome, he was not certain where the stone was but found it and we talked for a very long time about Scotland and travel and then he gave us his e-mail address in case we had any questions later on after we got home. We spent hours in the museum until we had to get out because they were closing.

And that was it for the day, the pubs in Edinburgh are absolutely gorgeous with a lot of dark wood and beautiful ceilings and friendly locals. The guy we sat with told so many stories and jokes, we laughed all evening long. In all pubs and bars in Scotland you get your own drinks at the bar, it is very efficient, a staff member will come around every so often and clear glassware off the tables. What a country this is, we are not ready to leave and want to come back, sound familiar Tracy?

We took 237 photos yesterday and don’t know what to post.