Day 2 in Edinburgh began with a trip to the local Salisbury (the grocery store right around the corner from the Old Waverly) for our daily provisions and then it was off for more castle hoping. Our first stop was to be the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the royal family's palace when visiting Edinburgh. On our way to the palace we happened upon...none other than...The Tardis!!! Yeah for Dr. Who!!!!
From there we headed down the Royal Mile, enjoying the many shops, pubs, restaurants, and kirk yards. As we approached the Palace of Holyroodhouse we caught first sight of the new Scottish Parliament, a modern building that, to be honest, does not fit with the rest of Edinburgh's beautiful architecture.
From the modern Scottish Parliament we carried on to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Founded as a monastery in 1128, the Palace is closely associated with Scotland's turbulent past, including Mary, Queen of Scots, who lived here between 1561 and 1567. By far the most beautiful part of the palace was the ruins of the original abbey.
After our trip through the royal's turbulent history at Holyroodhouse it was off to see the ruins and monuments on Calton Hill (we chose a closer hike than that of Arthur's Seat). After a short jaunt up the hill we decided to venture to the top of the Nelson Monument, where once we reached the top had an excellent view of the city but faced gale force winds.
After hiking the hill and wandering back towards our hotel we headed back up the Royal Mile to the kilt/wool museum for Mom's Scottish wool sweater. While we wandered through the store one more time Mom decided that she needed to stop and speak with the house genealogist. She decided to purchase the Collinson history and crest (which I'm excited to see when it comes back). After Mom completed her purchases we then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before the most exciting part of our trip (thus far)...THE DOUBLE DEAD TOUR!!! We headed out of the hotel, grabbed some fish & chips take-away (what we in the states would call "to-go") and sat in front of St. Giles waiting for our tour to begin. The tour started with a small jaunt down into the depths of the city (which were completely pitch black forcing Mom and I to use her cell phone for light). I have to admit, it was kinda creepy wandering around in the pitch black not being able to see what was around you, but alas no one got scared. From there we wandered into the Greyfriars Kirk yard, which supposedly housed a poltergeist (which sadly did not show his face).
Mom and I then wandered back to the hotel saying our goodbyes to the first city on our journey!!!
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