Lemon Tree Tales: Scotland: Edinburgh Castle

Our last real day of our travels had us at Edinburgh Castle. Now this really is quite the fortress. It's on a large hill in the center of the city. Lots of great buildings, even a little chapel that they use for weddings. In fact we passed a bridal party when we entered the castle grounds. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but these two had the beautiful blue sky as backdrop. Apparently the Queen was due to arrive in the city half an hour from when we toured the grounds. The army was getting ready to give her a 21-gun salute as soon as her plane touched the ground. (Actually, just reading up on the gun salute, and it doesn't necessarily have only 21 guns. It depends on the occasion and person being honored. In this case, I think that it's called a royal salute.) She was going to be there for the opening of the Scottish Parliament the next day. Of course the next day is when the Glasgow Airport attack occurred. I wonder if the new PM's coming into office had anything to do with the terrorists' timing?

We walked down the Royal Mile - called that because it connects two royal residences. Oh, and it's not a mile long, more like a mile and a quarter, or half even. Mostly filled with tourist traps. These were two interesting storefronts. A very colorful street vendor - don't you just love this little fellow? He reminds me of a Scottish Buster Brown, but I'm not sure who he really is.

We also stopped at the Camera Obscura just past the castle entrance on the Royal Mile. That was most entertaining due to a delightful young Scot who laid on the accent pretty thickly - mostly to amuse us tourists I'm sure. Still it was good for getting a nice tour of the city all from the comfort of a small dark room. We knew at this point that we wouldn't be able to spend too much time in city so it worked out perfectly. That's it for our vacation. It was a great experience and we're glad that we were able to finally see Scotland. It has beautiful scenery and very polite people.