Hi.
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Edinburgh Castle sits high above the city. In addition to being able to view the basic structure of the castle and how it would have been used for defense, the castle houses Scotland's crown jewels, even though they are no longer used. However, the Stone of Destiny, while housed at Edinburgh Castle, is taken down to London whenever a new king or queen is crowned.
Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to Scotland's King James VI (who later became King James I of England) in the castle, and there was a lot of information about her on the Royal Palace section of the audio tour.
The Scottish National War Memorial and the the National War Museum of Scotland are also housed at the castle.
This museum is housed in a relatively new building, and the collection is very impressive. Everything on display relates to Scotland. The entire basement is dedicated to everything up to 1,100 AD, including the geology of Scotland. The next two levels concentrate about the Scottish kingdom, which lasted until 1707 when Scotland's parlaiment merged with England's. Higher up is between 1707 and World War I, and from then until present day.
You can also go to the roof of the building and get a great view of Edinburgh.
Until its retirement in 1997, this ship was the Queen's vessel. It was the last of a long line of royal yachts dating back to the 17th century. The tour of the ship goes through many of the royal rooms, but also goes through the various areas of the crew, including the cabins, mess areas, and even bars. We didn't get to see the galley, but it's still operational today, since the dining room is used for special occasions. Everything was kept meticulously clean and operational. In fact, when Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf toured the engine room, he said that it was fine to show him the museum, but he wanted to see the real engine room.
The eye to detail went to the ship's design, too. The outer hull (at least above the water line) has no seams or rivets, and there's a band of 24k gold going around the ship. In addition to a normal sick bay, there's a full operating theatre on board, too.
The Royal Mile is a part of Edinburgh which has a lot of history associated with it. Starting at Edinburgh Castle, you make your way through Old Town, through what used to be the gate of the town wall, and down to the Scottish Parlaiment building. In between, there are several sights ranging from St. Giles' Cathedral (which functions kind of like Scotland's Westminstter Abbey) and wellheads which were where people used to get water served by the reservoir at the castle.
Near the parlaiment of the Royal Mile are the Palace of Hollyroodhouse, which is where the Queen's residence when she's in Edinburgh, as well as the adjoining Queen's Gallery, where you can find many pieces from the royal collection (each piece also lists when the piece was acquired; there were several from George II's reign). Also near there are the Salisbury crags, from where you can get great views of the city.
North of Old Town is New Town which is layed out in a regular grid. Between the two are the Princes St. Gardens, in which you can find the National Gallery and a large memorial to Sir Walter Scott.
