The Journey Continues -- Vacation in Scotland!

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year and a half since we got our passports stamped. Oh, how we missed traveling! This summer we decided to visit Scotland for our vacation. And for once, we were actually lucky with the weather - only one full day of rain, if you can believe it.

Below are the stops we made during our trip - you'll see that we logged in almost 900 miles in 8 days. Our first two days in Edinburgh didn't require a car. We started our road trip on August 18th and flew home on August 25th.

We landed in Edinburgh the morning of August 16th.

With about 3 hours of sleep, we were zombies arriving at our hotel. Of course we couldn't check in so we dropped our bags and explored the city.

The Balmoral from a distance

The Balmoral up front

Scott Monument

This Victorian Gothic monument is for Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the 
largest monument to a writer in the world.

Walking towards the Edinburgh Castle

View of the castle

St. Cuthbert

Edinburgh Castle from a distance

Edinburgh Castle up front

Wearing sunglasses helps hide the bags under the eyes

Entrance

Paul carefully inspecting the cannon

View of Edinburgh

Ready, aim, fire!

Another city view

We went to see the Scottish Crown Jewels

Ello!

We then walked down the Royal Mile amidst the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Double decker bus!

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and takes place every August
for three weeks in Scotland’s capital city.

Fringe art

Paul doesn't care

Just trying to make our way through the crowd

We continued our tour of Edinburgh the next day and walked the remainder of the Royal Mile.

A bit less crowded on a Monday

Back in the 16th century the city of Edinburgh was walled. The gates to the city were 
situated outside the pub. As far as the people of Edinburgh were concerned, outside 
these gates was no longer their world.

Still the Royal Mile

Holyrood Palace - this is where the Queen stays when she visits

Paul is impressed with the unicorn

Paul is not impressed by the architecture of the Scottish Parliament

Let's climb that!

Avoiding the steep route, we took the more scenic route

Yeah, we did not climb that high

Pretty scenery

Didn't quite make it to the top

But got a decent view

The view from the other side

We then walked back to The Royal Mile

For some lunch at World's End

Wee Taste of Scotland - chieftain haggis with creamy mashed potatoes and bashed neeps with a highland oatcake

World's End Famous Steak and Ale Pie - Award Winning!

With full bellies, we went to Cadenhead's to buy/taste some whisky!

An empty alleyway 

Blue skies -  the weather is off to a good start!

I don't see anyone doing the Carlton here...

Paul is thirsty

Evening view of Edinburgh