Edinburgh part 2

Today Barb and I did some fun touristy stuff today.  We strolled through the princess gardens on our way to the castle. It was unseasonably warm. I didn't expect to be wearing shorts or getting a bit of sunburn in Scotland but both happened.  Yay. 

Edinburgh Castle is something I missed on my first visit to the city so I was glad to have Barb as an excuse to go this time. We waited in line for about 40 minutes but our tans were a bonus with no extra charge!  There was a good tour guide and the views  were excellent. 

Castley photos. 

Sean Connery from that Indiana Jones movie, I think.  I'm pretty sure. 

Cannon. 

This chapel is the oldest part- from the 10th century, while parts of the castle are quite new... Like 17th & 18th century. 

Castle views of the firth 

The school off in the distance center with the lil domes is supposedly the inspiration for Hogwarts. 

Then we went to the Camera Obscura. It was a cool pinhole camera room atop the tower which we got another kind of tour of the city through various views directly from the camera. The rest was like a science museum for kids. We decided to be kids; it was fun. 

After being next to the photosensitive wall. 

As a response to requests for more photos of myself, I took a self portrait in this mirrored room. That's like a hundred of me- so there ya go, Mike Geno fan club. Here's another with wacky Barb:

Yep, we are that hot.

Then we met Eileen at the Sir Walter Scot monument.  Apparently it's the tallest monument to an orphan - yeah, I bet you're as impressed as me with that fact. 

Barb climbed to the top while I reclined on the grassy lawn below.   Barb is in the photo above - near the top-taking a photo of my laziness. 

Then we headed across town to the best vegetarian meal of the trip. 

We had an incredible foodie's dream meal. This was what I ordered:

Aubergine is eggplant. By the way. 

 

This was Barb's & Eileen's meals: 

Risotto 

Mushroom strudel 

So good. 

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And so that's our Edinburgh chapter complete. We head to Inverness via a 4+ hrs bus ride.  Then, get picked up by Eileen's Father and head to the village she grew up in the highlands.  

Wifi is not certain for the next few days so be patient. Chances are I'm still alive and stuff. 

Edinburgh!

We left Glen Clova early and headed back to Dundee to return our rental car and catch a bus to our new location. The city of Edinburgh is perhaps the most quaint - and I mean that as it may be the most beautiful so far.

We are staying a block from edinburgh Castle. Here's the view from our flat (below)

We surveyed the area aling rhe Royal Mile which connects the castle and Hollyrood Palace which is where the queen goes for summer getaways occasionally. Between them are lots of beautiful buildings and the most tourist shops in one area that we found so far. 

The Royal Mile = the tourist mile.

Hollyrood Palace

Cowgate

A night club called "sin" in an old church.

This pretty street has about 5 strip clubs on it. Nice.

Wifi has been hard to find but I managed to find some where I had breakfast today. 

Egg and sausage roll for £2, or about $3 

More to come when I can find some reliable wifi. Not having it at this flat that we are staying in has proven frustrating. Posts may be delayed. ...

Post Wedding Hill Walk

"Rain or shine, we will climb!" is what Dana informed us well ahead of arrival, before the weekend. So at the reasonable hour of 11am, the hearty members of the wedding party set out to climb up the nearby mountain.

It was a lot more steep a climb than it appears in this photo, taken in the early stages of our assent.

Dave, the new hubby, wore his kilt for the climb and is clearly camera shy. 

The group climbed at varied rates and occasionally factions would stop to enjoy the view and let others catch up a bit. 

I love my panorama phone app. ❤

As members of our group reached the near-top destination of Glen Esk, they'd get a warm "well done" as sandwiches and jokes were exchanged freely.

Dave was mostly at the front of the pack while Dana walked a more relaxed pace with a couple of her aunties at the back. You'd have thought they were separated for a month the way they greeted each other.  

There was a beautiful loche at the destination. Fearless Dave took on the dare to swim in the glacier cold water. What a sport.

Later, after dinner we all went for a nice goodbye stroll along the road around the Inn. It was peaceful and beautiful. 

Sunset at Glen Clova. 

*getting access to wifi has been especially difficult lately.