I don't think the sun goes down here! I woke at 5am to bright sunshine. It was only 7 hours ago that we'd gone to sleep and it was still light.
An early start after breakfast and we walked into the city centre . The sun was out and the weather was promising, though the wind had a bit of chill in it. It didn't take too long and the sights along the way were great. Everything is so old! The streets are pretty and cobbled. The houses are terraced with stairs going up to the entrance and many have basement levels going down as well. They are all neat and well maintained.
Once in the New Town area we decided to find a coffee before climbing up the hill to the castle. You can see it in the distance, presiding over the whole city. There is also a massive monument to the writer Walter Scott. It is a gothic style tower, built in 1840. Anyway we ended up in a Costa and had a terrible coffee. And it was an enormous "small" size.
We began the climb up into the Old Town. It is so pretty, like walking into the set of a Disney film, all perfect, old buildings. We walked a little of the Royal Mile and made our way to the ticket line. It took about 30 minutes and we were good to go. We could have bought them online, but it wasn't too bad .
We joined the free tour which took us around the castle grounds and explained what each of the buildings were about and some of the history. Then we were on our own to explore. We started with the National War Memorial to all the Scottish soldiers who have died in war. It is in the old barracks. Then onto the Crown Jewels, not much there, but there is a crown, sword and the Stone of Scone, used in the Royal coronations. We then looked through the royal residence of Queen Mary and the Great Hall. We went into the prisons of war exhibitions, and the National War Museum. We also had a whiskey tasting which was surprisingly nice. I'm no lover of whisky but this was a honey liqueur one. Everything can be improved with a bit of honey.
There is a lot to see at the castle. It is a pretty spectacular place. The weather was cooling and we were running out of steam so we left and made our way down the Royal Mile. This is the thoroughfare that joins the Castle and Hollyroodhouse Palace, the Royal residence in Edinburgh . There are a lot of tourist shops in this walk, but it is interesting and bustling with people. We stopped in for lunch at an old pub, The Ensign Ewart, opened in 1680. That is old! We had soup and a toastie with a drink and warmed us up out of the wind. It had threatened rain with a few spots but the sun came out while we were eating.
We continued all the way down, diverting down one of the little alleyways to the Writers Museum in a really cute building. It was dedicated to Scottish Writers. The displays were OK, but the building was really interesting.
There are some tiny alleys coming off the main road. One was called World's End but wasn't very exciting when we went down there. And the world didn't end.
We also popped into St Giles Cathedral which was lovely. It has some great stained glass but is a bit confusing with no real altar area, just a little platform right in the middle. It's like a stage and the priest would have to work the crowd in a circular style.
At the end of the Royal Mile is the Scottish parliament in a new, modern building . It sits opposite the Hollyroodhouse Palace and is as opposite as you can get. The Queen and Duke of Edinbugh are in residence this week so we couldn't go into the palace, but the gallery was still open. We bought tickets (student concession for Ken!) and went in. It was a small exhibition of Dutch artists. Quite good.
Now we had to get back home. Time to try and read a map and not walk an extra 5 kms because we made a miscalculation! We did well and were soon back at the apartment to rest the feet for a little while.
A glass of wine, a bit of cheese and more blogging before thinking about where to go for dinner. We had planned to go to a little Spanish bar down the road but when we got there it looked really dead so we ended up at a local pub, Herbert's, where I had crab cakes and Ken had fish and chips. A couple of pints and keeping an eye on the soccer and all was good.
Until it came time to pay. Mum had given me a £50 note from when they were here in 2008, which we tried to use tonight. Apparently money expires over here? We can take it to a bank and exchange it but not buy anything with it. I think the poor young guy was more embarrassed than us.
Back home we watched the end of the soccer and saw England exit Europe again, this time in great shame. Well done little Iceland.
Sun is still setting at 10.30pm

Steps 17,775
Kms 12.8