Royal Mile, Scotland, United KingdomOn arrival at Edinburgh Waverley Station from Glasgow Airport I still had time to kill until 2pm before I could check in to my apartment. Coming out from the station I was trying to orient myself on my map while the signs were pointing me to the Royal Mile.
The Royal Mile is closed to vehicle traffic, was a long boulevard of grand buildings, and crowded with tourists. I forget how crowded Europe is in summer months.
There was a Tourist Info office where I was able to get another map and properly orient myself. Just across was St Giles Cathedral the centre of the Royal Mile
This had free entry and was busy with tourists. It had nice stained glass and I had been to a lot of similar churches last year on my trip to England
At the western end of the Royal Mile is Edinburgh Castle where I hoped to spend some time. Unfortunately I found out that tickets can only be bought online and that they were sold out for the day. This created a panic as this was one of the main places I had wanted to visit, and if both days in Edinburgh were sold out with these crowds then I would have to plan a return trip to Scotland
Somewhat deflated I still had the morning to kill until my 2pm check in. Just south of the Royal Mile is Greyfriers Bobby
I believe the story is a dog would keep coming to his masters grave until the dog finally passed also. The Church interior was simpler
The cemetery will open to the Grassmarket tourist street facing back towards Edinburgh Castle. There is a staircase where you have a reverse view of the castle but lots of climbing up steps with luggage to reach the spot
Back towards Greyfrier's Bobby is the National Museum of Scotland. This had free entry and wifi. I logged in to see if I could get tickets to Edinburgh Castle.
Apparently there were more tickets available online today later in the day so I snatched one so as not to have a wasted two day trip to Edinburgh in tourist high season.
After annoying protocols of 'verify you are a human' and sending text verification to my cell I was finally able to purchase online tickets for today at 2pm.
The National Museum was a bit bare bones compared to the Castle Museums I would later visit. Aside from history it was a Science and Technology Museum, as well as exhibits from Far East
More for School trips with everything from the sea, fossils, airplanes, and trains.
Just up the street was the National Library of Scotland. The exhibition room had a few historical displays
Navigating my way back to Edinburgh Castle for my afternoon ticket was the Museum on the Mound, a banking museum on currency, banks, and local building societies.
I did have an account with Halifax Building Society growing up which was one of their displays.
2025-05-23