This morning we were up early and downstairs for a good breakfast of toast and eggs in the small first floor dining room. Now it's time to head to Old Town and tour the Castle, Holyrood Palace, the Royal Mile, etc.  We plan on taking the Literary Pub Tour this evening. We decided to ride the bus to Old Town, but it was difficult to figure out which stop to use since our maps did not match the routes apparently.  We finally hopped off at the lower end of the Castle mount which is an extinct volcano (there are 2 in Old Town Edinburgh)--who knew???).  Of course since we stopped at the lower end, we had to walk up the side of the mount to get to the Castle and the tour (this place is all ups and downs and you walk your little legs off). Edinburgh Castle is the fortified birthplace of the city of Edinburgh which was founded over 1300 years ago, and was the home of the kings and queens of Scotland for centuries. 

We took the guided tour of the castle itself, then stopped to see the Argyle (6 gun) Battery with an amazing view over the city.  The guns were situated looking over the main gate as that was the only way to enter the grounds since the other three sides are sheer cliffs. We also took photos of Mons Meg which is a 15th century enormous cannon that fired 330 pound stones that would go almost 2 miles! Yikes! It sits in front of the Chapel of St. Margaret of Scotland. This is a tiny little building that is said to be the oldest building in Edinburgh having been built around 1120. The chapel sits atop the highest point of the city at 440 ft. and is supposed to represent the birth of the city. We were interested in St. Margaret as there is a school and church here in St. Louis named after her.  She was the wife of Malcom III who murdered King Macbeth of Shakespeare fame. Once he murdered him, of course, he assumed the Scottish throne. She died in this castle in 1093 and her son King David built the chapel in her honor. She was sainted in 1250 for her reputed piety.

   After touring the castle we headed out to walk the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile is the street lined with old shops and restaurants that connects the Royal Castle with Holyrood Palace. Since it was nearing lunch, though, we decided to stop at Deacon Brodie's Tavern.  Deacon Brodie was a 1700s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde figure who was a councillor and upright business man by day, but a thief by night.  Sadly (for him) he was caught and hanged on the gallows he had designed for the city. Lunch today was fish and chips along with beer for all but me who decided on Pear Cider--which was delicious!

   Once lunch was over we walked down the street to check out John Knox's house. John Knox of course is best known for converting Scotland from Catholicism to a Calvinist style of Protestantism. Once we got there we decided not to go inside as it cost too much and we weren't that interested. We did see his grave which is in the parking lot (space #23) of the Old Parliament House'--why is that? No information was provided so we could just wonder. Along the walk we also went down a number of "closes" which are alleys between buildings that lead to enclosed courtyards. Some of them actually led to sections of the city that were underground (most of which are now closed up). 

   Next stop was Canongate Kirk, the church where the Queen worships when she is in Edinburgh. The pews are all painted baby blue and hers is marked with her crown and cordoned off so you can't sit there--But in defiance I touched the velvet cushion on her pew! ha! ha!. On we went to view the outside of the obscenely ugly new Scottish Parliament Building. The Scottish Parliament was dissolved in 1707 when Scotland united with England. When in 1999 the Parliament was re-established in Scotland they needed a new place to meet, so this building was built and they moved into it in 2004. When you stand at the front of the building you can see a large extant volcano known as Arthur's Seat. Across from the parliament is the Queen's Gallery where you can see part of her amazing personal art collection, but we didn't have time to do that today. At the end of the road you go through some wrought-iron gates and you are at the Queen's Palace which is called Holyrood House (Holyrood means holy cross) or officially the Palace of Holyroodhouse. We had planned to tour the palace but sadly we couldn't enter as The Lord High Chancellor is currently in residence. This palace has been here since the 16th century, although a 12th century Augustinian monastery originally was on this site. The holy cross to which it refers is supposed to be a holy relic that was brought here by St. Margaret when she was queen.

   After the LONG walk down the Royal Mile we decided to catch a bus to Regents Garden, but no luck. Instead off we go on foot to climb Calton Hill (isn't everything uphill in Edinburgh?). Calton Hill is a monument studded bluff that overlooks the city at the east end. At the top of the hill one can see the Nelson monument which is a tower that celebrates admiral Horatio Nelson, an observatory which is now an art gallery, and an unfinished replica of the Parthenon which was to honor those lost in the Napoleonic wars. You may ask why is it not finished--well apparently it was being built by donations and they didn't get enough to finish it.  Its nickname is Edinburgh's Disgrace. From this vantage point at the back of the hillside you can see the whole of Edinburgh. It's a marvelous view.

    Next was to walk back down to the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh and The Beehive Inn to meet up with the Literary Pub Tour.  The Grassmarket area was the place where hangings were done--they say residents even rented out windows in their houses to provide viewing space for the hangings--one of the pubs was named "The Last Drop" pub. Rather dark humor, for sure! The area now is a people friendly piazza which also has a green space that for a time was an area where cows and horses could graze, hence the name. 

    Before we took the tour, we decided to have dinner at The Beehive Inn. I had a vegetable pie, mashed potatoes, green beens and a glass of white wine while Mike had a steak and ale pie, mashed potatoes, green beans and a glass of cider.  After dinner we walked outside and sat on the piazza to wait until 7 for the pub crawl to begin. The Literary Pub tour is a 2 hour walk from pub to pub with 2 actors leading who talk about Scottish literary figures who frequented the taverns such as Sir Walter Scott. We made stops at the Jolly Judge pub, Ensign Ewart pub, The Kensington pub, and one other that I forgot the name. It was interesting but we were getting exhausted and cold and none of us wanted to drink that much.  So finally about 9:30 p.m. we caught the bus back to the Leith Walk and then walked down Pilrig street to our guest house. Just a note if you are wondering why we are still out on tour this late--Edinburgh is so far north that the sun is not setting until almost 10:30 p.m.  In the middle of the summer they have about 18 hours of daylight which is wonderful--the downside is that in the winter they only have about 3 hours of daylight which would be really awful!!.