After breakfast we set off into town, using the 3 GBP all-day-all-over ticket (it had a different name, but that’s what it was all about!). We got off the bus on Princes street and our first stop was The Georgian House, since I wanted to make use of my National Trust of Scotland pass that I’d bought. Daniel wasn’t quite that interested in this and wanted to post his cards, so he went to the post box, while I went inside and looked around. This was a big mistake, because then we both wasted a few hours trying to find each other again! We finally did, by the use of Facebook - next time I won’t bother leaving messages anywhere else!
Reunited, I then I dragged Daniel down the Royal Mile and Calton Hill before heading back to Princes Street and then the Royal Mile again and the back of the University to catch the bus back….eventually.
Edinburgh is a beautiful, beautiful city. I took a record (at least for this trip!) 478 photos today. There’s so many lovely classical type buildings! I couldn’t resist taking some on the bus trip into town:
We got off near the Scott Memorial and walked up towards the Georgian House, taking in the views across the Princes Street Gardens, and along Princes Street itself:
There were a lot of barricades up all over Edinburgh, for the Papal Visit happening the next day. This ruined many a good photo, I think, but there’s nothing to be done. We finally reached Charlotte Square and the Georgian House(s):
This is where Daniel and I lost sight of each other. I waited around for a while, but since we only had the one day in Edinburgh, I decided to continue on by myself, after leaving messages at both the Georgian House and our accommodation. I headed up towards Edinburgh Castle, photographing as I went:
I investigated some alleys and courts out the back, too. Some were quite pretty even:
The Hub was once a Church before falling into disuse. It was turned into a restaurant and performance venue recently. Of course I had lunch there later on :-) :
Right now though, I was headed to the castle:
Edinburgh Castle. Admission was very expensive, I thought, at 14 GBP and no discount for students. I saw much nicer places for half the price. But you don’t go to Edinburgh without visiting the castle, I guess. There was a lot of maintenance being done here too, along with setting up or dismantling a lot of seating:
Outstanding views from the top here, some of them through cannon portals:
I took quite a few panoramic shots which you’ll have to wait for til I get home and can put them together. This bloke was just standing around:
After a couple of hundred photos, I left the castle and headed down the Royal Mile (its actual name – I always thought it was just known as that), stopping for lunch at The Hub and to see if I can contact Daniel again – this time by Facebook. I got a response from Juliane almost straight away, but she couldn’t help locate him either. I passed by some pretty buildings and alleys again:
Including the beautiful St Giles. They wanted money (2 GBP) to photograph the inside, which I didn’t think was particularly worth it, though the outside was:
By then Daniel had found an internet cafe and contacted me on facebook, which my clever phone pinged me with. I got onto eBuddy on my phone and chatted with him to organise meeting back up again. Yay for Facebook and eBuddy and Android!
So Daniel caught a bus from where he was and we met back up to continue our exploration. The Royal Mile was worth seeing:
Some of the buildings were a bit more modern:
Unfortunately, Holyrood Palace at the end of the Mile was closed for several days (I assume because of the Queen’s and Pope’s visits), so I was only able to get a few distant shots. There was quite the crowd in front of the Palace because the Queen was rumoured to be arriving within the next 4 hours.
Then we headed towards Calton Hill:
We climbed up the hill for some more pretty buildings and fantastic views:
As you can see, despite the gorgeous sunshine, it was damn cold:
We headed back into town now, past yet more beautiful buildings down onto Princes Street, to buy a CD that I’d heard at one of the shops and really loved. We found it at HMV, but then carried on back across to Royal Mile near St Giles, to see if I could find the shop with the cheap Laphroaig Whiskey I’d seen. It was closed, dammit. But we kept wandering and had an ale in one of the pubs around here before going in search of dinner (Sudanese today) and then catching the bus back to our B&B.
