More Scotland!

Once we had gotten our bearings in Edinburgh, we went straight to the castle to see what we could see. Since the commute from Stranraer to Edinburgh had eaten up half our day, we only had about an hour and a half to explore the castle before it closed.


Edinburgh Castle sits high on a hill. We had to crane our necks to see it from the street. At the bottom of the hill there is a church (St. Cuthbert's) with a very pretty cemetery and a garden.


We walked up the hill and tried unsuccessfully to take in the castle all at once. It is huge and the architecture and color are beautiful. There are all sorts of statues and commemorative monuments outside the castle entrance. Despite the lateness of the hour, there were lots of people milling about the outside and inside of the castle.


We paid our entrance fee and got into the open area of the castle. It was crowded, but still really cool.

We went in to find the crown jewels. I was not allowed to take pictures of the crown jewels, but it was so neat. There were also displays of wax figures depicting various scenes of famous kings and queens.

We all took pictures with cannons and churches and signs like the tourists that we are. It was raining on and off, but it was not too bad. There were places to go in and explore, like the Queen's sitting room, the Great Hall, and the war memorial. We had to wrap up our explorations early because the castle closed at 5:00.


After we left the castle, we explored the streets of Edinburgh some more. We found interesting shops on the Royal Mile and shadily took pictures of people in kilts. I wanted to try some haggis but since we did not get around until late, the cafe with free tastings closed.


This is a picture of the pointy structures in Scotland at sunset. I do not know exactly what buildings they are, but they make for a very sharp skyline.

I took this picture on the walk down the stairs from the castle. I forget what building that dark prominent one is, but you can see the clock tower lit up on the right.

After our long day of traveling, sightseeing, and shopping, we were so happy to see West End Hostel. After we had relaxed for a bit, we went out to explore Scotland's pub scene. We went to a small place where there were a lot of locals. We also ran into the only SJU student studying abroad in Edinburgh. Even though none of us really knew him, we chatted for a while. He told us we had come to his favorite bar, which was lucky for us. It's always nice to go to a place that people recommend. We ended up leaving that bar and went to a combination bar/club for some dancing. It was a good time.

We headed back to West End to sleep for what felt like 2 minutes before we had to get up to catch our bus to Glasgow. More on Glasgow later.