Train selfie! It took about four hours to get to Edinburgh from London. Those LNER trains reach speeds of almost 125mph—that isn't bullet train speed, but it's still not messing around. The views were great, the food was actually good and decently priced, and the seats were roomy and comfortable. We could get behind more frequent train travel:
Edinburgh Castle between the trees on the edge of Princes Street Gardens:
This neat building is the Assembly Hall. It is the meeting place of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland:
Entering Edinburgh Castle:
View from the battlements to the city below:
Daisies were growing like weeds everywhere:
Cathedral at the center of the castle grounds:
The Parish Church of St Cuthbert (view from the castle):
View of the castle above the city (on our way to ice cream):
Mary's Milk Bar—easily the best ice cream of the trip. We were only able to return once, unfortunately. Mine on the left: coconut peanut chili (my favorite), strawberry black pepper. Amanda's on the right: kiwi ginger, peach cinnamon:
Some Old Town Edinburgh streets on our way to dinner:
We forgot to take a picture of dinner (pan roasted shetland salmon), but here's dessert (banoffee pie):
Somewhere around this point is where I lost my wallet... A statue of Sir Walter Scott on the Royal Mile (the mile-or-so stretch of historic Edinburgh between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House—the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh):
St Giles Cathedral:
The Royal Mile (looking away from the Castle and towards Holyrood):
Walking up to the top of King Arthur's Seat that evening:
Edinburgh surrounding the hill in all directions:
The marker at the top:
Ruins at the base of the hill:
The next morning we picked up our rental car. This is when I discovered that my wallet was gone, but we had luckily made the car registration in Amanda's name, so it worked out:
We made the 70 minute drive into the Scottish countryside to Floors Castle. These photos are all in the gardens there at the castle before lunch:
Check out that braided trunk! Gnarly:
We had lunch at the Floors Castle café (quite tasty). They had a nice selection of tasty gluten free pastries at the bakery. Here's my plate:
And Amanda's risotto, which she said was delightful:
Here's Floors Castle—photography wasn't allowed inside. The ancestral builders of Floors Castle originally got rich (and their title) off of the unification of Scotland and England. Later infusions of cash were provided by one of the heirs marrying an American heiress who poured her fortune into renovating and upgrading the estate. The family still lives there, so we weren't able to see the entire house, naturally. However, their recent wedding photos were up in frames all over the place, which was interesting:
It was a short drive from Floors Castle to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. All told, we much preferred Abbotsford to Floors Castle (they felt like very similar attractions). Here's Scott's study:
These little gargoyles were ornamenting the molding all over the place:
Outside:
This is the view back up to the house from the river that Scott loved to fish. The grounds, building, and estate were generally lovely. Unfortunately, the building and maintenance of his beloved house is credited to Scott's eventual financial ruin:
Back in Edinburgh, we passed by the Sir Walter Scott Monument (he's certainly the national hero) on our way through Princes Street Gardens before dinner:
Flower clock in Princes Street Gardens:
The Castle up above:
Dinner at an Italian restaurant that had great gluten-free pasta (harder to pull off than you might think):
The next day, we started things off with Real Mary King's Close. It's a historical tour of what life was like in Edinburgh during the early 1600s in the midst of the plague. Spooky, entertaining, and informative (photography was not allowed, so we can't show you what it was like). Also, this is our last lunch in Edinburgh. For the life of me I can't remember the specifics, but it was very good (the flavor was enhanced by the relief of learning that the Edinburgh Police had found my wallet):
And of course more gelato. It was good, but it wasn't Mary's Milk Bar. Bye, Edinburgh!:
We got back in the car and were off to the Highlands: Glencoe and Fort William. This is our first Loch. I don't remember what it was called because there were too many lochs to remember most of their names...
Endless greenery and hills as we got away from the city. And, surprisingly, no rain yet, despite the forecast suggesting we were going to be continually soaked in Scotland:
Cool train bridge, too:
Thanks to two carloads of friendly bystanders, we got a rare photograph of the both of us:
Next: The Highlands...
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