Welsand's in London

Our Weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland

Jeremy had some work in Scotland so we made a long weekend out of it. After arriving in Edinburgh we made our way to the most famous of the Scottish castles, the Edinburgh Castle. It is one of the primary tourist attractions in town. The history of the castle and of Scotland's royalty was very interesting. The castle is located on an extinct volcano and has amazing views of the city. It is a must see in Edinburgh.

The castle is located at the end of the "Royal Mile" and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (official residence of her Majesty the Queen) at the other end. In between there are lots of shops, restaurants, pubs, and other interesting things to see such as the Museum of Childhood, a great thing for adults and kids alike (Sophie loved it!).

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is where the Queen resides while in Scotland. Jer and I were able to listen to the entire narrated audio tour while Sophie took a little nap! There was gorgeous surroundings and even more interesting history of royalty once again. No cameras are allowed inside the palace, which was disappointing, but it is gorgeous! I could live there if forced.

We also got a chance to enjoy the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Most of the museums have free entry, as did this one. The architecture of the building itself was beautiful and the portraits of the royal Scots amazing. They also had some nice sculptures in the main foyer area. Sophie didn't enjoy this as much as her parents, but with so many museums in town we felt we need to view at least one of them. Again, cameras were not allowed in this facility.

Princes Street is also famous in Edinburgh. We were not very impressed. This street is just shops and is very commercialized. They do boast of the oldest independent department store in the world, called Jenna's which I was told compares to Harrods in London. But, most of the shops on this street we have in London and in the US! There were three Pizza Huts within six blocks of each other, but of course there were Starbuck's as well!

There were some markets being held due to Christmas. One market was geared towards the locals and was small but interesting to see. Sophie got to see an owl from a falcon center which she loved and is still telling the story about. The traditional German market we went to was much more diverse with some real unique items. We did buy Sophie a traditional kilt from Scotland while we were there and a few other gifts for family and friends.

Finally, on the final day of the trip we went from Edinburgh to Crieff via taxi. It was great to see the Scotland countryside. I have never seen so many farms and sheep in a one hour drive in my life. The countryside was beautiful and very pristine. Lots of castles along the way as well. While Jer had to head to a meeting and tour at the Famous Grouse Distillery (whiskey), Sophie and I enjoyed ourselves at the Crieff Hydro hotel. It was a beautiful and expensive hotel. The rooms are best described as "grand". The grounds were emmaculate and included lots of activities including horse back riding, mountain biking, tennis, etc. They even offered pony rides for kids Sophie's age, but she refused to wear the safety helmet and only got to pet the pony, bummer!

While Scotland was still "domestic" for us, it definately has a feel of being a seperate country with it's own traditions and culture. The accents are unbelievable! We would definately recommend Edinburgh to others. We had a great trip "up north". More photos from this trip are on our photo website. Cheers!

posted by Chris @ 1:00 PM