Day 4

Finally, chapter 4 of the story of my parents' visit!

Calton Hill is a lovely place to get great views of the city. The views rival those from Arthur's Seat. Well, it's practically right NEXT to Arthur's Seat, but you don't have to huff and puff your way up there. There is a nice little drive way and we were perfectly happy to take the taxi up.

This is one of the most popular, if not THE most popular views of Edinburgh. Too bad there was still just a wee bit of haar hanging about, but the views were still lovely. My dad was inspired to break out into a photo shoot with my mom. :)

After this we took a wee walk down Prince's Street and over to Prince's Street Gardens. It was such a lovely day and everything was in bloom!

From there we went straight to the Queen's palace, Holyrood to make sure we had plenty of time to see it (we spent too much time in the castle on Friday and they were closing by the time we made it down the Royal Mile). Unfortunately they don't allow pictures inside.

This one was a first for Josh and I. I am not much for wealth and glamour, even if it is the royalty, but I really enjoyed the history. In one of the rooms it is said that one can still see the blood stain that was spilt by David Rizzio, the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Here is a brief story of what happened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rizzio

I'm not sure I spotted the place of the stain, but I had a good guess.

Outside the palace is Holyrood Abbey, founded by King David I. Here is a link to the story: http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/Castles/Holyroodhouse.htm

It was lovely to walk the gardens of the palace. I could just imagine myself as a courtier in centuries past.

After the palace we made another trip back up the the castle. The photographer in my dad wanted to get better shots over the walls. No, not with the cannons! Though I had my canon. I am so not funny! Like I said earlier, there was still a wee bit of haze, but the views were WAY better than the white wall we had to look at on Friday.

When we were done in the city we went home to prepare for Sam and Peter. We enjoyed their company for dinner. Sam brought over some amazing puddings for the British experience. If I remember correctly, she made rhurbarb cobbler, Bramley apple cobbler, and chocolate bread and butter pudding. It was yummy! And my dad even tried some! Shocking! I think my parents could have sat up all night just listening to Sam and Peter talk. :)

Again, please, Please, PLEASE hop on over to flickr to see the other pictures. I don't think I am getting much traffic over that way. I am not proud, but I do love pictures and I do like to share the wonderful things that we get to see. There are quite a few pages now of photos from this holiday.