Scotland Trip - Edinburgh

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Saturday, July 1, 2006

We woke up and started to the Royal Mile.  Our plan was to book two tours: Mary King's Close and Mercat's Ghost and Ghouls.  Mary King's Close (and office) is near St. Giles, but we had to phone Mercat's.  We booked Mary King's Close for 9 PM.  We then marched up the street to the Castle.

The entrance to Edinburgh Castle

We got into the castle and were able to catch a guided tour at 11:30.  What a great site, with so much to see.  The Honours of Scotland (the crown, sword, sceptre and some jewels) as well as the Stone of Scone are located in the Castle.  The Stone is one of the things I really wanted to see.  The castle also includes the chamber where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth and saw her husband murdered. In the Great Hall - on the huge windows was the Campbell coat of arms, pretty neat to see.

The wing where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth

The Castle from below

The only way out of the castle except the main gate

We ate lunch at the castle and poked around until 2:30.  Then we headed to Mary King's Close.  The close was built over in the 1800s when they built the current City Chambers building.  Underneath remain the Medieval houses and buildings - some of which are haunted.  This was wonderful as it gives a really nice picture of the commoners' accommodations in Edinburgh at the time.

We then returned to our B&B to rest and regroup for supper.  After we ate we went for the Ghost and Ghouls tour.  This was very good.  Our guide was called Gerard and he was extremely good.  The tour involved some underground chambers called vaults. This tour was well worth the money!

Ghost Adventures took a visit, you can check it out here:


Ghost Adventures - Edinburgh Vaults by Barry_Cochrane_2

   We saw this artwork and the Castle all lit up on our way back to the B&B for the night...