Edinburgh 2019: Day 2

This day we actually woke up at some sort of early hour so that we could have the hotel breakfast, which wasn't at all what I expected, but it was still good.

After breakfast we took the tram to Princes Street and from there walked down to the Royal Mile and went in the opposite direction from the Castle. The main attraction for today was Holyrood.

On our way there we made stops at the Scott Monument and the People's Story museum, which is a kind of unique museum in that it tells the story of the ordinary people of the city rather than the nobility or military or whathaveyou. I thought that sounded really interesting when I read about it, but I was quite disappointed in it when we got there. I love history, but when we get to the 20th century I lose interest, and this museum was 95% 20th century

After that we continued down the road and got to Holyrood Palace; the royal family's official residence when they're in Scotland. Much like the royal palace in Stockholm parts of it are shown as a museum to Mary Queen of Scots and those coming before and after her. There was no photography allowed inside the palace. The coolest parts of the palace was partly Queen Mary's bedchamber which was up a tower and you had to climb a tiny spiral staircase to get there (how did she do that with those dresses?!?!) and partly the old ruin of Holyrood Abbey on the Palace grounds.

When we were done with the Palace we had lunch at the café and then started on our trek up to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is a big hill (or a small mountain?) right next to the Palace. The top is at 250 m and the climb gets steep. After 45 minutes of burning legs, burning lungs and gasping for breath we reached the top. And it was so worth the agony of the climb! The top offered a stunning view of the city and its surroundings. We spent some time relaxing there before beginning our descent.

On our way down we took a tiny detour to a ruin we had seen on our way up, which was the remains of an ancient chapel.

We got down and made immediate use of the ice cream truck placed at the bottom of the hill and then we started on the walk back to the tram. On wobbly legs. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on our way back and then got back to the hotel room where we showered before going out again.

Since it was Toni's birthday I took him to where I celebrated my 18th birthday. The rock pub The Black Rose. Exactly like I remembered it! This night there was an open mic night and the sound levels were high. Everybody sang along even if they didn't hold the mic, and danced and laughed and drank. It was such an amazing atmosphere that even the stuffy air made no difference. There was an older guy there who chatted animatedly with everybody and in such a severe Scottish accent that neither of us could understand most of what he was saying. I also talked with an American guy who seemed nice. It was a great evening and we stayed until they closed at 1am.