Edinburgh

Take a look at the early part of our sunset last evening.  Pretty nice for this part of the world at this time of the year.  Edinburgh is a few degrees more north in latitude than Albany.  Our sunsets start about 9:15 and finish around 10:30.  After today the Crown Princess will steer south so our temperatures will begin to increase and the sunsets will drift back into the 8 o’clock hour.

Most of our weather days to date were unusual.  It was warmer than normal in London.  We didn’t see rain in Ireland and up until today we didn’t see it in Scotland either.  A little light rain painted Edinburgh castle for about 2 hours.  The cobblestone gets slippery, but otherwise it was manageable.  Because the grounds are so extensive there are many national monuments and museums inside the castle walls. 

Our lunch stop ended up being a few doors down from The Elephant House.  I know some of you are not Harry Potter fans, but this is the location where the second richest woman in the United Kingdom wrote most of the first book.  There is a sign in the window bragging about it.

In the afternoon we toured one of the Queen’s other palaces.  There’s Buckingham, which you saw earlier in our trip.  There is Balmoral in Scotland’s high country.  That is where Her Majesty is currently vacationing.  There’s Windsor castle, which we will not visit and Holyrood, here in Edinburgh.  Sean Connery became a Knight inside Holyrood.  Mary Queen of Scotts probably didn’t enjoy the palace.  Queen Victoria thought it was too dark and purchased Balmoral.  I’m not entirely certain why there are so many different palaces.  It’s good to be the King (or the Queen). 

We were not able to sample ice cream in Edinburgh.  Jan did enjoy tea and a scone at the palace and I found a strawberry tart to my liking.  It’s beginning to sound a little like a chapter from Alice in Wonderland.