As a treat to ourselves we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary in Scotland for the long weekend. Frommbly and Muzzypug joined us on our adventure, in hopes that they could be our tour guides.
On our first day we played tourist and hoped onto a "Hop-On-Off" bus to see the sights of the city. First stop...
Edinburgh Castle
We were dropped a the bottom of a hill and hiked up to the castle gates, what a great view of the city could be seen, but with being so high up we worried we might be blown away by the high winds. Even though it was cold out, there were ice cream trucks and people walking around with triple scopes of ice cream.
Once inside we thought it best to fuel up on some good traditional Scottish food. Brendan was so excited to have haggis! Not only did he have it for lunch, but then he had for breakfast the rest of our stay.
While Brendan enjoyed his haggis pot pie, we shared a table with a lovely couple from Canada. We were delightfully surprise by the one o'clock cannon. That is right the cannon fires everyday but Sunday at o'clock, during our trip we hear it sound again, good time reference while out in the city.
With in the castle there are many mini museums, which cover the history of the military and events of the castle and surrounding city of Edinburgh.
Near the end of our exportation of the castle we went to the Great Hall, where we watched a talented man who explained and played traditional string and wind instruments found back as far away the 14th century He explained how the bow from an archer's bag became what we know now a days as a violin and guitar. Another instrument he played sounded like a bumble bee trapped in a jar, which was known to be played following the even mean and as a result had bits of food that got stuck in it. Over time the rackett would become plugged, so it was taken to a repair shop, where it would often sit on a shelf continuing to rot from the inside out, if exposed to heat they would on occasion explode! The most fascinating instruments he played was called hurdy-gurdy. "The hurdy gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, typically made of wood) against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board to make the vibration of the strings audible." (wiki)
The castle was great, it even had it's own little chapel which is a hit with father's of the bride as it only seats 20. When we looked at it we were not sure how you would even fit 20 in there, but very cute none the less.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Our second day in Edinburgh we explored an the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is where the monarchy stays in the summer months. We enjoyed walking around the grounds as we listened an audio guide.
No photos were allowed to be taken inside the place so here are some of the grounds, which were lovely in the spring.
After the tour we had tea the palace, we all know how much Stephannie loves afternoon tea.
