A couple of weeks ago I had some meetings in Scotland for work so I thought I would combine them with a short break in Edinburgh. After the first couple of meetings which were in Perth and the outskirts of Edinburgh I took the hire car back to the airport and took the tram into the city. I stayed in student accommodation which is good as you get the use of a kitchen so don't have to keep eating out.
On the Saturday I walked up the Royal Mile to the castle where they were setting up for the Edinburgh Tattoo. Edinburgh is made up of the 'old town' (very old) and the 'new town' (Victorian) roughly separated by Waverley station. The old town runs down from the castle on a sort of ridge so the ground on either side falls away quite steeply and the main road through the old town is the Royal Mile. Off the mile are lots of little closes. I did a tour of the real Mary King's Close which is actually underneath the Royal Exchange. Rather than demolish the existing buildings they just took the tops off and used them as foundations. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. I then walked down the mile to Holyrood Park, Holyrood Palace and the government buildings at the bottom. Unfortunately it was a bit drizzly that day so a lot of the pictures are taken from under the umbrella.
On the Saturday I walked up the Royal Mile to the castle where they were setting up for the Edinburgh Tattoo. Edinburgh is made up of the 'old town' (very old) and the 'new town' (Victorian) roughly separated by Waverley station. The old town runs down from the castle on a sort of ridge so the ground on either side falls away quite steeply and the main road through the old town is the Royal Mile. Off the mile are lots of little closes. I did a tour of the real Mary King's Close which is actually underneath the Royal Exchange. Rather than demolish the existing buildings they just took the tops off and used them as foundations. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. I then walked down the mile to Holyrood Park, Holyrood Palace and the government buildings at the bottom. Unfortunately it was a bit drizzly that day so a lot of the pictures are taken from under the umbrella.
On Sunday the weather was better so I walked down to Leith to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia which was fascinating.
On Monday I checked out and went back to the airport to pick up a hire car again to get to my next meeting in Cumbernauld. On my way there I stopped off at Linlithgow Palace (where Mary Queen of Scots was born), The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel.
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