Great day in Edinburgh

Sat was a great day in Edinburgh. Breakfast at the marriott in the morning - again food is a little different (baked beans and black sausages for breakfast - yuck. i found some rice crispies though. we then drove into town and parked along the old castle walls. the city is really magnific with the castle sitting above the city perched on a rocky hill and the old and new sections of town intermingled beneath it. there is shopping galore everywhere you look including "american" stores and tourist traps selling "original" scottish garb - i tried to get jason to wear a kilt but he was not buying it :)

we toured the castle first - saw the honores (crown jewels of scotland) as well as the stone upon which many kings of scotland were annointed. we watched from above as they shot off the 1pm cannon - very loud and they were setting up for Europe's largest fireworks show - too bad we will miss it tonight. we strolled down the Royal Mile which is a long cobblestone street with many old pubs and restaurants as well as shops and small "closes" (alleyways leading to other streets and more shops). we found three Christmas shops - mom , you would be proud - but only walked away with a few small commemorative ornaments.

lunch was a small bowl of soup and salad at Deacon Broodies, which is the pub where the main character from Dr Jeckel and Mr Hyde created his infamous reputation (J bought a t-shirt:) Then we continued our walked up and down small streets, poking our heads into stores here and there, and admiring the goregous views of the truly European feeling city. we looked everywhere for a place that might be showing the ND game on Sat night but did not have much luck (considering hte outcome of the game whcih we checked this morning, i am glad we did not waste our evening watching it.)

in the evening, we ate dinner at another cute restaurant on the edge of the royal mile, then made our way to a SMALL pub where we were able to listen to live Scottish/Flemish music for a few hours. The fiddler and guitarist were authenic for the most part, but every few songs Jason and i recognized an American tune with a scottish twist.

coming out of the pub around midnight, we again we awed at how many people were still on the streets and how many pints they had consumed. It is a very "festive" crowd here in Edinburgh.

overall, we really enjoyed this city - the sun shined for most of the day - and the feeling of old mixed with new was quite unique

heading back to london now, so C can get ready for her first day of work tomorrow!!