Edinburgh-Day Two

The adventure continues! After a good night's rest, we were ready for more fun. We checked out of our hotel, and then walked to the castle which is visible in the background of the picture below.

Note that it is very much UP hill. 

We finally made it up a fairly steep, icy hill with two strollers. 

We checked out the artillery...always a favorite with the boys.

We took in more amazing views of the city.

Among other things, you can see the the Royal Scottish Academy, Christmas Village, Scott Monument, Waverley Rail Station, and National Gallery (clockwise from bottom left).

We toured the National War Museum of Scotland.

The boys were fascinated.

Then we pushed the strollers up hill on cobble roads (again) to check out more sites on the castle grounds.

We enjoyed spectacular views of the city. Below, the Firth of Forth which is the estuary of the River Firth is visible in the background.  

Our little explorers enjoy visiting new places. 

Noah was happy to be out of the stroller. 

Caleb was also glad to be free to roam.

The Scottish National War Memorial is pictured below. 

We moved on to the Royal Palace. Thankfully, a worker ushered us into the back, and let us take an elevator up to view the Crown Jewels, known as the Honours of Scotland. The Stone of Destiny is also on display.

We moved back into the courtyard area and our boys destroyed someone's snowman. It was already melting, so no real harm was done.

Next, we went in to the Great Hall which was originally built for James IV. The hammerbeam roof is original.

Back outside, we walked over to Mons Meg, a six ton gun given to James II in 1457. 100 men were needed to haul it. Cooper seems certain that it isn't going to be fired any time soon.

All three of the boys played on Mons Meg's huge cannonballs. 

Nick and I took turns peeking inside St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, while the boys were occupied. 

We took advantage of another good photo op. The sippy cup is not for Nick as some friends suggested. Let me remind you that we're carrying everything we packed for the trip. The cup had to go somewhere.

The boys voted to wait for the the firing of the One o'Clock Gun before leaving the castle grounds. It was a big hit.

Thus ended our tour of the castle. This celtic cross was just outside the castle walls.

And down the road was this committed musician. He had to be cold! 

There's nothing like some jamming bagpipe music. 

Caleb was wiped out and didn't care to see any more.

Here's another shot of the Royal Mile.

And here is the Edinburgh Christmas tree with the Free Church College in the background. Thanks to Judy Laing for pointing that out :)

After a snowball fight, we went into a museum to warm up and then set out for the train station.