The UK Trip - Edinburgh (or my favorite city in the world...)

The North Sea as seen from Holyrood Park

We've finally made it! The beautiful Scotland...land of sheep, kilts, bangers and mash and my love affair with a city. Seriously, the majority of our family picked Edinburgh as their favorite city on the trip. I'd go as far as to say it is one of my favorite cities that I have ever visited. I love Florence (so far, my favorite Italian city) and I love Destin (my favorite Floridian city)...but Edinburgh sunk its teeth in and grabbed hold. I am already trying to convince Joe that we need to go back for our 20th anniversary. If you see him, put in a good word for me. ;)

In order to appreciate Edinburgh, I want to describe our drive there. We left Newcastle in the morning and headed north. I have to say, as you head north through England, the landscape gets more and more beautiful. It becomes more hilly, the grass turns a more vibrant green, sheep are everywhere...it reminded me of Kentucky, but with more of a pop. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the KY rolling hills and scenery. This was that, but more of it. And the sheep were a fun addition. And I have to apologize...pictures can't do it justice. They just can't.

Welcome to Scotland! (look at those cute shadows) 

Scotland!!! The sun shines bright on my old...oops, wrong location

 Seriously, you can't see Scotland without seeing bagpipes...and lots of them. Almost became old hat while we were there.

Edinburgh Castle...we stayed a 5 minute walk from here. We never went inside. :)

 View from an Edinburgh street

 The Hub - about 2 minutes from our lodging

The Hub, from the back?!?! I can't remember

 2 cutie pies at the bottom of the Scott Monument

The Scott Monument

 Scottish humor

 View of the city from Princess Street Gardens

Another view of the city

 National Museum of Scotland

My beautiful baby girl

 This guy loves Carnival masks

His arch nemesis

Goofing around at the art museum

Queen's Gallery

 Holyrood Hill

 Holyrood House (someone was tired and miserable at this point)

 Joe climbing the trail with a loch in the background

 View from Holyrood Park

 Protesters outside Holyrood Park

Confession time: half of us did not make the trek to Holyrood Park. We were tired, had sore legs and just wanted to take a nap or watch tv. So, we went back to the apartment while the others saw the spectacular views. Well, 2 of the others. One of them sat on a bench at the bottom of the trail. She also had a struggle when we went out for dinner that night. When in Europe, you walk. Everywhere. Her legs were sore for days.

Here are a few pics of the apartment we rented for the 2 nights. It was in the perfect location, just above the Jolly Judge pub. ;)

 Kids' room/Living room

 Master bedroom

 NARROW kitchen

 Boys' futon

 View from the living room windows

View from the living room windows (sorry for poor quality...camera focused on the dirt on the windows)

So, the food we had in Edinburgh was the most interesting. LOL. We ate American food. Almost exclusively American food. We had American pizza for lunch the second day (sorry Italy...but it was nice having a thick crust and different toppings...we still love your pizza), American pub food for dinner, breakfast at the apartment, and our final dinner was at an English pub, of sorts. I am not sure what to call it. I had a jacket potato and Joe had some sort of meat pie. Pub sounds as good as anything. Joe and I also had a beer and cider at the Jolly Judge one night while J Jr. babysat. It is nice to have a teenager around. ;)

I never realized wings were attributed to Kentucky! We rock!! (at the American diner the first evening)

Goodbye Edinburgh...until we meet again...