Thursday, April 26, 2012

Edinburgh

Edinburgh Caste
Edinburgh. What a beautiful city. Everywhere you turn there are massive old buildings. So much time and history has gone by on those streets. We were standing in Bloody Mary's bed chamber for crying out loud! Your imagination reels as you think of the events, the people, the stories that seem so distant on the pages of history books...

We roamed through the Castle of Edinburgh (parts of it dating back to the eleventh century). Here we got to see the oldest crown jewels. However I preferred the tour of the Holyrood Palace which is still a royal residence today. You cannot take pictures inside the palace which was unfortunate, because it was grand!

Holyrood Palace
The site of the palace was originally a monastery, and the ruins are still attached to the palace.      
                                                                 

Monastery

However, our favorite part of any holiday is food. We were able to have lunch at La Garrigue (the restaurant that Gordon Ramsay nominated best French restaurant in the UK). We enjoyed rabbit, sardines, pork belly, fresh caught coley, lavender creme brulee, and something chocolate and delicious! The next day we lunched at The Mussel Inn where I (Krisi) had raw oysters for the first time. The seafood was so fresh. We topped off that afternoon at a local coffee shop (Leo's Beanery) which had been recommended to us as having the best Chai Tea you can imagine. I would say it was definitely not disappointing. For anyone visiting Edinburgh, I would recommend these three spots in a heartbeat. The other places we managed to dash into for a quick bite were not so amazing and must be thriving on the fact that tourist don't know any better. 


My first bite of raw oyster at The Mussel Inn

La Garrigue

Best Chai Ever!

I must say I have never seen Scotland so FOR SALE! It probably puts Daytona Beach to shame with the amount of tourist shops. I don't know how so many kilt, cashmere, and whisky shops stay in business. We were lucky to find some real charming streets, however, that seemed to represent more of a real Edinburgh. Enjoy some more pictures...



Edinburgh Divinity School

Church of Scotland

Part of Edinburgh Castle where crown jewels are kept.




Outside of Edinburgh Castle



Ediburgh Castle
Waiting at The Mussel Inn
Oysters
Enjoying his chai tea!










The trip ended with Jordan's suitcase breaking so that he could not roll it, but rather had to carry the suitcase 1.5 miles home from the train station (the suitcase that I had STUFFED, because it was the only one that rolled).