Edinburgh

Today we were in Edinburgh, Scotland. This was our last stop in Scotland. We ported in South Queensferry which is about 30 minutes from Edinburgh. There were tender boats to take us ashore. We were on a NCL shore excursion for the Da Vinci Code and then time on our own in Edinburgh. The tour did not start till 10:00am so we did sleep in a little bit (up at 8:00am instead of 6:30-7:00am).


The first stop on our excursion was Rosslyn Chapel which was the setting of the ending of the Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed with the Rosslyn Chapel. They are trying to keep off any water on it right now due to some molding that occurred years ago. Therefore there is a scaffolding that holds another roof around the entire Chapel. You cannot really see the chapel but basically only scaffolding. It is kind of sad however they hope to remove the roof in a few years from now. It looks nothing like what it did in the movie. We learned that for most of the movie they used a studio set. Still was was neat to see and I may have stood above where the Holy Grail is hidden. The inside was very ornate and unique, although no pictures were allowed.


Then we had two hours in Edinburgh on our own. They dropped us off at the top of the Royal Mile. At the top of the mile, there is the Edinburgh castle and at the bottom there is the Royal Palace. Throughout the mile there are pubs, shops, and historical buildings. The tour guide stated that we should not go down it very far because it is a difficult walk back up. Brian asked her just to be sure it was only 1 mile and it was. She stated that we could not even do it given the time frame. Apparently she does not know us very well. (Remember we ran 4 miles in Paris in an hour just a few days ago).


It turns out that the royal mile was not notably steep at all. Walking back up was not anything special. We laughed as we recalled our hike of Waipio Valley in Hawaii years back. Now that was steep! The hill is described as 1 mile down and 5 miles back up and it really was!


We decided to walk down the mile and see how long it took and explore a college campus that is at the bottom along with take some pictures of the palace. We were down in 15 minutes (walking casually and stopping for pictures along the way). Then we saw a trail off to the right of the royal mile with people walking on it. The trail was uphill on a mountain so we thought we would walk up a little bit to get some good pictures of the city. We were very glad we did.


It was a beautiful day again. I am so happy about the weather the last few days because our time in Ireland (cold, dreary, and cloudy) was not that great (although we know it could have been worse – it never rained during our primary activities). We walked probably 1/3 of the way up the mountain and stopped for many fantastic pictures. We got the tripod out for some pictures of us. Brian set our camera up on a rock (only about 2 feet from the ground) but the wind blew it over and it fell off the rock. The camera looked okay but we later realized that the case now has a crack in it. Brian said the picture was worth it so everything is okay. The crack is in an insignificant area and Brian seems to think he can fix it.


After just a little time on the mountain, we thought it would be a good idea to head back up the Royal Mile. We walked back from our mountain view in 30 minutes and that included stopping for ice cream along the away. Brian was bummed that we did not spend more time on the mountain since we ended up with 45 minutes to spare. It was a perfect day for some ice cream. It was like geleto. I got 1 scoop chocolate and 1 scoop coconut and Brian got 1 scoop coconut and 1 scoop banana. It was yummy. :)


At the top, we got pictures from the outside of the Edinburgh Castle. We did not have much time left so paying to go inside was not an option. Then we walked back to the bus, and the bus took us on a little tour of the new town of Edinburgh. We learned there are several expensive universities there along with expensive houses.


We already ate dinner tonight since we did not really have lunch (unless you count ice cream as lunch). We ate at the Pacific Dinning room and once again were not that impressed. The food was good but we asked to share a table with other people and we were denied. We really like meeting new people and are running out of things to talk about with each other. Oh well. The service seems to take a little longer there too.


We are planning on going to some shows tonight. There have not been many shows because one they originally planned for had problems with the performer's luggage. It did not make it on the ship so they could not do their show (it is called Quick Change in America-where the couple change their outfit within seconds in front of the audience; it is neat to see but we have seen it several times at Cavs games as the halftime entertainment).


Tomorrow we are at sea all day. I am going to write up some thoughts about this trip and work on packing since the last two days of the cruise we will be in port. Hope all is well back home.