A Tourist in Edinburgh

If you image search Edinburgh on Google the very first picture you see is on Calton Hill, right at the end of Princess Street. I was itching to get out and play tourist so I grabbed a sidekick and cued the Indiana Jones style travel montage. Our destination was nearly an entire 2 miles from H.Q. so we set off at the crack of 1130. We journeyed all the entire stretch of Lothian Road took a right and walked to the end of Princes and viola there sat stop #1 on our grand rock and roll bagpipe fueled adventure. Calton Hill is home to a plethora of monuments, some more iconic than others, each one rife with history. 

Calton Hill as seen from the very end bit of Princes Street

The National Monument of Scotland, never actually finished but still grand.

I know right? Pretty darn grand.

Waiting for the ball to drop: 1259

Moments after I looked away and successfully missed the ball drop: 1300

Me and my trusty buffoon.

We climbed the Nelson Monument and looked down the stretch of Princes Street and over the many Edinburgh notables. Locals claim it is the greatest view of the city, I claim there are far too many stairs.

Once back on the ground we stayed to watch the ball atop the Nelson Monument give ships the time and as the echo of the one o'clock cannon faded out we started off for the castle and the royal mile. We cut through Princes Street garden, waving to Walter Scot as we passed then climbed the sheer hill to the castle. Remnants of the military tattoo still lined the courtyard and we decided that rather than try to fight our fellow tourists whilst hilariously out gunned we would return to take the castle at a later date. After donning fancy hats and procuring gold tipped walking sticks we began the walk from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace and Scottish Parliament. We popped in and out of the various shops that line the mile long stretch including, but not limited to: an antique children's literature shop, a fudge shop, a shop that sold whiskey infused honey and tartan dog collars, and multiple tourist shops each blasting its own flavor of  bagpipe rock music (This just in; The Red Hot Chili Pipers actually exist in this realm... madness I know.) Due to the lateness of the hour and the rather unfortunate weight of our respective wallets we decided to forgo actually entering Holyrood that afternoon. We gathered information about the palace and the Queens Royal Gallery then perused the gift shop where you can buy a coffee mug with her majesty's face on the side and/or a tiara. Our day of soaking up the tourists life ended at Pizza Express, which is just as good as I dreamed it would be.

Turns out you can see Calton Hill from parliament, madness.

 

Don't you just love my little musical links? Yeah, you totally do.