Two Days in Edinburgh

After the Railway Museum in York we drove to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The four hour drive was thankfully uneventful.

Now a little detail that we missed when planning our visit to Edinburgh was that it was smack dab in the middle of the Fringe Festival. Unknown to us but the Fringe Festival is the world's largest festivals. It spans over a month with thousands of events and performances and an attendance of over 30,000 people!! Our hotel was in the Grassmarket area, which is a busy busy area.. we had to drive around in circles multiple times because of road closures until M was able to find a spot to stop while D and I unloaded our luggage and walked to the hotel while M went further to park the car. 

We stayed at the Grassmarket Hotel which was terrific. I'd highly recommend it. We started a little later than planned.. but oh well. 

We walked up W Bow St where we found more Harry Potter stuff..

Along Victoria Street, right behind us was a staircase that took us to the Upper Bow which lead to Lawnmarket and eventually the famous Royal Mile. Because of the festival there were blockades everywhere and swarms of people, street performers and flash dancers. 

The entire castle area was blocked off.. after walking around a bit we were feeling hungry.. we came back down the stairs and had dinner at Mariachi. Good food.. great drinks!

With our bellies full we decided to head away from the festival crowd and made our way towards Princes Street Garden. 

The Edinburgh Castle behind us. FUN FACT - the Edinburgh Castle sits on a plug of an extinct volcano. We ended the night with a stop at Ross Fountain.. and then the boys spent some time playing in a nearby playground. 

The fountain was oddly light blue and gold.. and seemed less Scottish and more Indian to me.. very blue Hindu god themed. 

The next morning we started with a light breakfast at La Barantine Victoria. 

Next we headed to Edinburgh's second extinct volcano.. Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is part of the Holyrood Park. Arthur's Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot. The hike up did take my breath away.. literally but it was absolutely worth it..

From Arthur's Seat we headed to Calton Hill but first stopped for a quick bite to eat at Vivo Cafe. Calton Hill was granted World Heritage Status in 1995. 

Calton Hill is a bit of a mishmash of monuments.. The Nelson Monument towering to the right, the National Monument of Scotland aka Edinburgh's Shame to the left. Why Edinburgh's Shame.. well the committee ran out of money and were not able to finish the Roman inspired monument.. hence the shame :( But it didn't seem to bother most of the people around us who climbed upon it and enjoyed the warm day.

After Calton Hill we walked towards Dean's Village. We walked along Rose St. which I'd add to the must list.. it was full of eateries and great shops. 

Along a wall there were a series of panels created by artist Astrid Jaekel illustrating a verse of George Mackay Brown's The Beachcomber 

We stopped at Hotel Chocolat for some cold treats..

 and then continued towards Dean's Village, a former village immediately northwest of the city center of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was the center of a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by the strong currents of the Water of Leith. It remained a separate village up till in 1826 John Learmonth, a future Lord Provost of Edinburgh, purchased the Dean Estate from the Nisbets of Dean.

And then back towards the hotel and a very bland meal at O'Oliviero Italian Restaurant. 

While roaming the streets of Edinburgh we saw many colorful laughing man statues.. turns out they were part of the Oor Wullie BIG Bucket Trail. Scotland's first ever national public art trail with the aim of raising awareness and funds to support children's hospital charities. The boys loved these and insisted to pose with each one they spotted.

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