Day 7 dawned and I was looking forward to our first full day in Scotland! I spent much of my time here feeling very surreal and at the same time thinking to myself "I can't believe I'm here, I can't believe I'm here...". Seriously!
We got up early and ate breakfast. They had good stuff at this breakfast...the same general fare as we got all along, but this was a nice, cheery room and there were lots of opportunities to take snacks for later, which was awesome and will come into play later...
As we met for breakfast, the evening before, I had caught some news and after we left Belfast, there was some more rioting that took place and some violence with cars being damaged, explosions in the street, and I think a photographer injured. From the news reports, it seemed to be Protestant-centered. I know that our perspective was perhaps tainted because the guide we had was Catholic, and I was raised Catholic (kind of, but not staunchly, never confirmed and just with the vaguest of stuff my mom couldn't help) and I really don't think it's a Catholic bias towards, but it does seem to me that the Catholics want peace and the Protestants won't let things go or heal. That's how it looked from an outside point of view...
Chris, our tour leader, even teased me that it was because of our tour and our Catholic guide that took us around and WE had caused the international incident. He was giving me a bad time and it made me giggle. heh.
To being our day, we headed towards Holyrood Palace. This is the Summer palace of the current English monarch, and although we were there in June, the palace was already prepared for the Queen's arrival. The formal dining room was set with the Silver, and we could see preparations taking place all over. In some ways, when looking at old and historical stuff, it all looks so opulent and ostentatious, it's hard to believe that single families can live in such extreme excess. But when you look at, like, the actual beds and stuff, one has to wonder about those. They seem small, to me. I wonder how many monarchs have felt trapped throughout their lives. I'd hate to be that sort of public figure and never have any privacy....although I think before mass media came into being it was much easier to still have privacy. Anyway, there's that train of thought derailed....
The first picture in the series was a cool shot, I thought. A dignified and metropolitan looking man walking through these amazing old arch ways. Was just sort of a "clash of the centuries" picture =)
I also took a pic of one of the staff because I thought their little outfits were cute! I'm not sure I had seen plaid pants like that before. There's this elaborate fountain in the outer courtyard of the palace that's very pretty, and the green grass on the inner courtyard where you walk through to get into the palace had the greenest lawn I think I've ever seen! Maybe it just looks that way because of the contrast between the inside gray brick color and the green, but gorgeous all the same.
One cannot take pictures inside the palace, which is okay with me. I have no issues paying five pound for the official book that has better pictures than I could possibly take anyway. I learned that in France =) I did meet a very nice boy, though, in one of the rooms. There was a lovely view of the Abbey ruins from one bedroom window and I didn't want to get in trouble, so I told the employee "I totally get not taking pictures inside, but can I take a picture of outside FROM inside?" He said sure and came over and actually opened the window up for us so that we wouldn't have a blurry picture through the glass of the window. I thought that was very sweet.
The castle was cool, no doubt. The Abbey was awesome. There are pictures of that =) I bought the book, but you can find really cool pictures online too, I am sure. It was a great experience, being there. There was a path going into the gardens, on the grounds, and we walked the path, which snakes back around the Abbey, too. Truly beautiful and amazing. One could imagine strolling through the gardens...
On the way back, I took pics of some of the little tourist trap stores along the way. "I (heart) Edinburgh" and "Pride of Edinburgh". We also passed by some closes, and the Tolbooth, which was a prison back in the day. I've read more than a few novels where portions of them were held there. It was exciting to see it! Now there's a tavern right there. I was tempted to raise a pint to all those who had ever been through the doors (of the jail, that is)!
We saw this interesting phenomena in Scotland, even moreso than Ireland. Let me preface this by saying that I DO understand that I live in a desert and that generally, we don't worry about rain here. At all. BUT, we do teach our children not to play with plastic bags, that they can strangle themselves with plastic bags. In Scotland, they PUT their children, AND their strollers, IN plastic bags. This amused me so much, I asked this couple if I could take a picture of their cute baby. They looked at me weird and said "Sure." I was snapping the bag they had the kid in =)
I tried many times to take a picture of the Elephant House, where Harry Potter was written...what resulted was the clearest one I got, which is pretty sad. My search for Carfax Close ended this day, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself from continuing to take pictures of the cool closes I found, though. This one will always be special in my heart, though =) "Fleshmarket Close" came in a "close" second, though. hahaha, I kill me.
I will have to look back through my itinerary. I don't have any more pictures from this day, I don't remember where we ate, going to have to go back and see what we did. Will update later =)
Peace!
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