When building code wasn’t a thing, Edinburgh Castle showed you how it was done.
Some Guy and I had lunch at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern yesterday. Brodie was the inspiration for Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and continues to inspire many a part-time criminal today.
Afterwards we walked up the hill to Edinburgh Castle. This is no quick walk as you will see. Lots of beautiful buildings on the way up.
Walking up to the castle on the Royal Mile- beautiful church on the way
The sky was overcast yesterday, but it really didn’t rain at all (not until night anyway). The sun even peeked through often. Ominous clouds are the perfect backdrop to a castle visit surely. Nobody wages a battle in sunshine, do they? They would be too busy sunning themselves and having tea outside.
Edinburgh Castle – no Homeowners Insurance needed here
The castle is in great shape! Better shape than our roof after the recent Texas hailstorms for sure.
Fun fact – the cable on the pole that flies the Union Jack was broken, so this was the only flag flying 🙂
The oldest building in the castle is St. Margaret’s Chapel built in the 12th century. They still hold weddings here (only seats about 25 people). Some Guy wishes he knew about this 15 years ago. There are 5 stained glass windows on the walls on the Chapel, designed by Douglas Strachan in the 1920s.
The picture isn’t skewed. The table was oddly wonky. I was itching to set it right.
Stained glass of William Wallace
The Scottish National War Memorial was a highlight of this visit. It is quite remarkable and beautifully laid out on the inside to remember fallen Scottish soldiers. This is an active site and the Scottish Roll of Honour continues to be updated even today.
No cameras allowed inside the memorial – appropriately.
War Memorial – front of the building
We took a quick look around the Royal apartments. Edinburgh Castle is great inspiration for interior design and decorating. My next home will look more castle, less single family housing unit.
Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI at the castle. I understand why the fireplaces had to be so large, it is cold and damp at the castle. A lot of royalty, unable to take the cold, usually fled to the bottom of the hill and stayed at the Holiday Inn Hollywood Palace Holyrood Palace at the end of the Royal Mile.
There was a free Whiskey tasting thingy at the Whiskey shop up in the castle. I thought, why not? Just to be sure I liked it, I tried 4 samples of each whiskey. 🙂 The two bottles featured were both “dessert” whiskeys. One was a liqueur and the other a cream. I am not a whiskey drinker, but this tasted like good cake. Really good cake – worthy of royalty. It was probably just as well that they only accepted cash, so I got two tiny bottles of cake. Some of the more prized and rare whiskeys were in a glass case – one was over 4,000 pounds. WHAT!? Apparently this whiskey gives you magical powers. The power to disappear from the face of the earth once you steal it.
Not to worry, the whiskey was adequately protected by the Big Gun, with big bullet balls. I wouldn’t mess with it.
Step away from the Whiskey!
These are not marshmallows.
The view of the City from the top of the Castle is beautiful. I wonder what the view looked like 500 years ago.
A good afternoon in Edinburgh – I would recommend it.
On our walk back to our apartment, I saw this.
Yes people, this is where Harry was born. Harry’s mum loved a good Mocha latte and decided that Elephant House was as good a place as any to bring little Harry into the world. If only Mary Queen of Scots had known about this place, James would have been born here whilst she sipped a Macchiato. History might have been different.
The Ninja Squirrel 
GASP. I wonder how many people just go in there and sit and wait for some brilliant idea to hit them so they can make shit tons of money?
Not me! I prefer waiting at Starbucks.