Day 4 - Edinburgh Castle

Today we hiked around the city a bit more and then went up to Edinburgh Castle.

View of Edinburgh Castle from outside our hotel

Edinburgh Castle from right below

Once again, the weather has been amazing-- sunny and about 72-75 degrees. We are completely comfortable in shorts and tee shirts. In fact, it's a bit hot! This is unexpected as we thought it would be cold, windy and rainy. Surprise!

We learned a bit more about the interesting and unusual geology of Edinburgh. Apparently, Edinburgh represents a unique combination of extinct volcanoes and 'glaciation.' The glaciers cut a path through the volcanic rock, but left several prominent hills about 12,000 years ago. The volcanoes have been dormant for millions of years. The city is perched atop seven different hills, including Arthur's Seat. I would hike up Arthur's seat if my hip wasn't so bad -- I will have to come back when I have a new one. We walked about 3 miles of hilly terrain today and my hiking poles made a huge difference once again . . . that and some Aleve.

The people of Edinburgh are really friendly. Much friendlier, we are told, than the Londoners. There are a huge number of non-natives here in Edinburgh. We've met a taxi driver from Poland, who was hilarious -- we are convinced he is the Polish version of American comedian/actor, Seth Rogen. One of our waiters was also from Poland. We understand that nearly half of the population of Edinburgh is non-Scottish. Granted, many of those are probably in University as there are four major universities here, including The University of Edinburgh, which was founded in the late 16th century (much older than my Alma mater, Yale, founded in 1701).

OK, now about that Castle . . . .

To be honest, it's a lot like every other castle you see in Europe. It certainly has a fantastic view of the city and we had such a clear day that you could see for a very long way:

View from the Edinburgh Castle North toward St. Andrews

The most interesting thing about the castle is the fact that there has been some sort of structure there for 3,000 years. These castles have been built and destroyed over and over again through the years. Lots of wars with England, of course. There's a gun that goes off every day at the castle at 1:00 pm and the locals can set their watches by it -- and they do. It's kind of funny as it's this big Howitzer sitting nearly at the top of the Castle and it's pointed out toward the ocean.

Below is a picture of the oldest building up on the Castle rock and it is called St. Margaret's Chapel.

The boys have been great. It can be a bit tough for Bryce at times as museums are really not his thing . . yet. But they've been troopers:

OK, here are a couple more shots from Susan's camera and that's pretty much it for today. Tomorrow, we head to St. Andrews.