Eight Days in Scotland - Day 8 Edinburgh

First stop, Edinburgh Castle, well, first breakfast at Patisserie Valerie, for my last morning of Scottish Porridge and a pastry (since it was a patisserie), and then on to the castle.  It was crowded, but we had pre-purchased our tickets, so there was no wait, which was a great plan.

The castle is big with lots of areas to explore, I thought the Prisons of War exhibit and the Crown, Sceptre, and Sword from Mary Queen of Scots Coronation were particularly interesting.

There are lots of museums and activities in Edinburgh, but since we only had one day, we had to be a bit selective.  So next stop, all the way to the other end of the Royal Mile, to Palace of Holyroodhouse.  It's one of the Queens Royal residences, so pictures were not allowed inside, but the rooms were pretty grandly decorated.  Outside there's a ruined abbey, and the palace gardens, where the Queen throws a garden party each year.

For our last activity of the day, we decided on The Real Mary Kings Close, which was great when we did finally go on the tour, but we had to wait a bit until our tour time.  It’s a true underground tour, going through streets that are underneath the current city level. So we spent some time walking the close or narrow alleys that extend from the Royal Mile and then had a bite to eat at The Devil's Advocate, which is in Advocate's Close and turned out to be a great spot to sit and relax awhile with good drinks and food.