Pity the poor tourist who visits the UK and complains about the lack of tasty food. We've learned, you just have to know where to look, and we have developed a knack! These people understand good food! We were adventuresome today and stopped at "The Dogs," a great restaurant and bar featuring of all things, Scottish food. The owner also has other restaurants, "Amour Dogs" and "Under Dogs." They are just next door. We took pictures of the querky but warm and friendly place. We found haggis there and we also tried a clanger. Actually, here are the two menu descriptions: "Haggis and turnip hash with fried duck egg" and "Bedfordshire clanger (meat on one end, fruit on the other)". All of it, every single bite was good, so, so good, so very good. See the pictures. And then we really splurged and had two desserts -- "Banoffee Fool" and "Lemon, whisky and chocolate posset with oat and ginger biscuit." I mean, can you imagine!! We gotta get home soon; we are dying over here -- dying of too many adventures with too many wonderful places, wonderful people and fabulous food!! I firmly believe these folks try to keep their worlds and foods in it a big secret and make things sound as unappealing as possible so no one would, for the world, try it (like haggis), but I must testify -- they live a good life here and their food is really GOOD!

Today was spent primarily at Edinburgh Castle -- one of the few castles in all the world still being used for its original purpose. Today, it is still serves as headquarters for the Scottish Guard, it houses Scottish military archives and hosts royal visits from the Queen and other royalty and a variety of ceremonies. Some of the buildings date back to the 10th century but the castle in total has had good care, repair, restoration and some expansion throughout the years since that time.

The castle sits on a tall hilltop in the middle of the city and overlooks both old and new Edinburgh as well as the harbor in the distance. The castle is magnificent, and the view from its walls is even more spectacular. I won't say much more but will ask you to see the photos instead.

Before our trip we heard from our friends, David and JoAnn, about Royal Edinburgh Tattoo which is a really important event here. It is a once-a-year extravaganza in which military bands perform for the public, that is, members of the public who are lucky enough to get a ticket. Tattoo takes place in August and tickets must be obtained by at least January for the coming August. It's performed on the Esplanade in front of the Castle. In recent times, the city has built a facility consisting of two huge grandstands that will accommodate over 200,000 people over the course of the event. The grandstands can be temporarily erected and removed after the event so for the majority of the year visitors continue to have unobstructed 360 degree views of the city from this unique spot. The city was removing the last grandstand structures while we were visiting. I'd love to come back here sometime in August to witness Tattoo and what must be a truly royal event.