Today was our day trip to Edinburgh. We started the morning off with a city tour done by a local guide in Edinburgh, Allon. Dressed in his kilt and speaking in that Scottish brogue, we were off for an overview of the city. Edinburgh is divided into two parts and both are very distinct. The new part is easy to find because it's the part of the city with normal city blocks and streets that are straight and blocks that are square. The old city is designed as it was in the early part of the city's history.......lots of curved roads and hills and city blocks that are almost any shape but square! Our first stop of the morning was to see Holyrood Palace. This is the official residence of the Queen when she is in Edinburgh. The palace sits opposite Edinburgh Castle on the street known as the Royal Mile. Along this stretch of road you'll find lots of shops, restaurants and hotels.

From there we toured around the city seeing both the old and new parts. We learned that Robert Louis Stevenson lived on the new side of town and J.K. Rowling is a current resident and her children attend school in Edinburgh. Her husband still works and is one of the anesthesiologists at one of the local hospitals.

After completing out tour with Allon, we had free time to do as we wish. We decided to go to the castle since Tom, our driver, was nice enough to drive us......once again, it was raining! That way, we'd only have to walk back in the rain! I was completely amazed by how well preserved these buildings are. St. Margaret's Chapel is located inside the walls and is the oldest building in Edinburgh. It was built in the 12th century and is still standing today. We went up to the top of the castle and the views were incredible! You could see all of Edinburgh and out to the sea. It was a hazy day with the rain, but beautiful none the less.  

We headed back down the hill and did a little shopping for souvenirs and grabbed a bite to eat at Ensign Ewart, a pub near the castle. This place is out of the history books! It had the exposed wood ceiling and lots of Scottish charm. The food was very good too! I tried my first local scotch and remember now why I don't drink scotch and whiskey on the rocks anymore! That definitely warmed me up from the inside out!!!

Once we were all back on the bus, it was off to Falkirk. Here we were going to see the Falkirk Wheel, a boat lift that was put in to connect two canals in 2002. The Falkirk Wheel is quite unique in that it is connecting two canals that are actually 115 feet difference in height. To get the boat from the Forth & Clyde Canal down to the Union Canal (and vice versa), a boat is brought into a lock at the top of the wheel. Also, at the bottom another boat that's headed in the other direction on the Union Canal is brought into the bottom lock. Once both boats are in place, the wheel turns and the top boat comes down to the bottom and the bottom boat goes up to the top. It was the most crazy thing I've ever seen! But, it works! If you'd like to see it in action, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tBH9SE-Kw8 and you can see it in action.....pretty cool!

We are now back at the hotel and I had a little break before dinner, so I thought I'd get this done early. Tomorrow we are up and out of here at the crack of dawn as we make our way to Ireland via ferry to Belfast. Happy Monday everybody!!!