Edinburgh is a really beautiful place. The castle sits on an outcrop of rock, and the old town is centred around the royal mile - a street running down the hill from the castle to the royal house at the other end. Most of this street has been touristified and is lined with souvenir shops selling kilts and bagpipes, but the charm of the place is still there. Everywhere we look there seemed to be beautiful old buildings. It was raining pretty much the whole time we were in Edinburgh, but luckily there are plenty of pubs to duck into during the heavier showers.

The Queen's house in Scotland is Holyrood House, and apparently she was in residence while we were there so we couldn't trapse through with our muddy shoes and have a gander at her pad.

We walked up to the castle and had a look from outside - too expensive to go in but still really nice. We wandered through a weaving mill where they were making tartan fabric. I found the Henderson tartan, and also learn a bit about the history of the clan. Apparently we were bodygaurds to aonther more important clan, guess that's why I'm such a tough bloke ;-)

During one of the rain showers we ducked into the national gallery, and had a look at some of the paintings. None of them were super special in my eyes, but a good dose of culture. We also had a look in the town cathedral, it was nice but in the middle of restoration work. We did see a drunk guy come in and start abusing the priest and trying to fight another holy dude. They escorted him outside and into a paddy wagon. Good times.

We're collecting a hire car today, and we'll head to the highlands and Loch ness in search of monsters, then over to the Isle of Skye which is included in the Lonley Planet's top 10 destinations in western Europe! Can't wait.

Later,Paul.