To the top of the UK we go! Edinburgh, Scotland!

The train up to Edinburgh, Scotland was beautiful. I slept for half of the way there, but for the second half of the ride I was up chatting with my family and could not stop taking pictures of the scenery!

We arrived in Edinburgh mid afternoon. We got off the train and wandered through the city to find our hotel. I was immediately enchanted by the atmosphere, the buildings all bunched together, and the tiny streets in Edinburgh. It was unlike any place I had been to thus far and I already loved it! So did my family :)

We found our hotel pretty easily. The staff were very friendly and kept trying to help my mom pronounce Edinburgh correctly. They offered us a complementary drink (my dad and brother had a beer, my mom had hot tea, and I had hot chocolate!!)

The staff showed us to our rooms and we were in awe! The rooms were super modern! A speaker system that could connect to our phones, high lofted comfy beds, a large flat screen tv, a huge flat shower head in the bathroom, and all the furniture had black and white furnishings. This was by far the nicest hotel I had ever stayed in. The hotel was actually an old bank back in the day and had been renovated and turned into the hotel it is today with only nine rooms and a pub on the ground floor. We were all very happy with the accommodations :)

By this time we were very hungry. My dad looked into good places to eat and read about a delicious potato bar. So we went there since it was a mid day snack. We all ordered baked potatoes with the toppings of our choice. The girl who ordered in front of us got one with guacamole on it. I thought that seemed like an interesting combo so I ordered my baked potato with guacamole and cheddar cheese. It was absolutely delicious, the best potato I ever had haha. The rest of my family got there's with chili inside.

We didn't have anything on the agenda for the rest of the day, so it was our time to explore the city just as the sun was beginning to set. We walked up and down what is called the Royal Mile.The Royal Mile is the main street in Old Town Edinburgh. At one end at the top of the hill is Edinburgh Castle and at the other end at the bottom is the palace where the royal family stays when they come to Edinburgh. The street is lined with little shops selling traditional Scottish scarves, jewelry, whiskey, and other items. There are also Scottish pubs along the street as well. The atmosphere is incredibly lively and welcoming for visitors. Our hotel was in the perfect location in the middle of the Royal Mile. :)

We took our time wandering the street, going in and out of stores. We made our way up to the top of the hill to see Castle Hill. It was cool to see it at night time because the following day we were going inside the castle!

Excited about everything around us, we made the walk down to the other end of the Royal Mile. As the name states it's not a long walk, only a mile. We went right up to the gates of the residence for the Royal family. Although it was dark, we could tell that the place was luxuriously  spacious. We enjoyed walking around and getting to see all there was to see in this area. 

Believe it or not, we still weren't tired. We decided why not check out the newer areas of Edinburgh. We crossed the street over into the new parts and we really weren't impressed. All of the charm of Old Town Edinburgh was replaced fancy department store shops and international food restaurants. We only spent a short time over here, finally the cold, all the walking, and our hunger was starting to get to us. 

So we crossed back over the bridge and went into a pub right across from our hotel to grab some food. The two workers from the potato bar were at the bar after their shift and they remembered us a couple hours earlier getting food there so that was funny. I wasn't too hungry since we ate a bit ago, but I was hungry for dessert!! I ordered some tomato soup, but my main meal was my waffle, ice cream, raspberry, chocolate and caramel sauce dessert!

That was the end of our first day. We went back to our rooms and relaxed. I showered under the best shower head in history haha. Then my brother and I watched some NCIS since it was the only thing on the TV until we fell asleep. I kept messing around with him and putting on a Scottish soap opera haha which he would quickly take the remote and change it back to NCIS.

Day 4:

After a very restful nights sleep, we woke up in search of a place to get breakfast. We walked a short distance down the street to a pastry shop. My mom and I were going to order a fruit cup with a croissant... but I happened to see the price was double for those items if you ate inside the restaurant instead of taking it to go. So my mom and I took our food back to the room and ate facing the window watching the street below. This is when we saw something I have never seen before...

I noticed the night before there was a young homeless man on the street corner across from our hotel. He was so young, I felt bad for him. I woke up the next morning and saw that he was still there. Or so I thought. Mid way through breakfast, the "homeless man" stood up and walks across the street. He hands off his blanket and a couple of other items to another man. This man then goes to the same street corner the "homeless man" was previously sitting at and takes up that exact same spot. He puts a cup out for money as the previous man walks away looking like a normal resident of the city. I was shocked!! Had I just witnessed a total heist?! It turns out I had. There were slightly different looking people on that corner the next couple times I had been by it. We asked our hotel receptionists and they said that it was most likely gang members that had to meet a quota of money. Looks like Edinburgh had a slightly other side of it than I had seen before! It was crazy to witness something like that. Needless to say, we did not give these "homeless men" any money.

The first stop of the day... 

We were all excited to see the castle during the daytime and go inside since it looked remarkable the night before. And it looked just as remarkable during the daytime! :D We got a very good family picture with the castle in the background!

Walking under the main gate, we paid for entrance and then went along the wall of the castle. We lucked out on the perfect day to go into the castle. It is full of fantastic views because it is at the top of the city. Although it was very cold outside, the sky was crystal clear.

We got in there in perfect timing for a tour of the castle grounds. It was the first time our tour guide gave a tour actually, but he was very informative. In his thick Scottish accent, he told us all about the layout of the castle. He also told us about past kings and queens, there are so many of them they blend together. 

He gave us a brief overview of it all before leaving us on our own to go into all the buildings for ourselves. There was so much to see!! The end of his tour was stopped in the main square of the castle. We went into one building which spoke about the lines of succession and about the crown jewels of Scotland. The jewels were actually hidden from the outside world for over 100 years so they would not be destroyed when the castle was taken over. Although maybe not as lavish as the Crown Jewels in London, the  Crown Jewels of Scotland (no longer used today) were a beautiful sight!

We went into different buildings afterwards. The oldest chapel in Scotland, the war memorial building, prisoner quarters, a whiskey tasting area, and much more. All of us enjoyed wandering around the castle :)

Every place we went, we got more and more history on Scotland's past and we all liked learning about it. It was medieval and old, but still felt alive. I could picture what the castle was like back in it's days of use. I was even behind bars at one point haha.

I was sad to leave the castle because I was having such a fun time inside, but it was time to go. The coldness of the day was starting to get to us and it was time for a good lunch in a nice, warm place. We ate just a ways down the street on the Royal Mile and I ordered a delicious club sandwich with chips (aka french fries in the UK.) The restuarant was beautifully decorated for Christmas! We stayed in there for a while until we were all thawed out and ready for the next adventure of the day!

For this we had to head back over the bridge and cross into the newer area of Edinburgh briefly before continuing farther. We were heading to Calton Hill which is the headquarters of the Scottish Government and a hill full of famous monuments.

There were a bunch of sites to see up here. The first thing we did was go to the left and look at the overview. From up there we got a great view of the royal family's residence and also the inactive volcano just beyond!

Then moving back to the middle, the coolest monument I've seen thus far being abroad was just standing alone. I found out later it was called the National Monument. It was really fun because we could climb on it and take some neat pictures. It overlooked a beautiful view to the left... and that view went as far as the eye could see. Those two little figures in the pictures are my brother and I. And the last one is an epic pose of me showing off my nicely sculpted muscles haha.

Being on that hill was pretty much incredible. The wind was whipping and bitter, but the views were unparalleled. A big smile came across my face when I looked over to my family at one point and saw them standing close talking and pointing about something in the distance. It just felt so good to be altogether. I missed them so much.

The sun was beginning to set and we definitely did not want to be caught on our walk back to our hotel without the sun, it was just too cold. As we were leaving the hill, I got an epic shot.

We walked quickly back to our hotel to warm up. I drank some hot cocoa to help myself thaw out. Once we were all warm enough, we set back out again. Not on another wild adventure, we were pretty tired from the day. Instead we took a quick walk to part of the University of Edinburgh. If I pictured what a traditional college would look like, I would picture something like this one. It had that college feel and the buildings were old brick architecture. It was also a perfect location right in town. Philip said he could have seen himself going there.

It was now time for dinner and we were having a bit of trouble finding a good place to eat. We finally came along this tiny Scottish pub on a side street. I ordered the vegetable pie with peas and chips... it had to have been one of the best meals I had this week traveling! It was so tasty! The food got everyone back in high spirits and we ended the night on a great note :)

We hurriedly walked back to the hotel as it had gotten even colder outside. Once inside, I think I had more hot chocolate and took a shower before going to bed. Today had to have been one of my favorites from my trip with my family. We all truly had a great day and loved all the sites we got to see. It made me feel very blessed for the opportunity to travel with them.

Day 5:

We woke up and went to a different place for breakfast this morning. Again, the place had pretty Christmas decorations and the morning we were there they had gotten their Christmas tree in. I decided to order the pancakes with banana and strawberry. That had to have been one of the best breakfast choices I had made on this trip haha.

That morning we took it easy. We went to the St. Giles Cathedral which we had passed several times on the Royal Mile. Man was it something else. We were all silent as we took our time going through the church. The stain glass was very impressive and colorful. There were also Scottish banners and flags throughout; it added a unique feeling to the church. The organ dominated a side of the church with it's massive silver structure. My family had not seen a European cathedral before, I loved getting to see their expressions to it all.

After our time in the cathedral, we walked up and down the Royal Mile one last time. My mom and I got soft cashmere scarfs with tartan prints, my brother got two really nice ties with the tartan prints as well, and my dad got Scotch! The man selling the Scotch was very challenging to understand. He spoke so quickly in his thick Scottish accent. But nonetheless, he was able to help my dad get what he wanted. We were all very happy with what we got :)

But now the sad part... leaving Edinburgh. I think we were all sad to leave. We were all pleasantly surprised how much we loved this city. Like I said, this city was unlike any I had been to before and I hope that at some point in the future I get the chance to go back. Although we were leaving, we left on a very happy note. And it wasn't like our trip was over yet! It was time to head back to London for more adventures there! So we got on our (delayed) train and made our way back to England. We picked the perfect day for our train ride as well... it was the only time during our whole trip that it stormed! So we missed out on that while we were on our peaceful train ride back and got to see more of the great scenery we saw on the way to Edinburgh a few days earlier!