Day Fourteen: Sunday September 15

Time to see Edinburgh.
Today was my first full day here and the beginning of my third week on vacation. I can't believe how fast this vacation has gone! The weather here is wet, raining all day. Luckily is was not constant rain & when it did rain, it was pretty light.

I decided to walk around Old Town, where most of the buildings are from the actual foundation of the town more than 300 years ago. There is a particular strip to walk there, the Royal Mile, that has Edinburgh Castle at one end & Holyroodhouse (the former home of Mary Queen of Scots) at the other. I took a walk up and down the mile, and took a tour of Edinburgh Castle.

What amazes me at this point in the trip is that I have seen more castles & historical monuments in 2 weeks than I have seen in my entire life thus far. Also amazing is that each and every one of them are different enough to be unique and interesting. This tour was by far the most theatrical one I have seen. It was a combo between a wax museum & historical military museum.
After walking for a few hours around the various rooms of the castle and seeing everything from the soldier prison to the dog cemetery & left the castle. After leaving, I walked down the Royal Mile to see a few more buildings. The architecture here is so old and weathered, it looks as if every building here is older than any single building anywhere in the US.

I had to eventually return to my hotel as the weather got a little worse & I was soaked. Tomorrow I have to get up early for the final day trip of my vacation. I am heading off at 8am for a tour of the Highlands & Loch Ness. I will try and have someone take a picture when I capture the monster at Loch Ness.