One day in Edinburgh

At the end of this little week (from the 26th to the 30th) with my parents and Cecile, we decided to visit the capital of Scotland before they live. I've already spent few days in Edinburgh and I thought it was really a place to see before leaving Scotland.

Moreover, it's pretty easy to get there as there are a bus station in the center of Glasgow and for a return ticket Glasgow-Edinburgh costs £11,40 maximum. You can book a ticket on Megabus which will be far more cheaper but as we didn't know what time we will take the bus, we prefered not to book on Megabus and pay £11,40 which is still pretty cheap.

The trip lasts one hour by bus. We stopped at the bus station (5-10 by walking from the center) but you can stoped either on Princes Street or Haymarket Station which are more located in the city center.

I really wanted my parents and my twin to see Edinburgh before leaving for France because I think it's a really beautiful city. I found the architecture stunning. There is a kind of atmosphere in Edinburgh that I never find anywhere else. Streets are made by cobblestones and there are castles everywhere; its give a "medieval" side to the city. I love it. The streets are pretty dark and the buildings made with grey/dark stones, etc. This city has a charm and when you come here you can feel the history and that a lot happened here.

When we arrived in Edinburgh, we walk around the city center and visit a little.

St Giles' Cathedral

We stopped at the St Giles' Cathedral. It's a beautiful place. The enter is free and if you want to take pictures inside of the church, you have to pay 2£.

This place is considered as the mother church of presbyterianism. Also, you can visit the chapel of the order of the thistle here, Scotland's Chuvalric company of Knights headed by the Queen. Unfortunatly, no visit was planned when we were here so we couldn't see the chapel.

After this little visit we walked down the street to go on the Grassmarket place and find some place to eat.

We finally found a little pub/restaurant on the place. The front of the pub were dark green and the name written in gold but I don't remember the name actually.

Anyway, it was really really really good. I think this is was the best meal of our week. It's really good and not really expensive (around 9£ per person). I really enjoyed it and can't wait to go back the next time I will be in Edinburgh.

National Museum of Scotland

After eating there we wanted to find a place to drink a coffee or anything but everything was crowded since it was the "halloween week-end" maybe. So, we just walked until the National Museum of Scotland.

When we entered the place we saw a nice little place on the left, just before the museum entry. We site there to have a coffee. It was good and not really expensive so just what we needed to continue our trip day.

After that we went upstairs to see the first floor. It was really really interesting. We can see on the walls many things: planes, propellers, sewing machines, old knives, statues... Everything was a little mixed up.

There was then a big hall with statues also, machines, animals's skulls, buddha statue, etc.

Then you could enter either a room with stuffed animals with explanations on how they live, how they survive... either a place about space, sun, planets, astrology, etc. or there was also a big place with only things focused on the different nations of the world, different people and traditions, way of living... All was very interesting but we didn't had the time to finish to visit everything because we still had the Castle of Edinburgh to see before my parents and Cecile leave.

Unfortunatly we couldn't see much of the other floor. So, the next time my family will be in Scotland, we need to visit the rest of this huge amazing place because it was really interesting and well done. We really need to see the rest of the museum.

Castle of Edinburgh

This place is a must-see in Edinburgh, not only because it's the Castle of the city but also because when you go there there is a huge place where you can have an amazing view on the entire city.

We didn't visit it because it's still pretty expensive and fully booked and we didn't had enough time so we just took some pictures and enjoyed the view.

The day was almost over at this time so we waled towards the bus station. On our way we saw the Elephant House. This place is where JKRowling wrote the 2 firsts Harry Potter's books. She spent her days in this café because it was less expensive for her to pay for a coffee than to pay for the heater at her apartment. But except that, this is a nice place where you can either drink a nice coffee or have a meal too.

Also, we saw the Bobby greyfriars statue. The story of it is that Bobby, a dog, stayed for 14 years near to the grave of his owner until he died himself. Since that, the story is well known in Scotland and many people come here to see the grave of this dog.

Then, we continued to walk towards the bus station where my family took a bus to Edinburgh Airport and go back to France. It was a really nice day and Edinburgh is a big city where there is a lot to see. I love this architecture and the "gothic/medieval" side of it.

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