Edinburgh - Holyrood Palace and So Much More

Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh is my most favorite city in the whole wide world. Again, I haven't been very many places, but out of the places I have been, it's up there at the tippy top. Edinburgh is built around an extinct volcano, the remnants of which are called Arthur's Seat. The rest of Edinburgh, well, old Edinburgh, is built on very hilly terrain with the medieval castle at the top of the hill (called the Royal Mile) and the newer palace at the bottom of the hill (one "Royal Mile" away and downhill). We will be touring the medieval castle with my parents in a few weeks (YAY!),  so we opted to visit Holyrood Palace at the bottom of the hill. 

Holyrood Palace Courtyard

The palace is open to the public everyday, except when the Queen is in residence. This is a fully functional home, and sadly, we weren't able to take pictures on the inside. The most interesting rooms and historical factoids (in my humble opinion) related to Mary, Queen of Scot's time spent in this castle and all the drama that entailed. 

Scottish Unicorn

Can you spot the unicorn? 

The official Scottish animal and part of Scotland's coat of arms is the Unicorn. We saw lots of unicorns in statuary around the palace and Edinburgh in general. It makes me kind of sad that Scotland's official animal is fictional.

Holyrood Abbey Remains 

Holyrood Abbey Remains

There were also a few standing walls that remained from what must have been a magnificent abbey way back in the day. I think after 5 months of living here, Bill and I have reached our ABC point (another bloody castle?!?) as the best thing we saw this whole morning was not affiliated with the palace at all, but next door in the Queen's Gallery. The current exhibit featured about 100 of Leonardo DaVinci's anatomical drawings. As an on-hiatus anatomy and physiology teacher and massage therapist, I totally geeked out! It was an extra-special surprise birthday gift from the Queen herself :-)

A Leonardo DaVinci's Anatomical Study

The rest of the time in Edinburgh we were either attending Fringe Festival events (see previous post) or the Royal Military Tattoo (see next post - coming soon), or just walking around the city, laughing at signs,

Yum?

or finding quaint little hole-in-the-wall pubs with lively people and random entertainment. 

Rockin' Out in Captain's Pub