UK Trip 2015: Day 2 in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is just exceptionally beautiful. Someone commented on one of my Instagram pics while I was there that they refer to Edinburgh as "the fairy tale city" and I completely understand why. So picturesque. They do a wonderful job keeping it clean and not modern looking at all.

We started our day taking a tour of the Edinburgh Castle. This was amazing to see and there's just so much history.

It was relatively crowded but not so much that you couldn't walk. We got to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland and see a lot of military exhibits from centuries past, including flags from the Battle at Waterloo.

While walking around, Grant decided to visit a snack cart, as is his custom to do frequently while on vacations, and he stumbled upon what would become his obsession for the entirety of our time in the UK: Tunnock's Tea Cakes.

I got this picture from the internets:

Essentially, it's a s'more. He bought two and about lost his mind. The rest of our trip my sweet husband was basically on a mission to acquire more tea cakes. Hoarding them. Stashing them. It was insanity. I think the Tunnock's Tea Cakes were Grant's favorite part of the Edinburgh Castle. 

One room had what I called the "WHEEL! OF! REVOLVERS!"

All the men in my social media circles very quickly informed me that those were not revolvers. Apparently they are muskets or something. WHATEVS, Y'ALL.

I REALLY wanted to go to Hollyrood Palace (where Mary Queen of Scots lived) but it was closed for pretty much the few days we were in town. Apparently someone royal was visiting or something. Sigh. C'est la vie...

That night we did an underground tour called Mary Kings Close. This was a tour of some underground parts of the city that still exist from the 16th Century. These homes and alley ways were condemned after The Plague and the city just kept building other things right on top of it. It was cool, but I did start to find myself a little claustrophobic. Our tour guide was great but I couldn't understand everything he was saying, even though he was speaking English. The Scottish accent is legit, folks. It was still really cool and the Plague freaks me out. 

A few more pics of the castle and our evening walk:

Tune in tomorrow as we visit St. Andrews and I tell you the story behind what I believe to be my favorite picture of all time. 

Previous posts in this series:

UK Trip 2015: How it Came About

UK Trip 2015: The Flight and the Wrong Side of the Road