Today is Sunday in Edinburgh

Today is our third day in Edinburgh and the weather is teasing us a bit.  We awoke to bright sunshine which eventually turned to cloudy and cool.  We all grabbed the rain gear and walked to the HolyroodHouse  (Palace) which is the official residence of the Queen of England when she visits.  This has been closed for the past 10 days or so as the Church of Scotland had an Assembly and the Queen's representative was in residence at the Palace.  The house is quite spectacular.  We loved the oldest part of the palace which housed the rooms of Mary Queen of Scots.  We had recently viewed the movie of the same and were fascinated by the rooms occupied by Mary.  She led quite a miserable life which also ended in tragedy.

We walked back to our apartment and had arranged for a driver to pick us up to take us to the tour hotel which is a very nice Marriott about 30 minutes outside of Edinburgh.  We met up with other members of our tour ( 39 total ) group and headed off to the Stirling Castle, Northwest of Edinburgh.  If you were a fan of Braveheart, you know why this place is famous.  Our guide said forget everything you saw in the movie as there were many errors to the truth.  We enjoyed a tour of many areas that had been totally restored to 11th Century grandeur.  There were people dressed in the Medieval period sharing activities of the time.  The view from the castle was spectacular.  One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing the weaving of the tapestry.  This one will take 2 people 2 entire years to complete.  The original is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

We returned to the city to a pub for dinner and then a walking ghost tour of the city.  By now, it had been a very long day and we were most happy to be back in our rooms.

 Entrance to the Holyrood Palace

The section here is the oldest and houses the apartments of Mary Queen of Scots.

In front of the Queens Gallery

Very fascinating section of the old abbey that was on the site before the palace.  The roof has long disappeared, but the ruins are quite amazing.

This is the view from the Stirling Castle into the countryside.

  

This is a photo of the tapestry they are working on.

One of two tapestry workers