Edinburgh: The Beginning of All of Paul's Dreams

The best advice I can give about Edinburgh is to stay as close to or on the Royal Mile as you can, unless you like hiking up mountainsides.  You go two blocks off that sucker and you're down some crazy 30% grade gulch on either side of the main sights.

The second best advice I can give is to go with someone who has been dreaming of visiting Scotland since he was a wee lad.

Now, I was about 13 weeks pregnant when we went to Scotland and so I was still pretty nimble - didn't really feel tired or large or anything.  But I have to say that I had a rough time keeping up with  this kid as he gleefully ran around.

Our first night there (mind, we got to our hotel at 7pm) he was determined to walk 2 miles to find the "Best Fish and Chips" in town with a fried Mars Bar for dessert.  Just as an example.

We walked that Royal Mile up and down for two days, hiked Arthur's Seat (something I'd regretted not finishing the last time I'd been to Edinburgh in 2004), found some underwhelming "American Pancakes," bounced back with way way way better pub food, took a pseudo-archaeological tour of one of the old, buried city streets, went up Carlton Hill, perused the National Museum (it was niiiice), traipsed around Holyroodhouse Palace and Abbey, and of course, ate at the Elephant House where Harry Potter was written.  Oh, meh, and saw that Castle.  ;-)

[Paul wants me to insert here that if you could only do one thing in Edinburgh, you have to go to the castle.  And be sure to take the guided tour "because accent."  Also, that two full days in Edinburgh is about right and that if you expect to find your family tartan in the giant tartan stores, only expect it if you're from "one of the big ones" - it was completely confusing to him that he just could not find a single McArthur (his mother's name) scarf in the entire city.]

It was great fun to show Paul all these things because originally he just wanted to skip right over Edinburgh and head straight off into the Highlands.  But you can't go to Scotland and not go to Edinburgh.  Well, I mean, you technically can, but you shouldn't.

Also the ratio of kilted bagpipe players to square kilometers is probably the highest in Edinburgh, so check that one off your list.

The Castle!  And Cannons!  And Crown Jewels!  And the Stone of Scone! And a giant parking lot in front with a smattering of food trucks!(?)

Gotta make a stop at St. Giles, the cathedral with the coolest steeple - and other historical importances.

Is it possible to stand more awkwardly?  Probably.  But this was a good attempt.  Also, eat at the tables in the back - they have a super view of the castle crags.

From the castle down to the train station and Carlton Hill, requisite back-of-Heidi's-head shot.

Holyrood Abbey.  My first time here, I sort of fell in love with it.  Was really happy to bring Paul to see it with me.

I know that most people think hiking Arthur's Seat is peanuts, but I was legitimately concerned about my ability to do it (in, you know, less than 4 hours or something crazy).  So it called for a little pre-hike bravado.

Paul could have skipped up the whole thing, though.  No problem.

View from the top! (He was kind of having a moment)

Loved the Closes.

::slow clap::  Nice.

P.S.!  Important retelling of a crazy story!   On our flight from Copenhagen, we sat next to a Danish Whiskey Enthusiast Dentist.  He was very friendly and told us we had to go to approximately 25 distilleries when we were there.  At the end of the two hour flight, we said goodbye.  The next day we randomly chose a pub (now, there are hundreds of pubs, okay?) to eat in.  And about ten minutes into our meal we hear this, "Oh!  Hello!" And it was the Whiskey Enthusiast!  From Copenhagen!  Sitting literally at the next table.  I can't even imagine what the statistical chances are for that to have happened - time of day, next table over, same pub, same day....  It almost made me think we really should go to those 25 distilleries because clearly this was a sign.