Scotland 5: Day 30

tumblr_inline_o6hzl0uo2z1qzup43_540 — This church that sits toward the top of The Royal Mile is now some sort of community building. I love it!

03.30.16 | Edinburgh, Scotland | 18:27

I left the hostel this morning and walked to the top of the Royal Mile to find some breakfast. I also wanted to find a specific booth a man had set up. I saw it yesterday, it was some beautiful photography from around Edinburgh- I spied one I really liked but didn’t want to carry it around with me so he told me he’d be back the next day. I never did find him, though. Hopefully, he’ll reappear tomorrow.

Breakfast was at a little cafe inside Deacon Brodie’s close. Brodie’s real life is believed to be what inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson to write Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a few years after Brodie’s death.

I walked down the length of the Royal Mile, stopping at Holyrood Palace at the bottom. I wanted to find out if this was the place that James II was buried. There’s a good chance that I may be related to this king on my mom’s side of the family. I found it once while searching for my own family history charts, but I’m having trouble locating it again. So either a correction was made to my family line, or I’m just looking in the wrong place.

Further research is needed. I asked one of the tour guides, and he told me that James II was buried here, even though most of the grave has been desecrated. I would love to see it day-after-tomorrow, as the tourist season opens on the first of April.

Next, I decided to hike up to Arthur’s Seat. This hike takes a little more time and is a little steeper than I’d remembered. Still, it was great to make the ascent, even with many tourists getting in my way. It was hard to get a good picture at the top of the climb because of the massive number of people on the mountain! I did manage to get a few, however.

tumblr_inline_o6hztoyzvs1qzup43_540 — When I’d reached the top of Arthur’s Seat, I ate this macaroon. Even though I do like Irn Bru, this combination was quite nasty!

And now we come to last night’s dinner. I wandered up Victoria street and found a really great French restaurant. I’m not even sure what the place was called. The main course was a seafood gumbo- delicious! My only complaint: I wish that restaurants would always de-shell the shrimps and prawns that they serve. It’s horrible to have to reach into a hot dish and make a mess of everything trying to disassemble the poor, delicious, dead creature.