Edinburgh

I took a trip to Edinburgh. (A wee while ago so hopefully I remember everything) The international student orientation ended with day trips. The one to the distillery was all sold out so I took the one to Edinbugh (the capital) and the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The bus dropped us off on Waterloo Pl. First we walked to Calton Hill

After a trek to the top we saw the North SEA!  and Leith which is the town right on the coast. 

 The Nelson Monument

The national Monument of Scotland

 The city

Looking down the main drag of Princes St.

Here is a view of the Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill

Scott Monument (There's Sir Walton sitting in the middle)

Edinburgh Castle! (I didn't actually go in because it's huge and I didn't have enough time but that gives me something to do for a future post)

Then it was off to lunch. We were told to walk up the street and turn around at the door statue. It was a bit smaller than expected. 

Where was lunch? At the place where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter!!!  

The inside wasn't turned into Harry Potter world but you can see as the name emplies there are elephants all over! 

And here a sign you probably don't see too often outside of Scotland!

 Then it was time to meet back up with the tour. While I was waiting I saw people going to a wedding. I had to take a (discrete) picture as the men had kilts and the women had hats! very Scottish indeed

Obviously it was a fancy wedding with the bride being picked up in this!  

More of my discrete photography

Then it was off to the ship. To get to the ship you have to go through a mall. We had a bit of time to window shop. Check out these cool coloring books!

Going into another place that looks like a shop-shaped museum. For a long time the royal family has had a yacht. Until 1997, then they found something funner to do than go boating. 

Here's the compass.

Pretty fancy! but it's not like I paid for it

And it's a pretty big ship too!

 Obviously if you boat to an island you have to bring your own car.  

It's a bit hard to tell but these windows are above head height. So pesky servants can't see into the royal rooms. 

The deck. The top part is now a tea room and the bottom part was the sun/sitting room (see next photo). You'll also notice the guy with the huge cell phone. It's not a phone. It is the self guided tour guide. Also the compass that's on the deck is a fake! The real one got moved inside (see photo above).

The Queen's room.

Prince Charles and Diana's room (with clothes in the closet)

The officer's quarter (I think my mom needs a bench like this around the wood stove)

Here is once of THREE kitchens. 

The Royal Dining room. When we entered "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi started playing

Now they rent it out for corporate events or Erica's 28th birthday party. 

They said the carpet rolls up for a dance floor and the doors at the back used to have a projector in it so the family could watch movies. 

 Here's the bar! where the staff stands in a special room to make your drink. 

The formal sitting room where the family would read or play cards

The yacht had a super fancy hospital (well fancy for a boat) It was actually designed so it could be converted to a hospital ship in times of war but never needed to be.  

The sick bay

And finally how to get to from ship to shore? With the launch ship. Although decommissioned in 1997, the Queen used it in her Golden Jubilee in 2012. 

That's all for my trip to Edinburgh. As you can tell it was rainy that day but that's to be expected in Scotland. Recently it has started raining here for days! and when it's not raining it's really muggy. oh alas. I hope all of you are surviving with first days of snow. I'm off on my first train adventure to London on Thursday! My mom says I have to write a post once a week so that's my goal!