Scotland

Here are some photos from Edinburgh, Scotland. We went last weekend while my brother was in town and had a wonderful time. Jared and I both think this is the coolest city we have been to so far!

First shot after exiting the train! We were all amazed as soon as we got off the train! The entire town had been preserved! All the buildings and hills, etc. were incredible!
Went stopped off at The Elephant House for some lunch. This is where J.K. Rowling spent most of her time while she was writing the first Harry Potter book!
Jared drawing elephants and eating the yummy elephant cookies!
Our bed and breakfast, The Priestville! It was so cute and and FULL Scottish breakfast every morning was amazing! This included Haggis which I will let you look up on your own! It was quite tasty, actually!
gorgeous field
At the base of Arthur's Seat Hike. It doesn't get much better than this!

Andrew Rock Climbing!
Me helping Andrew up the rock...not really...this was only for dramatic effect!
Nothing like having the sea in the background!
Me and my honey!
View of Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat
Jared taking it all in! This was seriously some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen!
Walking down the trail
Entrance to Holyrood Palace...We did not go in based on Rick Steves' recommendation that it was nothing to write home about. Plus, we had just hiked for 2 hours!
Andrew and Jared enjoying their first pint of the trip after the hike!
We wandered around Leith Walk for an hour and a half trying to find the harbor with the seafood restaurants, and then, we turned the corner and found the restaurant I had written down to go to that night! Perfect!
We had a MASSIVE seafood platter and could not finish it between the three of us!
Finished the night with a beautiful sunset around 10:30 pm!
Saturday morning started with Edinburgh Castle. It was so much better than the Tower of London bc there was an amazing view from the castle on all sides! The Tower of London did have some better armory inside, though!
Entrance to Edinburgh Castle
Before the 1:00 gunfire...
At the 1:00 gunfire! Jared jumped a bit!
One of Andrew's favorite paintings in the Imperial War Museum of Scotland. "The Thin Red Line"
Andrew guarding the castle!
Don't know how these guys carried these in battle. Super heavy!
After the castle, we walked down the Royal Mile and went in to St. Giles Cathedral. This is where John Knox preached and the protestant reformation started in Scotland. Very cool!
The inside of St. Giles. This might have topped Notre Dame for us!
After going to the castle, we stumbled upon this gem. The Royal McGregor pub! We asked who owned it, and the lady said James McGregor (my dad's name). I still need to ask him if he has secretly owned a pub in Scotland all these years! We got him a shirt, though!
A shot of Edinburgh Castle on our walk after dinner.
Saturday night, we walked around the grassmarket area and had a dessert and coffee. Apparently this was where they have all of the "stag" and "hen" parties (our equivalent of bachelor/bachelorette parties), and everyone dresses up in a theme! Pretty hilarious!
Sunday, we took it easy and decided to go to The National Gallery of Scotland. It was small, but they had a few nice pieces. This was our favorite room (it was actually a staircase).
Here is a view of Calton Hill before climbing it!
Jared and I decided we wanted to live at Rock House
All three of us, finally!
Me and Andrew at the top of Calton Hill
Jared and I at Calton!

Three days was the perfect amount for Edinburgh, and I definitely want to check out more areas of Scotland in the future!

Our train ride home was not as fun as the way there bc it was dark outside, and we got delayed while on the train for 2 hours! But, we are hopefully going to get half of each of our tickets back in vouchers for the delay. Never seen an airline do something like that for a 2 hour delay! I need to start planning our next trip! But first, my mom just got here yesterday, and my dad gets here today, and this weekend and we are going to the Peak District to see Chatsworth house, Derbyshire, and Matlock! Thanks for reading!