Edinburgh, Scotland

Saturday morning mama and dada wisked me away at 4 AM Janet Reno style (Elian, not Waco) in order to get to our 7 AM flight out of Cardiff. Once we were in the airport there was a video game area where I got to hang out on rides. I never actually put any money in the rides but they were really fun just to sit on. My favorite was the helicopter (see above).


After one hour flight we arrived in Edinburgh. We stopped off at the hotel and headed towards the downtown. Unfortunately I hadn't slept very good since getting up so early and I couldn't even make all the way downtown before I fell asleep in mama's arms. I slept about an hour and then I was ready to go again!


The first thing we did was walk through the old town. In Edinburgh almost all the buildings are unpainted granite and stone making for a spectacular view in almost every direction. Above is a picture taken from Edinburgh Castle. You can see the spires and cathedrals that pierce the skyline all around the city.


This is what the old town looks like from across the park from Princes Street (Edinburgh's most famous street). Princes street sort of seperates the old Edinburgh from new(er) Edinburgh.


After walking around old town we made our way up to Edinburgh Castle. For those of you that have seen our Welsh castle posts Edinburgh is not like medieval castles at all, at least not anymore. A castle was built there after the turn of the millenium but after numerous battles rages over the castle it was dimantled by Robert the Bruce. Eventually the castle was re-built but it now resembles a fort or fortress structure that you would see in North America.


As you can see in this picture with me and my dad the castle towers over the entire city. Me and mom and dad went through the castle and got to see the Scotland crown jewels as well as the Stone of Destiny.


After a busy day of sightseeing we finally hit the sack because we had to get up early the next day for the main reason we came to Edinburgh, mom's race! This is a picture of mom right before the race.


This is a picture of mom finishing the race, nice photo dad. Dad wanted me to tell you that the camera delay was really slow (plus mom was running really fast). Mom finished the race in one hour and thirty seven minutes. The fastest male ran the race is just over sixty three minutes (he was from Kenya) and the fastest female ran the race in seventy two minutes (she was from Serbia-Montenegro).


During the race me and dad checked out the shopping and the other sites. Since the race was at the docks we got to see a lot of boats. Here is me and dad in front of the Royal Britannia (the royal yacht). We both were like "whatever" it's not that cool. Actually it was pretty cool but we didn't go on it.


Beside the Royal Britannia was the H.M.S. Severyn. Some military guys were loading the supplies onto the boat. I was like "hurry up you slackers!"


After the race we went down some of the sidestreets in the newer area of Edinburgh. I checked out some stores and then got a bite to eat. It was a lot of fun and the weather was grea the whole weekend. Actually it was warmer in Scotland than it has been this spring in Wales (about 13 degrees Celsius).


Finally we had to check out of our hotel. Our room was really nice (dad was upgraded to a suite) and I even got my own room, which doesn't happen very often in Europe. By the end of Sunday I was so exhausted and ready to head home. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we didn't get home until late at night. I missed my nap so it was a long journey home. However, I was quite the trooper and I went to bed right away and even slept in!


Edinburgh was great and I highly recommend visiting there if you have the opportunity. I am already preparing for the next weekend when we are traveling to Amsterdam!