3 - 7 February
We flew to Edinburgh via Heathrow. An uneventful day, which is always good to be able to say when the day involves a tram, a train, two planes and a bus. Our accommodation is a flat behind someone's house in Corstorphine on the edge of Edinburgh, so of course dinner at The Corstorphine, the local pub.
The next day, Wednesday, we caught a bus into the city to do a city walk. We learnt some interesting things about the city, its history and what to look out for over the next few days.
It was also a good way to rid ourselves of one of our old £ notes!
We had some pounds left over from a previous visit to England some years ago, and in the past few years they changed their notes to plastic ones like Australia. Ours were now out of date.
If we had a local bank account, we could just swap them over, but because we don't we had to get them changed at a currency exchange - at 10% commission!
So our guide can just swap the money we gave him - we don't feel too bad.
After the city walk we wandered the mile, changed our money, had a drink in a pub, looked at a few local artisan tourist stalls, wandered along the street that was JK Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley, walked to the top of the mile near the castle before jumping on a bus to home, walking through the local cemetery on the way.
We spent nearly all day Thursday at Edinburgh Castle, which sits at the top end of The Royal Mile. We had tickets for a guided tour to start the day, then spent the rest of the day wandering the castle's many rooms and museums.
A short wander down to the lower end of The Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace before walking back up to the main road and a bus home.
Friday we went back into town, walked up Calton Hill, revisited a few sites from yesterday
 | On the Royal Mile, this is where a Prison stood. The screams of those being tortured could clearly be heard on the street. |
 | St Giles Church, where Queen Elizabeth's body lay in state for the first few days before being sent to London. |
 | Public executions took place on a nearly daily basis for a couple of hundred years at this place in the city, the Grass Market. |
 | Holyrood Castle, the last building at the bottom of The Royal Mile. |
 | The lower end of The Royal Mile |
 | Edinburgh Castle, at the top of The Royal Mile |
 | Across the road from where we are staying is an historic dovecot, a purpose-built structure designed to encourage pigeons to roost here so they can be harvested for eating. Having eaten "dove" in Italy, all I can say is "makes sense to me." |
 | A quiet ale in a lovely old pub in the city. |
 | Edinburgh is grey. At least it is in winter. |
 | People leave sticks for Bobby, buried in Greyfriar's cemetery. Our guide told us that there were probably half a dozen dogs called Bobby so that this myth of a loyal dog who slept every night on his master's grave could be perpetuated and funds continue to roll in! |
 | The graveyard of Greyfriars church were plundered to feed the trade in bodies required for anatomy lessons at the local university. People were sometimes employed to guard a fresh grave, and others paid for a cage to be installed over the grave. |
 | This colourful row is said to be the inspiration for JK Rowling's Diagon Alley |
 | The Balmoral Hotel sits over Waverley Station. Because of its proximity to the train station, it always keeps its clock running a few minutes fast to help people catch their train. |
 The Spirit of Tasmania |  The old Royal Yacht Britannia is permanently moored here as a tourist exhibit. |
And the rain held off :)
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