In search of Braveheart (Edinburgh)

We continued our trip into the "nicer part of Scotland" by escaping the confines of Glasgow and moving on to Edinburgh. Since we rented a car, we headed north briefly to take a look at one of the famed Lochs of Scotland (Loch Lomond).


As you can see, it's a pretty lake but to be honest, the scale just doesn't compare to something like Lake Tahoe. We were a bit disappointed and decided to skip the full lake tour and head to something we don't have in the states... castles. Stirling Castle was very cool. Albert particularly enjoyed seeing the William Wallace monument which literally looks like another castle in the distance. After imagining having our faces painted in blue and white stripes, shouting "FREEEDOM!!!!" we explored the castle which was quite pretty from the outside but didn't have that much to offer on the inside. We still got to pretend that we were a queen and king observing our vassals:


We wanted to continue exploring the town of Stirling but Abby put her tiny little foot down with a loud and long scream. We made a hasty exit and continued on our trip out to Edinburgh. We got there early enough to take a walk around the city. We got to stay at the Sheraton which was a nice hotel with a beautiful view of the castle. Edinburgh really made Glasgow look like the industrial stretch of New Jersey. Edinburgh is a spectacular city with beautiful buildings that surround the castle.

After our walk down the Royal Mile, we decided to eat at a restaurant that came highly recommended in one of our guide books:
Howie's
10-14 Victoria Street
T: 0131 225 1721

This was by far the best meal we had in the UK. We were obviously limited by the weak dollar in going out to lots of fancy meals but this was just too good to avoid. Abby also appeared to be in good spirits so we wanted to take the opportunity to have a really nice meal. Everything was delicious and Abby loved the bread basket.

The next day we headed to the primary attraction in Edinburgh: the castle. It was full of tourists but we got a great view of the city from up high.


We walked down the Royal Mile where I got grumpy from lack of food. We ducked into a tea house on the left hand side which was perfect. We had tasty sandwiches for lunch and headed to the Queen's royal residence. It was closed off because she was coming the next day so we couldn't do the tour. We walked around for a while and appreciated the beauty of the city. All in all, if you get the chance to visit Edinburgh, we would rate it very highly.