Valentine's Day in Edinburgh

With Monday off, Devin & I wanted to make good use of our long weekend. We had many different ideas about what to do and had trouble settling on just one. Then Friday evening rolled around and we just felt tired. We then considered staying home and seeing sites closer to home - including another breakfast at Betty's...yummmy. But after an exciting ward activity where we were cajoled into participating in the Newlywed Game we got online and found a good deal on a hotel right on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and booked it.

So Saturday morning we loaded up the car and headed off. Jonas was quite unpleasant on the drive up and I considered turning around, but at that point the drive would have been just about as long either way. After he finally fell asleep, we really enjoyed the scenery. It is beautiful and parts of the drive are along the North Sea.


We spent Saturday evening walking around and admiring the beautiful city. It is amazing and exceeded my expectations. There are numerous beautiful old buildings all over, including on top of rock formations which is really impressive. This is the castle positioned on top of an ancient volcanic overflow.


The following day we saw the inside of Edinburgh Castle. The pictures just don't do it justice. It is really huge inside - like a village within the castle walls.

Clara & Jonas on the castle wall.



The oldest building still standing in the castle, a church dedicated to Queen Margaret built around 1130.


Second only to the hotel swimming pool for Jonas was this cannon. He spent a few minutes putting his head in and out and laughed when he would say something in the cannon and hear his echo. Quite a hit! I have lots of pictures of this, but thought you'd only need to see one to get the gist.


And yes, still more pictures from inside the castle. We got to see the royal jewels of Scotland in there, along with a very nice bathroom and gift shop that I am pretty sure aren't as old.


We then walked to St. Giles cathedral. There are many of these people along the way playing bagpipes which really adds to the feel of the city.


We also took a bus tour of the city (not as great as I hoped...it is better just to walk we decided). The one really cool thing about the bus ride was that we passed "The Elephant House" where apparently JK Rowling would go to write her books and sitting in the back of the cafe she could look out at the castle. So cool!!!!!! We then headed back to the hotel to let the kids have some time to swim in the pool before dinner. Being Valentine's Day, we figured most good restaurants wouldn't welcome families so we ordered "take away" from a vegetarian Indian restaurant. Devin asked three times about nuts and we were assured there were no nuts in the meal. The first dish I loved then I moved on to the next and after a few bites had that familiar feeling come over me and I knew I had eaten a nut. Not the way I wanted to spend Valentine's. Instead of eating the desserts we bought and saved for that night alone, Devin got Clara out of bed and let her enjoy with him. She was so excited and it was cute to see them share. She ate all the frosting off the chocolate cake and left the rest...it must be genetic. I felt really yucky most of the night and will spare you the details.


The next morning we went to Holyrood Palace. As we walked down, we spotted a Cafe that was named after myself and Clara - "Clarinda's".


This is the current residence of the Queen when she is visiting Scotland but was also around back when Mary Queen of Scots was alive and we even got to see her bedroom. Really beautiful and amazing.
We then drove home and it went much better with Jonas - maybe because we stopped at a McDonalds for dinner, I don't know...

Sadly enough, that was my favorite meal of the trip. Pathetic!!!!!! Maybe we just missed the good spots, but I wasn't in love with the food in Scotland and I even tried haggis!

Overall it was so much fun to get away and explore. It was truly beautiful!!!