Bagpipes, Haggis, Checkered Scarves - The Scottish Adventure - Edinburgh, Part 3/3

Now halfway up Arthur’s Seat and already the views are fantastic!

We also spotted some hares at the foot of hill..

Towards the summit, the last stretch consisted of a steep, rocky climb but of course we persevered in the hope of seeing even better things at the top!
At the summit, the wind was so strong and we were almost blown away,

remember us being light-weight people??
We also met a nice tourist/student like us from Poland called Damian and of course there was a group shot for remembrance’s sake..
I was also shocked to see the directional signage there indicating Arthur’s Seat was only 250.5 metres high.. how can it be so low after we ‘scaled the skies and mountains’ to reach it??

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And then going downhill, the sun began to set and hide behind the clouds, which prompted me to try some silhouette shots! Shots of other hikers, of the National Monument (the columns like Parthenon in Greece), of the “Our Dynamic Earth” museum and the city skyline.

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At the foot of Arthur’s Seat is the St. Margaret’s Well, and we were soon back at Holyrood and the area of the Scottish Parliament Building.
Sitting at a bus-stop and deciding where to go for a very well-deserved dinner!
See the L-shaped panels on the parliament building?

The architect’s widow says it's to mimic curtains being drawn aside!
So we took a bus and reached the Princes St area to change buses. The beautiful lighting from sunset gave us nice views of the city skyline as well as the Scott Monument,

built in memory of novelist Sir Walter Scott.

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So we went to the Leith Walk area and settled for Indian dinner at Shezan Tandoori!
We had chicken tandoori starter, lamb curry, beef, chapati and basmati rice for dinner!

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The next day, we went to deposit our bags at the lockers of Buchanan Bus Station after checking out of Granville Guesthouse. Right across the street was St. Andrew Square and it happened to hold an exhibition on Scottish astronomy.. There was the kind of a very nice morning feel to it – and the Melville monument (column) certainly added to it. It commemorates 18th century Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville,

the most powerful Scottish politician of his time. _____________________________________________________________

Moving further was Jenners, which used to be the oldest independent department store in the U.K until it was bought. It has been standing here since 1838, can you believe it?

XH and LQ posing in front of St. John’s Church after buying some cashmere scarves..
Behind the barricades is the Royal Scottish Academy which houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and architectural drawings.
We also saw a wedding couple on a horse carriage going towards Princes St!
The Edinburgh Castle is in our sights again, as we proceed on with the shopping!

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Buying food at Marks and Spencer and then having lunch,

the much missed KFC, at Princes Mall (we really miss KFC!).
And then back to St. Andrew Square to pick up our bags

where we saw such nice flowers again at the Dundas House,

which houses the head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland since 1825.
And walking towards Waverly Train Station to catch our train to Glasgow, we were left with the sights of the Balmoral Hotel with its clock tower and a statue of the Duke of Wellington on horseback, in front of the Register House which houses the National Archives of Scotland.
And finally, that’s all for Edinburgh, very beautiful city in the U.K. and definitely worth a few day’s visit, especially so if the popular Edinburgh Fringe Festival is in town in August!

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