Gale Force Winds and Castles

Well, apparently gale force winds and Edinburgh Castle do NOT mix. We had decided to go to Edinburgh yesterday because on St. Andrew's Day, there is free admission. It is one of the most expensive castles to go to, so we thought we had beat the system. Until we got off the bus, walked against the wind up the hill, and were told that because the winds were over 50mph, the castle was closed. It may re-open later on in the day, but only if the winds get below 50mph. Needless to say, we were pretty bummed because the Castle was THE reason we were in Edinburgh, but the thought of being blown of the cliffs and falling to our deaths was not exactly appealing either. Mike thinks its was all a conspiracy, but I think it was Mother Nature showing us not to plan on anything without Her say.
So, we went to museums instead. That way the winds would not all of a sudden knock us down.

This is the National Museum of Scotland. It has just about everything in it. There is furniture, tombs, parts of churches, etc. We didn't tour through the whole thing though, because we were getting really hungry. There is a spectacular pub that we found just outside the Castle that serves affordable jacket potatoes. They are marvelous and HUGE. We had lunch at noon and didn't eat again until 7:30pm. They were so big that Mike couldn't even finish the whole thing.

We then treked over to the National Gallery of Scotland. The presentation of the paintings, sculptures, and other works of art was magnificent. Again, there was a lot to see and all that we covered was the ground floor and part of the first floor. The National Gallery consists of the buildings, all about three floors each so to ''see'' everything at one time, I think that you would have to run through all the exhibits. But its only a bus ride away.

Outside of the National Gallery was the German Market in Edinburgh. It is a lot larger than the one in Glasgow (probably because Edinburgh is the capital) and a lot more touristy. There were a few booths that we didn't have here in Glasgow, but everything was marked up at least double. For example, the five piece Russian dolls were 14 pounds in Edinburgh and 5 pounds in Glasgow. Quite a large difference. So we decided that we would buy anything we wanted in Glasgow. My wonderful husband did buy me a very delicious waffle with chocolate sauce on it.

We did find The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling is reported to have written parts of Harry Potter. We had thought of having lunch there, but upon looking at their prices, we decided we would go back another day. After hearing stories of how poor Ms. Rowling was before the first Harry Potter book, I have no idea how she ever afforded eating or drinking there.