Castles and cats, writers and wars.

I haven't been blogging much because my pictures are stuck in my camera b/c I don't have a card reader.  But some have been asking so I am catching up a bit. During the second day in Scotland, there was only a 70% chance of rain, which I took as a promising sign.  We participated in a 2.5 hour walking tour of Edinburgh old town and history.  The city has an amazing history, especially for its size, from the advent of economics to architecture to the world famous Professor Higgs and JK Rowling, to bloody battles over religion and clan battles over turf. It was quite enjoyable and mostly without rain.  We walked up to Edinburgh castle and from this point on the top of the hill you could overlook the entirety of the city-both old and new.  Since we were staying on the Royal Mile which is book ended by Edinburgh Castle at one end and Hoolyrood Palace at the other, it felt as if Edinburgh was very small.  Once we took the tour and ventured off the hill it was easy to see we were staying in the oldest part of the city and there were worlds and worlds more to the city. 

(Shhh-we missed the first tour b/c Libby was a wee bit slow so we stopped for coffee-this is me and my granny chin looking at my hostage photos whishing I could get them out.)

We spent the afternoon in the Scotish National Gallery which has amazing master pieces by Daddi, Rapheal, Cezzane, Monet, and Ruben.  The most impressive part, to me, was that they had a function going on with young kids cutting and pasting in the center of the rooms of the museum-not segregated away somewhere.  I have a photo I will share later. It was a very nice way to spend a gloomy afternoon.  

After this lovely and sophisticated time, we stopped for an ice cream and ate it in a park in front of the Sir Walter Scott monument-during a brief respite in the gloom.  It is a Victorian gothic monument and the tallest on dedicated to a writer in the world.  You can go up in it, if you want to climb 287 stairs, but I opted to go to the hill of the castle by our apartment which was easier to climb and which I could still see the city. 

We decided to walk up to Calton Hill which is another smaller hill that overlooks the city.  The sun was beginning to peer out from the clouds and I was able to capture this photo looking back into the city. 

By this time, it was the bewitching hour.  Libby had talked my into taking her to a Cat Cafe.  Yes, I paid a cover charge to go sit with various cats while I paid for tea and cakes.  It was actually fun, only because it made my girl so happy. 

Oh the things we do for our kiddos!