We get doused in history - Welcome to Edinburgh

We were up early this morning for a 7am flight to Edinburgh, and arrived at 8am. Drove straight to the hotel, where we discovered that we'd been booked to a twin room. We've decided to pretend that we are Rob and Laura Petrie (well, *I've* decided to pretend that--I'm not sure what Bob's plan is....)

Edinburgh is gorgeous, and rather beyond description. Bob said it's more like what he pictured we would see here--seems like everything here is very, very old, with intricately decorated buildings that have been here for hundreds of years. After a quick breakfast, we started walking through Old Town, full of tortuous alleys and 'closes' (little dead-end alleys that you can't even fit a car through), up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle (as pictured). We took our time getting up there, stopping in a few shops and checking out an old church that had first been established in 1024 (St. Giles). Because of the occasionally violent history of Scotland (Britain, for that matter), most buildings of that age have been added to/restored/rebuilt, retaining at least part of their original construction. The same can be said of the Castle. We spent several hours at the Castle, renting the audio-tour sets that were available, which can be stopped and started as you like. Had lunch in their little cafeteria, with a front-row seat at the daily 1pm firing of the cannon. After lunch, we finished up at the Castle, and worked our way back down the hill to claim our hotel room.

Tonight we are looking forward to the 'City of the Dead' Haunted Graveyard Tour, which comes complete with its own poltergeist! Apparently they disclaim responsibility if the poltergeist 'attacks' the tour, and over 180 people have been knocked unconscious! (I'm sure Bob wants to be the next...). I'll give you a full report tomorrow....