Who Else Goes to Edinburgh to See Penguins?

This morning, I got up and went running. The plan was to run Holyrood Park, which is a gorgeous park attached to Holyrood Palace, one of the Queen's Royal Palaces. It was a bit adventurous, in that I ended up going there a different route than I intended, but at least I made it there (and back). Great way to start the day!

Bob and I had a full Scottish breakfast today, although, once he found out what's in Black Pudding, he lost interest in THAT part (ever heard of blood pudding?) After breakfast, he stayed put at the hotel (recuperating from yesterday), while I went to see the Georgian House, a house that was built in the early 1800s, and is furnished for the period. On my way back, I stopped at St. Cuthbert's, a church billed as the oldest religious site in Edinburgh. The church was beautiful, and the cemetary fascinating.

I met Bob back at the hotel, and we took a taxi to the Edinburgh Zoo. We wouldn't normally have done the zoo, but they have the largest collection of penguins in Europe, AND a "Parade of Penguins" every day at 2:15. They make it VERY clear that this is a "voluntary walk" for the penguins, and they let them out of their pen and sort of lead them around a circular path. Stand by for WAY too many penguin pictures. They were really cute (except for the smell), and I spent about an hour altogether at the Penguin exhibit. That's it. That's all we did at the zoo.

Next, we took the bus back to town, and walked to Holyrood Palace. Spent an hour or so with an audio tour of the palace, which is still used by the royal family today--actually, they are preparing for her annual summer visit, around July 1, during which the palace will be closed to the public. It's a beautiful place, but I liked the Abbey ruins (attached to the palace, the Abbey was built before the Palace, by a few hundred years) even better.

They kicked us out at closing time, and we walked back up the Royal Mile and stopped at a pub for dinner. Wandered around town for another hour or so, and then headed back to the hotel.