Today was a grab bag of Edinburgh sights, so finding a theme to write about is too much of a reach. Our primary goal was to hike to Arthur’s Seat, but after the seven miles of walking yesterday, we slept in and awoke unmotivated (though we ended up walking another 15,000 steps today). So instead of bagging a peak, we hiked the streets of Edinburgh and checked things off our list.
First was the National Museum of Scotland, a place that reminded me of two Parisian museums. The airy Grand Gallery evoked the expansive interior of the Musée d’Orsay, while the sensory overload of the museum’s varied and extensive collections (which included Dolly the sheep, the world’s first clone) made me think of the Louvre. (Un)fortunately, we had pre-booked tickets to “Ogo,” a show running as part of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, otherwise the museum would have ruined us for the rest of the day.
After the show—which was wonderful, and perfectly designed for its target audience—we explored more of the city.
The monument to Sir Walter Scott
The view from Calton Hill, with the castle in the distance
Edinburgh, with the Firth of Forth and the North Sea beyond
Holyrood Palace, Queen Bess’ charming Scotland home
The unicorn is not just a national symbol of Scotland, it’s even on the royal coat of arms!
The Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, which we still hope to hike tomorrow
This was Molly at the beginning of the day, so you can imagine what she was like by day’s end.
One thought on “Edinburgh, Day 2”