Scotland Day 3: Oh Edinburgh, how I love thee!

We left Inverness on the train and a few hours later arrived in Edinburgh. Once we stepped out of the Waverley station I was in awe - the architecture was absolutely gorgeous and the city was bustling! I have never seen Harry Potter (and don't ever plan to unless I'm being held against my will) but from what little memes and bits I have come across I imagine Edinburgh was the inspiration.

Jaw dropping! Apparently this castle is on top of an ancient volcano.

Got me!

I had been looking forward to the street fashion in Scotland and within minutes of stepping out of the train station I was not disappointed

Yaasssss!!!

We checked into our compact yet super cool and functional hotel room a couple hours early (thanks Yotel!), dropped off our heavy backpacks and strolled on over to The Willow Tea Rom where we had reservations for afternoon tea. We both chose the 'classic afternoon tea' over the 'savoury' (you won't catch me passing up sweets!) and I had a glass of prosecco as well (umm...it's vakay!). The spread was not only scrumptious but it was as pretty as the view. The staff was prim and proper in their black dresses and pressed, white aprons, but still super sweet and helpful. Needless to say when we left we were full and happy.

Tea for two, prosecco for one

Gorgeous views of the castle (although when the sun peaked out occasionally it was a bit warm)

I'm an Earl Grey girl

Tea room

Hours were spent walking around Edinburgh Old Town.

New Town Edinburgh was just as interesting

The Scott Monument in honor of Scottish author Sir Walter Scott

British taxi!

Royal College of Physicians

Cat-ffiti

Once back in our hotel room we looked through our tourist shop purchases and then searched for something two almost middle aged ladies could do that didn't require any "going out" gear as we had purposefully left that at home in order to save room in our packs. We found a "close" tour that looked interesting and bought online tickets for later in the night. We went down to the hotel bar to pass the time with a drink. I made the mistake of finally checking out how much a £12 cocktail translated into $ and then decided to never do that again.

$30+ for 2 drinks and a whole lotta ice in one of them

Walking in the dark back to the Old Town felt safe and the views were eye candy

Mary King's Close unfortunately did not allow photography - something about how there was a working government building above the close <sigh>.

If you want to find out more about this close check out https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/

The tour guide Isaac was great and it was an interesting experience. Due to the very realistic looking plague victim mannequins I now have vivid visualizations of what the bubonic and septicemic plagues looked like. I also got to see an arsenic wallpapered room but we were not allowed to go in as we were told it's still extremely toxic.

After such a busy day we slept soundly in our windowless hotel room. Hey, there was a fire extinguisher in the corner down the hallway!

Safety last!