Not Goodbye - Just See You Later

Last night and this morning, we said "safe travels" to those in our tour group.  We seriously had the best people surrounding us this week.  This was our tour bus and our guide and driver - Marge and Graham (it sounded like they were saying Grimm haha) were seriously the best! We're going to miss them!

Since our flight didn't leave until after 7 pm, we had all day to wander around Edinburgh without much of a schedule to keep.  We decided to hop on a bus (a double-decker bus at that!) and head to the other side of Edinburgh castle.  We were searching for something specific but discovered we over-shot that by a mile or two, so we did what any tourist would do.  Go on a tour of Holyroodhouse (they place where the royal family stays when they visit Edinburgh) since we were right there anyway!

Mary Queen of Scots resided here, once upon a time. Many of the tapestries and paintings from them are still there, though some may only be copies so that the lighting and air don't further their aging progress.  There were many stories that were told throughout that tour, but one was a murder plot!  Mary's husband thought she was cheating on him, and since it was the 1500's, he did what any sane husband would do at that time - he killed the man.  Legend says that his blood still stains the floor.  I don't know guys, but that looks an awful lot like kool-aid...😏

Here are a few shots of various rooms, stained glass, art, and jewelry that were on display:

Those ceilings are the original plaster from Queen Victoria- pretty good for being a couple centuries old! And that needle point work was from Mary Queen of Scots!

Next we started walking back toward the Nelson Monument (the thing we over-shot lol) and walked around the structures there at this overlook point.  We decided not to climb the 360+ stairs inside the Nelson Monument - that's a LOT of stairs after climbing a steep hill to get there to begin with haha!

Us in front of Nelson Monument...

Those stairs are what we climbed before climbing the hill to the monument - they curve and go ALLLLL the way down near those track lines at the bottom.  My fit bit was cheering me on for accomplishing all my steps by 2 pm today!

We decided to do one more tour before heading back to the hotel to get our bags (even though we had checked out, they were holding them for us so we didn't have to lug them all over town).  We toured Mary King's Close and learned about how life was before things started to really get modernized.  It was dark and dank and Chris and I decided we much prefer the open air and light  coming through our windows! Haha We also learned about the plague doctors that dealt with the black plague that was running rampant in Europe.  The first doctor died from the plague so they hired a new one (who wasn't even a dr, he was just enthusiastic lol) with the promise that they'd pay him quite a large sum of money if he'd help eradicate the plague.  He managed to do this, but they didn't pay him.  They had hired him just knowing he'd die before they had to cough up the money.  He did start getting some of it just before he passed away (not from the plague). It was so interesting to see how far under the city the Closes were (basically apartments made of stone and very close together) and just how small each unit was!  They didn't allow photography in that tour because it was underneath a government building and apparently photography is a real security threat in the UK?  We were able to take pictures in the gift shop though.

As we were heading out of here, we decided that we needed to stop by Mary's Milk Bar.  This wonderful shop makes their ice creams and custards fresh every morning.  I heard about it in a travel group that I'm in and so, we started walking to find it.  In Old Town Edinburgh, there are still cobblestone streets and steep hills so you must watch your step.  It's also a very crowded place to be while walking along the Royal Mile (think the Vegas Strip, only with roads that are 1/4 the size...and made of cobblestone...and no flashy lights). If you need to consult with a map, you must find an alleyway or some small nook to stop in so you don't hold up the throngs of people making their way around OR you can have someone being your guide to direct you and alert you of super uneven cobblestones coming up.  Well, Chris was consulting the map and I was being his eyes and some people in front of us started to laugh and point.  I glanced up to the castle to see what they were pointing at.  I didn't see anything so I started scanning the hillside and as my eyes came to the street level, I saw a sight that cannot be unseen, but oh how I wish it could be!  There was a whole fleet of male bicyclists that were only in their birthday suits.  Thankfully, for me, Chris told me to look at something on his phone's maps right at that moment (oh thanks be to all the goodness in this world, YES I would love to look at your map right now) and my eyes were saved from further assault. Why were they doing this? What was their purpose?  I have no idea, but the ice cream was definitely needed after that.  We walked down another set of stairs in an alleyway and came out to another area full of shops and *singing choirs of angels* there was Mary's Milk Bar!  But oh that line!!! *please ignore the cafe next to it 😂 And NO there were no photos taken of the weird fleet of bicyclists either, though we did have a good laugh over it for the next few blocks LOL!

We made it through the crazy line, got the most amazing ice cream cones (lavender-lemon on mine and hazelnut on Chris's) and headed back to the hotel to catch our ride to the airport.  We made it to London and discovered that there have been so many cancellations that all the hotels nearby are full.  So, we're camping out at Heathrow tonight. Yay for adventures HAHA! 

Our journey home continues tomorrow, wish us luck!