We started the day off by getting a one day bus ticket directly from the driver. There was a bus stop literally two doors down from where we were staying. We planned to use the bus as much as possible today.
There was only one real attraction that Pat wanted to do today, and that was the "Mary King's Close". The small alleyways between buildings are called a close. This tour is of a now underground close and old living quarters from the 1600's. Old Edinburgh was very heavily populated, with buildings built right next to each other, and the buildings were 8 to 12 stories tall. The poor people living on the bottom floors never saw direct sunlight, and the living conditions were horrible. There was no indoor plumbing then, and waste was poured into the streets.
When the commonwealth build was built in the 1800's, they sawed off the tops of some buildings and filled in others. The structures were reinforced and the new building built right on top of the old buildings. This is where the tour takes you. Into what remains of where people lived 400 years ago. And you actually get to walk up the old alley, Mary King's Close.
We purchased tickets for the 14:00 entry as they were booked up until that time, and we decided to walk over to the 'New Town' part of Edinburgh and do a little shopping and souvenir hunting.
We also went to the train station, in the Old Town, and picked up our pre-paid train tickets from a ticket vending machine. That was one less thing we would need to do the next morning when we would have all of our bags with us.
We had a nice dinner at the Salisbury Arms restaurant (Our second visit there) which is only about 200 yards down the road from 94DR. Since it was out last day in Scotland we decided we should try the black pudding, so we did. Yes, we know what it is made of, that is why we waited till the last day to try it. But it was actually good, and we both liked it.
We had also on previous dinners tried the Haggis, and we both liked that too. I will not tell you what is in Haggis. You will need to look that up.
That was pretty much our day on Friday.
We came back to the apartment and relaxed and packed our bags for the trip to Ireland on Saturday.
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| Stairway next to 'Mary King's Close' leading from the Royal Mile to Princes Street |
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| Memorial for Sir Walter Scott |
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| Sir Walter Scott |
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| Hey Ria! Benefit girls in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Debenhams store. They were excited to pose for the picture. |
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| View of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street |
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