our family trip to Scotland: Edinburgh

    After getting all unpacked and settled into our new house it was time to get packed and moving again. T.J. starts his job here this week and while his schedule will be very manageable,  it's unlikely he'll have such a large chunk of time off again.  We decided to take full advantage and last Monday we headed to Scotland. 

This northern part of the United Kingdom is full of more treasures and sights than you could see in a year's time. We only had a week. I did a lot of research on blogs and youtube and managed to narrow it down to a manageable itinerary. I didn't want to miss out on anything but also knew we'd still be tired and reeling from all the activity of the previous weeks and would need to build in some down time, especially with three littles in tow. 

Our trip began with T.J. bravely taking the wheel on the wrong side of the car. We managed to squeeze  a carseat and two boosters across the tiny back row and we set off to Edinburgh. There were just a few white knuckle moments leaving Cambridge but once we were on the motorway it wasn't too bad (says the passenger seat princess). It was about six hours of beautiful passing countryside spent contorted with my arm stretched to the back seat so I could rub Daisy's head, interspersed with the usual questions like "what can we do to pass the time? And how much further?" 

I had previously visited Edinburgh in 2007 with my parents and sister almost at the exact same time of year. Then we saw the Royal Military Tattoo and got to experience some of the Fringe Festival, two things that happen each August in the city and that we purposely skipped on this visit hoping to avoid some of the crowds and costs that come with that. We checked into our Airbnb and T.J. managed to park the car somewhere before we set off walking in search of dinner. We landed at the Beehive Inn, a pub on the popular Grassmarket street close to the castle.  

The sunshine seemed to have followed us from South Carolina so after dinner we walked around for a bit before I took Daisy back to bed. T.J. took the boys to get ice cream, a clever excuse to also get himself a dram of whisky before we all finally crashed. 

The next day was our only full day in Edinburgh and it was another bluebird day. After breakfast we walked to St. Giles cathedral. I always marvel and try to imagine worshipping in a place so full of church history. Sometimes these grand cathedrals can seem intimidating and give off a "just look, don't touch" vibe that you forget they were built for the glory of God, as houses of worship.  But then I hear another visitor quietly whistling "Oh Come Oh Come Emanuel" carried up high by the structure's clever acoustics, and I pray that the people who come to visit this church from all over the world, some with no knowledge of Christ, will see what incredible things man has made for Him and will want to know more about our God.  

Next we made our way to Victoria Street and we lucked into a table outside at Scott's Kitchen. Perched on the terrace above we overlooked the colorful curvy road and the supposed inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s Diagon Alley. A table full of scones, sourdough toast, butter, jam and pain au chocolat, plus two cappuccinos and we were carb-loaded and reenergized for more exploring. 

We walked down to Princes Street gardens next, and although the playground was closed the kids enjoyed rolling down the grassy hills and chasing seagulls in the park with the castle looming overhead.  We had castle tickets booked for later that afternoon but first we made our way back to the apartment for a break, picking up sandwiches on the way. The kids rested and T.J. popped out on his own to see the Surgeon's Hall Museum.

After our little break we made our way up the Royal Mile to our very first castle in the United Kingdom!  Edinburgh Castle set the bar high for all our future castle visits. It's an imposing fortress set up high on a rocky hill overlooking the city just waiting for little boys to pretend to be soldiers defending the realm. 

We spent a good chunk of time exploring the castle grounds and then walked back down the hill where we found a table right outside for dinner. At The Fiddlers Arms T.J. ordered the first of many plates of haggis he would enjoy on this trip. After dinner we agreed to join T.J.'s search for the Sherlock Holmes' statue and memorial to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in new town. "New town" isn't actually that new it's just a bit newer than Old Town and they're divided mostly by the train station so it wasn't a far walk and we were rewarded with sticky toffee pudding. It was a sweet ending to our short stay in Edinburgh.

We walked about 10 miles all over the city that day, up and down the cobble stone streets, popping down secretive closes between curvy buildings. While we only had this one real day in town, we felt like it was just enough to get a taste of this amazing city that can simultaneously feel both incredibly old and new at the same time. It's bursting with university students, rowdy pubs, art and street performances, plus a kind of grunginess that comes with all big cities but it's seamlessly interwoven with breathtaking and historic architecture, old world charm and of course a dose of Harry Potter. Sad to say goodbye but excited for our next stop, that night we set our alarms so we could get up early and on the road again to continue our journey further north to the Highlands.