Cathedrals and castles and museums, oh my!

I got up sorta kinda on time this morning and headed out for the Royal Mile (again).  I was intent on grabbing some breakfast and heading up to the castle.  However, I was distracted by St. Giles Cathedral

There was also a sign outside promising a café, so I headed in

Look, pretty carving over the doorway.  Anyway I found a lovely little café and got some porridge with apple and a cup of coffee.  It was a HUGE bowl of creamy oatmeal  with sliced apple on top.  It was served with honey and cream.  I scraped the bowl.  The coffee was kinda crappy, but I figured it was a good trade-off.  I should have gotten tea, right?

The interior had lots of lovely windows but, as a protestant church, it doesn't have much by way of ornamentation or statuary.  The building itself is pretty awesome though.

I liked the fact that the ceiling was painted blue and white

The vaulted ceilings were, overall, pretty impressive too

There was a bit of ornamentation by way of flags and such, but most of the pretty came from the windows

This is the rose window

And another window I particularly liked (probably because it’s purply)

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This is the baptismal font, which was kinda nifty.

There was going to be classical concert performed by a youth orchestra from Germany and they got there right at the time I decided to visit the ladies room.  Two stalls and about 50 teenage girls.  I was glad to finally get out of there

Then, it was finally up to the Castle

I met a nice couple from NJ and we traded photo taking.  I mentioned I was from NJ, but live in TX…and it ends up that they own a house in San Antonio too.  Small world. 

I stood in line FOREVER to get my ticket.  Back in 1998 I don’t remember having to pay…and I definitely didn't have to pay for the audio guide.  Times change.

Anyway, here are some miscellaneous photos of the interior

A lot of other things had changed too

This is Mons Meg, a medieval siege cannon that was inside the castle in a lower room last time I was here. I have no idea who that guy is, but I thought it was a funny shot

  

These are examples of the large stones Meg could shoot 2 miles back in her day

This is where American prisoners of war were jailed during the Revolutionary War (which is called the War of Independence here).  The rooms these were in were completely empty when I was here last.  Since then, they've worked on re-creating the rooms to look like they did back in the late 18^th century.

There are some pretty cool interiors.  These are rooms that were refurbished for King James VI (or James I of England) when he returned to Scotland for his Golden Jubilee.  They are part of the castle attached to the room he was born in. 

This is the nifty ceiling in there

This Is the great hall, also dating from that time and still used for government functions today.

Pretty cool ceiling in here too

And there is a pretty impressive collection of old arms and armaments in here too

This is the interior of the teeny tiny St. Margaret’s chapel.  It is the oldest building still remaining from when David II first made this a castle. 

As a contrast, here are some cannon.

And the last thing before I left was to take another photo of the stairs I refused to climb. 

Of course I hit the gift shop.  I wanted a t-shirt, but they didn't have anything I liked.  I ended up getting a whiskey glass etched with the castle.  Looks like a gotta buy whiskey.

I headed to the National Museum of Scotland.  It was getting late (everything shuts down at 5 here) so I rushed through it.  I did spend extra time in the Egyptian exhibit (of course).  They didn't have much, but there were a few cool things.  Oh, there were mummies, so I was happy.

I didn't find Dolly, the cloned sheep.  She’s dead, but they preserved her remains and she’s on exhibit somewhere in the museum.  God Bless Taxidermy. 

I then hit the BEST gift shop EVER.  Why? There were things on clearance!  I got a cool t-shirt with a vintage advertising print about Edinburgh, a tea towel, and a coaster.   ALL half off original price. 

Then hit the road back.  Eating cheese and packing…waiting for Laundry to dry so I can get outta here by 10am.  Tomorrow is Inverness!