Here we have GreyFriars Church. But it is more famous for its cemetry, with its serene graveyards. And tombs. Like the one below. (^_^)
The place should be much more interesting if you are there late in the evening, with a tour guide to bring you around the ooky spooky graveyards and tombs and prisons, whilst attempting to scare you with their haunting ghost stories. Yeah, Ghost Tours are popular activities. Oh well...
Ghost stories aside, this place also has a nice heart-warming tale about GreyFriars' Bobby (statue pictured below). He (or she or it) is a faithful loyal Skye Terrier who lay on his dead master's grave for fourteen long years before he himself died. *sniff*
A popular tourist activity in Edinburgh is climbing up Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano, for a breathtaking view of the city.
Of course, I have neither the stamina nor the guts to climb to the peak of Arthur's Seat, and only managed to climb up halfway. So you only get this instead. (^^;)
With additional time saved from not completing the climb, I visited the Palace of HolyroodHouse instead. The Palace of HolyroodHouse is the official residence in Scotland of Her Majesty the Queen, and "today is used by The Queen and other members of the Royal Family when carrying out official engagements in Scotland".
I've paid 8.50 pounds to get in there!! You get an audio tour (listening to a recorded guide on headphones) while visiting the interiors of the palace. No photography is allowed within the palace, so you get none here (^^;). Anyway, I went around touring the dining rooms, drawing rooms, bedrooms, galleries and had an afternoon tea with Her Majesty (yeah right!).
At the end of the tour is the ruins of Holyrood Abbey. Me likey!
And of course, how can you not have pretty gardens around the palace?
Opposite the palace, we have the Scottish Parliament building.
Finally, a common sight in Edinburgh. I was so tempted to buy some kilts and mini bagpipes as souvenirs, but thought better of it (^^;)
Look out for Edinburgh Castle in my next post!
Postscript: How could I have forgetten? Scottish bank notes!
