Day 11: Free Day in Edinburgh

Today we had a free day in Edinburgh. We had breakfast first and then headed as a big group to the bus stop. I bet the bus driver wasn't too happy to see us. The tour manager bought us all day pass ticket for us to explore Edinburgh by ourselves. So, a group of us wanted to start at Edinburgh Castle first and then make our way down the Royal Mile to Holyrood palace.

When we woke up, it was a mix of rain and snow. It was raining when we got to the castle. Since we were in a somewhat big group (14 people), a person thought it would be cheaper for us to buy our tickets at a group rate £13.05 per person instead of £15.  So once we got into the castle, our group somewhat split up. Our 'leader' somehow left our group so we are on our own for the rest of our planned itinerary. So we walked around the castle, thank goodness most of the stuff to look at was inside. After the castle, it was getting close to lunch. So, we made our says down the Royal Mile looking for food and souvenirs.

Looking at all these shops selling souvenirs and tartans, makes me want like a kilt. I didn't buy one today, but I am in Scotland for a few more days so maybe I'll get a kilt and a sweater or something. The only disappointing thing is that I don't have a clan (go figure). They don't have a generic or default clan so maybe I'll pick one that looks the nicest.

As for food, we went to Deacon Tavern. It was a good place but busy. I had fish and chips again.
After lunch, it was still lightly drizzling as we continued our way down the Royal Mile. We went inside St. Giles's Cathedral. It was really pretty. It also costed £2 to get a photo permit for one to be allowed to take pictures inside.

As we continued walking down, we there were souvenir shops everywhere and we did come across a good fudge place, but I didn't get any fudge. When we got to Holyrood Palace, we decided to just do the Palace and gardens and not the Queen's Gallery. The Palace was really interesting since we had a free audio tour to guide us. The Palace is still being used by the Queen yearly when she comes to Scotland to do her duties. We only got to see one side of the Palace with the old Royal Apartments. We weren't allow to take pictures inside the palace but the abbey ruins were interesting to see as is the gardens. The garden is where the queen host were annual tea party. The gardens is small but has lots of trees and flowers.

After the palace, we made our way to Gothic rock, which actual name is Scott Monument. I think the status is call Gothic rock is because it is all black. The stone the use actually turn naturally black. We had an option of climbing this monument since we have time, but it costs £3 to climb the narrow, spiral staircases. We then wandered around St. Andrew's Square before deciding to go to the Natural History Museum since it is free. When we got there, it was closed and it was getting close to 18:00. We had to be back at the hotel to have dinner at 19:00. After walking around and running into our fellow contiki people, we eventual found the bus stop going in the right direction. We made it back to the hotel before 19:00.

Our dinner was ok. We had four little vegetarian spring rolls, followed by chicken breast in a mushroom sauce with veggies, and the white chocolate cheesecake for dessert. After dinner, we hung around for a while and talk. Most of us retired to bed early as we have breakfast at 7:00 tomorrow before hopping on the bus before 8:00.

Tomorrow's agenda: Going to find the Loch Ness monster.