UK Christmas: December 28, Edinburgh

December 28^th was the last full day of our United Kingdom Christmas trip and our only full day to explore Edinburgh.  After a full English breakfast at the hotel, we were out early to meet our walking tour at the Mercat Cross on High Street (the Royal Mile), next to St. Giles Cathedral (the flagship of the Church of Scotland and the crown-like steeple silhouette you’ll see in many photos).  The small-group tour given by an Edinburgh local took us up and down High Street—only down until “World’s End” where the wall around the castle ended, and not all the way down to Holyrood Palace—through historic Closes and courtyards off of the Royal Mile, and finally ended with a tour inside the gates of Edinburgh Castle.  We enjoyed the intermix of history and humor of our tour, all given with a lilting Scottish accent.      

After our tour ended, we only had time to explore the outside grounds of the castle, which was plenty for us, as the lines were long to view the inside exhibits and we also had a reservation at The Witchery for a late lunch.  Our meal at The Witchery was a lovely, extravagant 3-course affair that nearly took a few hours.  By the time we finished, it was almost dusk outside, so we wasted no time to walk down to the curving and beautifully colorful Victoria Street to see it before dark.  From there we explored Greyfriars Cemetery (looking for the Harry Potter name inspirations), back up to the Royal Mile, finally making it past High Street (past World’s End) and on to Canongate.  It was only about 4pm by then, but the sun had set so we got our first glimpses of Canongate Kirk (church where the royal family worships when they’re in town), the Scottish Parliament building, and finally the Palace of Holyroodhouse all in the dark. 

We had a 4:30am pickup time the next morning to make our flight from Edinburgh to London where we would connect to a direct flight back to Charlotte, so we were back at the hotel by 6pm.  Honestly, it was dark so early in the day it always felt much later each night.  I did not nearly get my fill of Edinburgh, though, so do hope we come back in the summer one day soon for the longer daylight days and hopefully some long hikes up Arthur’s Seat and then on to the Highlands.  But for now, it was another epic Christmas trip for the Williamses in the books!