06/26/2026: Edinburgh 1

The weather today is for showers, so not a great day to be wandering around the city. We decided to go to the National Museum of Scotland as that would keep us out of the rain.

From the street, you see a very old building housing the museum. You enter below ground and it is dark and kind of like a dungeon.

Unexpectedly, you go up a level and walk into the beautiful Grand Gallery, a magnificent, vaulted glass atrium with sweeping cast-iron balconies and staircases.

The National Museum of Scotland is, as you might expect, a museum of Scottish history and culture. All during our cruise excursions we learned a great deal about Scottish history, so we spent less time in those sections of the museum. Although, I really like old wood carvings, and there were some beautiful things in one of the history galleries. There was a painted wooden ceiling taken out of a castle that I thought was stunning.

Here is a carving I liked and some carved chess pieces that were very old.

There were several items related to Mary Queen of Scots including a copy of her tomb.

We wandered around several exhibits and saw lots of beautiful things.

But one of the best places in the museum was the 7th floor rooftop terrace where you got a great panorama of the Old Town. The rain had pretty much subsided, but as you can see, it was cloudy and drab so the photos are so great.

That ugly stadium to the right of the castle is a temporary stadium that goes up and comes down for the Royal Military Tattoo performances and other musical events. It is on the esplanade of the castle and an eyesore in my opinion.

We had lunch in the balcony cafe at the museum, which was nice. A couple of women sat at the table next to us and I recognized them from the cruise, so we had a nice chat with them.

After our visit to the museum, we wandered around for a bit. We happened upon the Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare through Old Town. It is a Scots mile long, 1.81km (1.12 miles) and runs from the castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the monarchy in Scotland. Truth be told, the Royal Mile is just a whole lot of souvenir shops and lots of tourists milling about.

We came to St. Giles Cathedral, also know as the High Kirk of Scotland. A High Kirk is a term used primarily in Scotland to describe a Church of Scotland (which is Presbyterian) congregation that worships in a building which was a cathedral prior to the Scottish Reformation. The original building was started in 1127, but most of the present building was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. Every church has a different feel and this one felt heavy and rather dark to me. But it was interesting to look around at all the carvings and stained glass windows. There was also a stunning chapel, known as the Thistle Chapel.

There are piper buskers all around. Christine always dances when we hear one.

After that, we were ready to go back to the hotel. We ordered an Uber and before we knew it, we were back at the Hampton. We stayed in for the evening. The museum shuffle takes its toll on us old ladies, so we were pooped after being out for several hours.