We rented a wonderful AirBnB in the "new city," which was still old to us (the area dates to the 17/1800s). We got settled and played blocks for a bit while Ian returned the rental car.
The next day, the weather was immensly better and we headed to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was beautiful, and the lack of crowd control/organization on the part of the Scotch was frustrating yet humorous.
We got to the castle walking up the Royal Mile. We were excited to see a real bagpiper just standing around on the street.
The views of the city, down to the coast, are breathtaking. As was the gorgeous day.
We never miss the chance to explore cannons...
I told Maxton we had to take a picture at the Elephant House, even if he has no appreciation for Harry Potter (yet). This is the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first book in the series.
We had a donner kebab in honor of Aunt Syd, and talked about all the travel abroad opportunities in school.
At the Museum of Scotland, Evelyn was thrilled to find a craft project. We worked on it, while the boys toured the museum. Jacobite sashes are fun to make!
Then we walked down to Holyrood House (where the Royals stay when they are in town) and saw the Scottish Parliament. It's a weirdly modern building in a city of old buildings.
When we looked over to Hollyrood, we were SUPER excited to spot the queen's flag flying. The Royals were there! We stood around waiting for them to drive by for about 15 minutes before taking pictures with the flag in the background and going on to dinner.