On our final leg to Scotland, we stopped in Durham for some nutrition, stretch the legs, and see the sights ... what a pleasurable visit!
Into The Café Rouge for some gratification before walking the streets of Durham. Always a delicious experience!
It might have been a little rain, but it sure didn't stop us in Durham!
A few of the many sights in Durham
And what's a city in England without a castle? Durham Castle for the pleasure!
Sights and celebtation of Queen Victoria's 1887 Diamond Jubilee
We had a wonderful walk and took in the views, then headed out. Our first stop in Scotland was in Historic Jedburgh. Every village in all of the UK has flower baskets throughout. The buildings, both business and home, have beautiful flowers as you have seen in the photos so far and will continue seeing as we go through the trip. Everything is just so beautiful.
Even the coffee house, Simply Scottish, had flowers
We visited to old Jedburgh Abby ... what a piece of history!
Well, we be in Scotland afore ye! What else to show but Edinburgh Tartan scarf for Mary Anne, bagpipe magnet, and smooth Scotch Malt Whiskey!
We arrived in Edinburgh on our Royal Tour "Duke of Edinburgh" portion and had a nice little circling ride around town before arriving at our Ibis Hotel ... but we made it. So many festivals and street performance with streets shut, it was a little challenging to get to the hotel. But the navigation by Sandra and Ray made it happen! The city is full of thousands of people! As the hotel is in the center of Edinburgh within walking distance of the Castle and everything happening in the city, parking was a few blocks away from the hotel. So while Ray and Sandra went to park, we waited at the Ibis.
After checking in, we went to see some of the city ...
On our morning walk the 6th, we made it to the Scottish Parliament building. It is new and very non-conventional. We toured the inside and adsorbed some Scotch history and procedures.
We then proceeded to The Palace of Holyroodhouse - the official Scotland residence of Her Majesty The Queen when in Scotland. We didn't know that she had a Scotland Palace and had assumed that Edinburgh Castle was the official royal Scot address. Actually, Edinburgh Castle is an active military base ... we now know the differences between a Palace and a Castle ... probably the last ones to figure it out!
Remains of the Abby at the Palace of Holyroodhouse
Gardens at the Palace of Holyroodhouse
Fabulous doors at The Palace
Back in the City of Edinburgh, the Sir Walter Scott Monument
Edinburgh Castle
The whole idea of this trip was proposed to us by Ray in their New York City trip with us in 2011 with the purpose to go to Scotland and see the Military Tattoo. Of course we were excited and said yes that we make the plans, then scurried home to find out what the Edinburgh Military Tattoo was! This was the anticipated night and none of us were let down! We originally thought it would be military bands marching and parading, but it is complete entertainment show with participants from all over the world as well as the UK. Too fabulous to describe without writing a book, so just visit http://www.edintattoo.co.uk -- enjoy! These are a few of the pictures of the night, but see the whole album for more!
Edinburgh Castle from the stands at the Military Tattoo
If you likes these, see all 181 pictures in this blog album by clicking this link!
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