Day 39 - Edinburgh Castle, Mimi's Bakehouse, and the Waters of Leith Walkway

8/5/16

This morning we caught the 100 bus from our hotel to Edinburgh Castle. We saw beautiful statues and architecture as we drove through town.

The walk up to the castle is steep but the kids hung in there and did great!

View of Edinburgh from the castle.

 

 

The Edinburgh Castle is built on volcanic rock so its really unique looking. The kids loved climbing the volcanic rocks - until we were informed that climbing wasn't allowed. Oops.

The tower where Scotland's crown jewels are housed.

Our little guards.

This picture shows the graveyard for the soldier's dogs. It was such a sweet little area.

 

We went in St. Margaret's Chapel which was built by King David I for his mother, Margaret. Its the oldest building in Edinburgh, built in the 1100s. It is a tiny little building!

 

A beautiful building we saw on the Royal Mile when we left the castle.

Street performers on the Royal Mile.

 The kids were excited to see a bagpipe player!

I just thought this street was so pretty!

After the castle we headed to The Elephant House cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books! The line was long inside so we didn't stay and eat.

Day 38 - Train to Scotland, Lauriston Castle

8/4/16

Today is the day we take a train to Scotland to meet Kevin. The kids are so excited to see Daddy, to take a long train ride and to see Scotland!  William slept with me and when my alarm went off this morning he said "Mom, let's get up for the train!"

Here he is fresh out of bed, not dressed, but has his backpack on and is ready to go.

At Kings Cross rail station. 

At Kings Cross, they have a Platform 9 3/4 for all of us Harry Potter fans. We waited in line for a while but finally the kids had their turn with the buggy.

 

Everyone around let out a really sweet "ahhhh!" when the workers put William on the buggy.

 

On the train. Here's hoping their devices get them through 4.5 hours!!  (Note: William left his ipad on the train so this is the last time we saw it for a while.)

When the train started going, William asked when they were going to bring hot chocolate to everyone. Apparently he thought we were taking the Polar Express to Scotland. Poor Buddy.

I left them with my phone for a couple of minutes and they took selfies. No surprise there.

As we traveled into Scotland, the scenery became gorgeous. The coast was beautiful and these purple flowers were everywhere.

 Look at all the sheep!

In the Edinburgh train station, they had a bakery called Millie's Cookies which remind me of my Gram who's name was Mildred/Millie and always baked cookies for us!

Waiting outside of the train station for Kevin to pick us up, William took to one of his new favorite things to do - pretending to march like a Palace guard. I think he's pretty good!

We saw this monument when driving from the train station to our hotel.

Hey Kevin! You're on the wrong side!

After checked into the hotel, we took the kids to the swimming pool because they have been begging to go swimming since we arrived in Europe. Then we headed to Lauriston Castle which was close to our hotel. It wasn't open but the grounds were gorgeous, the weather was amazing, and it had great areas for the kids to run around and explore.

 

Handstands in front of a castle!

William picked flowers for Caroline and I. The problem is that he pulled landscaped flowers out of the castle gardens. Ha!

 
The view of the coast from the back of the castle.

I love this picture! It was taken on the back side of the castle.

 Driving back to the hotel in our little rental car.