Thursday was absolutely raining cats and dogs. an entirely miserable looking day. after some discussion, we decided we needed to leave england, so on a whim, we took FrB up to scotland! It took a while to get there, and we did make her stand in the rain to have a photo with the entering scotland sign 
but finally we reached edinburgh. There was a bit of a heated debate over visiting the castle or the museum, and we went with FrB choice of castle, since it was ‘her’ day. BB slightly grumpaceous as feeling ‘castled out’.
Unfortunately we had left our English Heritage cards at home so it cost an arm and a leg – argh!!! But well worth the visit, and it is an ‘iconic edinburgh’ moment. we went via princes street gardens and the scott memorial first. quite a clamber up to the castle [and my hip not feeling friendly so harrump!] but we really enjoyed exploring it. I told the kids all about mary queen of scots, and the interelationships with the other tudors whether they listened or not 
and we saw the stone of scone and royal bits and bobs including a wand! FrB rather taken aback by soldiers in kilts.
when we left the castle we had to run the gamut of the tourist shops! eek!! we went in every single one on the royal mile, but the kids didn’t buy too much. In the end we needed a cafe stop to reinvigorate, but all were shut! Panic! 3 cheers for cafe nero.
